
It has been only three years since New Orleans hosted the NBA All-Star Game Weekend, and, typically, when a sports event returns to the same city that quickly, the production philosophy remains the same. That is not the case for Turner Sports this weekend.
This is a very different show than it was three years ago, says Chris Brown, senior director, technical operations, Turner Sports. The big difference is the deliverables and a compelling basketball game that uses as much technology as we can cram.
Chris Brown says Turner's NBA All-Star game presence has changed a great deal since the game was last held in New Orleans, three years ago.
Among the biggest changes? Turner's NBA on TNT road show, a 70,000-sq.-ft. fan-activation effort that includes a set for the Inside the NBA studio show, concerts, the final of the Dew NBA 3X three-on-three tournament, interactive fan experiences, basketball clinics, pop-up stores, and more. It will be located at Champions Square, about 1,500 ft. from the Smoothie King Center, which will host the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, All-Star Saturday Night on Saturday, and the All-Star Game on Sunday.
This allows us to have a big-event feeling without having to go through all the steps of creating an entirely separate production, says Brown. Everybody is happy and excited about the fact that it's here.
The Champions Square activities tip off tonight with a concert and the first Inside the NBA broadcast. Even though All-Star weekend begins tomorrow, there are still games tonight to give the Inside the NBA team plenty of action to discuss. Aerial shots from the Square will be available, thanks to a point-to-point Spidercam system.
By the time coverage winds down on Sunday night, the production team will have delivered more than 24 hours of content to viewers on TNT and NBA TV. Events like the media availability on Friday afternoon, All-Star practices on Saturday afternoon, and the G-League All-Star Game provide additional fodder for coverage. In addition, more than 36 hours of content will be live-streamed across Facebook, Twitter, and NBA.com, proving the growing power of the Internet as a content-delivery platform.
We have Facebook, Twitter, and quick hits for social media, says Brown. And now we have content being created specifically for Facebook and Twitter.
A Facebook Live control room is in one of the NEP production units in the compound, and a LiveU cellular transmission system will send live interviews with players and other guests from around town to that control room. The incoming video will be integrated with graphics before being encoded for distribution via Facebook.
NEP is playing a big role in Turner's production of the weekend's activities with SS24 at the center of the game coverage, NCP10 for All-Star Saturday night, NCP 11 for the studio show, NCP8 for the entertainment and halftime elements, and ND1 for transmission and more. The use of ND1 continues to evolve at the All-Star game.
We've taken the use of ND1 to the next level as we come up with more ways and methods to use the horsepower of this four-truck facility, says Brown. The C unit has been turned into four edit bays with server storage and content managers to manage the files and the EVS network. And the D unit has three edit bays and a 5.1[-surround] audio-sweetening room.
Turner Sports will also use a small flypack inside a suite in the Smoothie King Arena for the Area 21 show. Hosted by former NBA player and All-Star Kevin Garnett, the show will feature Garnett and his guests discussing the ongoing action.
We're using a very small flypack for that production, notes Brown. Signals from that flypack will also pass into the studio truck so that segments can be integrated into the studio show, and it will be made available to the game-production team.
Turner will put 58 cameras to use inside the Smoothie King Center for both the on-the-court and TNT studio coverage (the world-feed production will also have unilateral cameras because the game will be seen in 215 countries and territories and in 49 languages).
One exciting new production tool is the addition of a Spidercam for coverage of the All-Star Saturday Night activities: the slam-dunk contest, three-point shooting contest, and skills challenge. It will be the first time a cabled camera will fly over the court during on-court action.
The philosophy is to always look for new things that will be compelling for viewers and will move the needle on our coverage, Brown explains. The Spidercam gives us a unique perspective that we have never had before, and it took a lot of work and coordination with the NBA as the All-Star Game has a lot of rigged lights and moving stages.
One workflow improvement this year is the onsite presence of 11 editing bays with Adobe Premier (three also have Adobe After Effects). Those editing systems are on the same network sharing 100 TB of storage and are also attached to four EVS IPDirectors to pull clips from 29 EVS servers.
This never feels just like a game, says Brown. The players were chosen by the fans, and this is their dream team.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...