At-Home Production Provides Bevy of Logistical Benefits, but Connectivity Challenges Remain In a discussion at the LiveTV:LA conference, broadcasters and vendors explain how they are meeting them By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, August 11, 2017 - 10:06 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
At-home production, along with the IP technology that makes possible, is no longer emerging. It's here, and it's being deployed by many of the major broadcasters and sports leagues across the country, whether their viewers can tell or not. As the industry moves forward with growing confidence, how are they leveraging these opportunities, and what technological challenges remain?
The topic of at-home production and IP was addressed during a panel discussion at SVG's LiveTV:LA conference. From left: Deluxe's Rick Phelps, Pac-12 Networks' Leon Schweir, NFL Media's Dave Shaw, Aspera's Jonathan Solomon, and The Video Call Center's Larry Thaler
In San Francisco, Pac-12 Networks has been one of the early success stories in at-home production and IP technology. The five-year-old network produces 850 events for live television distribution per year, all featuring some element of IP and more than 400 produced with a full at-home workflow. To make it possible, Pac-12 Networks has established an Internet 2 network that connects nearly 100 venues on 12 campuses across the conference.
In the world that we're in, the network is where you start, said Leon Schweir, SVP, production, Pac-12 Networks, on a panel at LiveTV:LA. The network that we have is robust enough that we don't have to worry about how many cameras we're bringing; we don't really worry about latency, packet loss, or jitter. It's a very stable network.
For an at-home production, Pac-12 Networks will roll up to the venue with no more than a Sprinter van and six or seven cameras. The only people needed onsite are the camera operators and an A2 to test audio. The camera and audio feeds are sent to a control room in Pac-12 Networks' San Francisco facility, where it's cut as if it had gone to an onsite production truck .
In Schweir's view, this offers multiple benefits, including the ability to use top production and operations talent on more events than geography would normally allow. It means not only that the scale of programming is greater, with broadcasts that could never have been done in traditional production models, but that the quality of those shows is greater.
In San Francisco, we have our core group to do all of these events, he pointed out. We think that's an important component of why we're able to get quality into events that we maybe normally wouldn't be able to get such quality [into]. We have our regular skill positions all the time. It's always hard to hire - depending on what cities you are going to - TDs, A1s, replay [operators], graphics [operators]. So, for us, we are getting much better quality and consistency in at-home productions than if we tried to do this in 96 venues over six states.
Even the NFL and NFL Media are heavy users of IP technology and at-home workflows. Although NFL Network no longer produces any live NFL games, the network does provide hours per day of live studio programming, and for major events, such as the Super Bowl, the NFL Draft, or Thursday Night Football, at-home models are critical to the live network-produced shows from those sites.
Mostly, it was [done] to save money originally, but we bring it in for our digital packages; we bring it in for our highlights, said Dave Shaw, VP, production, NFL Media. We bring in a clean feed and a dirty feed. So we package nine muxes in every game from a single fiber.
Although this may sound like an operations manager's nirvana, the technology is still its infancy. From reliable networks to firewalls to finding connectivity in non-traditional venues, at-home production and IP technology still have plenty of hoops to jump through before becoming mainstream.
Perhaps no greater challenge remains then that of the first mile : getting broadcast-quality connectivity from a place that may not be very conducive to it. Numerous tech vendors are developing solutions to this problem, including Deluxe. Known primarily across the entertainment industry as the big creative-services and postproduction house, Deluxe also has an extensive IP network for broadcast distribution and cloud playout.
We use contested internet activity that's available at the venue, so each venue could, potentially, have an issue with that, said Rick Phelps, SVP, broadcast sales, Deluxe. We're experimenting with 4G and 5G technology to overcome any obstacles that you have with the connectivity. Once we get [the content] into our encoded environment and get it onto our broadcast-delivery network, that mitigates all the problems you would have. But that first connectivity at the venue is still the main issue.
For such vendors as Aspera, one of the industry leaders in transmission and high-speed file-transfer software, the solution for the time being is commoditized transport.
Not every event is going to be in a major venue, where you have [a connection to] The Switch or Level 3, noted Jonathan Solomon, senior sales and systems engineer, Aspera. So I think [we enable] it by going to commodity and working over the problems instead of around the problems.
Want to hear more about the current and future state of at-home production and IP technology? Watch the entire conversation from a panel on the topic from our LiveTV:LA conference below:
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/03/2026
NBC Sports selected Imaginary Forces to create the main title sequence for the M...
02/03/2026
The NFL announces the launch of the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a new crowds...
02/03/2026
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has named Skyline Communications' DataMiner SatOps solution as a finalist for the 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year ...
02/03/2026
Ventum Tech announces a strategic partnership with Pixotope, a real-time graphic...
02/03/2026
Victory , a free, ad-supported sports streaming service, announces the launch of...
02/03/2026
Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovi...
02/03/2026
SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek ...
02/03/2026
NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night
Media releases
A Midweek Hub for Blak Sport
Flagship NRL program Over The Black Dot moves to Wednesdays at 9:30pm
...
02/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have reached another pivotal ...
02/03/2026
MELBOURNE, Fla., March 2, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) today announc...
02/03/2026
Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages sure Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...
02/03/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, and Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ, A...
02/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, has appointed Jody Boatwright as Chief Strategy Of...
02/03/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is reinforcing its commitment to simplifying complex AV environments with the continued evolution of its TPN...
02/03/2026
ZEISS Cinema opens its doors to an exclusive screening, filmmakers Q&A and hands-on showcase of the new ZEISS Aatma lens family on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-9:00 ...
02/03/2026
To expand the creative potential of the compact Astera QuikBeam, DoPchoice introduces the SNAPBAG Round. The new light-shaping accessory transforms the powerfu...
02/03/2026
Douglas Dubler
On a rooftop in New York City, veteran photographer Douglas Dubler watched the sun's angle shift across the urban landscape, his internal cl...
02/03/2026
ZEISS is expanding its Otus ML lens family with the introduction of the new ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35. This manual-focus lens is designed for photographers who live ...
02/03/2026
Matthews Studio Equipment now offers the new Dinkum Systems White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit, a compact, highly adaptable setup for mobile content creation...
02/03/2026
Luxembourg, February 26, 2026 - SES and Africa Mobile Network (AMN) have expande...
02/03/2026
02 03 2026 - Media release Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative
Ausfilm and Screen Australia have announced Partner with Australia (...
02/03/2026
Monday 2 March 2026
Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team
L-R: Jonno Johnson; Charlie Skelton; Celya AB; Omar Badawy; Gr inne Maguire; Laura Claxton; ...
02/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for 53 Sundays, the New Film by Cesc Gay
Entertainment
02 March 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Dis...
28/02/2026
With two features seen in Formula 1 coverage, the broadcaster aims to bring view...
28/02/2026
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addresses a crowd of approximately 1,500 L3Harris employees in Camden, Arkansas, as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour....
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Berklee Presents Mambo Mania: Eguie Castrillo and the Berklee All-Stars Big Band...
28/02/2026
Berklee Announces Two New Summer Programs in Los Angeles The Berklee Music Business Program and Electronic Music Production and Sound Design Workshop bring imme...
28/02/2026
AI-RAN is moving from lab to field, showing that a software-defined approach is ...
28/02/2026
Autonomous networks - intelligent, self-managing telecommunications operations -...
28/02/2026
Back to All News
Final Trailer for BEASTARS Final Season Part 2' Roars Tow...
28/02/2026
New way to intentionally discover molecular glues could expand drug discovery Scripps Research scientists and colleagues show how drugs that eliminate certain d...
27/02/2026
The E.W. Scripps Company names Oliver Gray as Vice President, Network Sports and...
27/02/2026
The Gotham Sports App, the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of MSG Networks and the YES Network, is now available for purchase through Prime Video fo...
At-Home Production Provides Bevy of Logistical Benefits, but Connectivity Challenges Remain In a discussion at the LiveTV:LA conference, broadcasters and vendors explain how they are meeting them By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
