Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Bally Sports Regional Networks Rolls Out Cloud Control Rooms To Boost Storytelling for Local Viewers

21/07/2021

Bally Sports Regional Networks Rolls Out Cloud Control Rooms To Boost Storytelling for Local Viewers Developed with Mobile TV Group, Cloud Control will be extended to all Bally Sports RSNs this fall By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Wednesday, July 21, 2021 - 3:12 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

When sports resumed after the pandemic shutdown, regional sports networks were forced to transition to a world-feed production model that severely limited the away-team RSN's ability to customize its broadcast for local fans. In an effort to remain efficient while also restoring RSNs' storytelling capabilities, Bally Sports Regional Networks is launching Cloud Control rooms at the home offices of its 19 RSNs (as well as at Sinclair-owned sibling Marquee Sports Network in Chicago).

With [Cloud Control], you truly have control of your own show again, explains Mike Connelly, EVP, production, Bally Sports Networks. Our producers and directors can cut their own show again like they did the with the traditional dual-feed model [prior to the pandemic]. At the same time, we're saving costs by not having to travel our entire [crew] for away shows because [crew members are] located at the [Cloud Control room] in their office.

Bally Sports' first Cloud Control room officially launched at Bally Sports North in Minneapolis for a Twins-Royals series at the beginning of June and was followed by Marquee Sports Network in Chicago this month. In both Minneapolis and Chicago, CC rooms are being used for selected MLB productions in which Mobile TV Group (MTVG) is the truck provider for the away-team venue. Here's a look at Bally Sports North's Cloud Control setup in Minneapolis:

https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_5929.mp4

CC rooms are in place and being tested at Bally Sports Florida (Ft. Lauderdale), South (Atlanta), and Southwest (Dallas), with plans to begin broadcasting next month. The goal is to have CC rooms finalized and tested at all Bally Sports RSNs by September, so that all 19 will be up and running for the start of NHL and NBA seasons in the fall.

How It Works: Truck Is Onsite, Most of the Crew Is at Home With Cloud Control, the Bally Sports producer, director, and EVS replay, Vizrt graphics, and score-box operators remain at the away-team's RSN's home office and use control panels to remotely control the technical facilities in the mobile unit, which is at the away venue. Multiview feeds (not individual camera feeds) from the truck are brought back to the CC room to allow the director to cut the show just as they would if they were in the onsite mobile unit.

With Cloud Control, the director and producer are able to call the broadcast for away games from a control room at the home office like this one in Minneapolis.

The mobile unit - typically a dual-feed unit that serves both the home and the away shows - provides the home show with a full-blown facility and the visiting network with its own switcher/TD and audio console/A1. The visiting network has access to three dedicated cameras plus all the home show's cameras (including four super-slo-mos). Two EVS replay servers are dedicated to the away team and networked to all the EVS gear in the home show, including the super-slo-mo units.

You get the same number of [unilateral] cameras that they had in a traditional dual-feed model before [the pandemic] and access to all the home-show cameras with dual tallies, says Connelly. Your director can still cut the game like they normally would; they just aren't actually in the truck.

He adds that Cloud Control offers considerable cost reductions for the away-team RSN, which isn't dependent on a world feed produced by the home-team RSN. Under the Cloud Control model, the home production staff does not need to travel, and construction of the CC rooms is at a fraction of the cost of a typical control room.

You're saving costs on travel, and you're not over-extending yourself on capital costs, Connelly notes, [The production team] is still with the team at least 50% of the time, so you're not losing that intimacy you worked so hard to develop. Everything is based on that intimate relationship and making sure that we serve the needs of the team. We can still do that very effectively.

Connectivity between the CC room and the mobile unit requires only 300 Mb (depending on the venue and the situation), and MTVG provides the coordination to ensure proper communication between the remote-control panels at the RSN's office and the MTVG mobile unit at the venue.

This is truly the next stage of the dual-feed model and allows us to serve the needs of our team partners by creating broadcasts that cater to the hometown fans, says Connelly. Our entire business is built on the relationships and intimacy we have with our teams, and this keeps our [production crews] close with our teams in their home markets instead of at a centralized control room. [Viewers] are going to see a high-quality show geared towards their team rather than the more generic [world feed] that we've had to do with [during the pandemic]. That's really exciting.

Looking Back: Years-Long Effort Comes to Fruition According to Connelly, the concept has been in development for several years, dating back to his group's previous life as Fox Sports Regional Networks prior to Sinclair's acquiring the RSNs from Disney (via 21st Century Fox) in 2019. While still under the Fox Sports umbrella, Connelly and his team were exploring ways to reduce travel without sacrificing production quality or staff. His team worked with MTVG to begin developing the system that would eventually become Cloud Control.

Cloud Control rooms are primarily deployed in what was previously office or conference space at Bally Sports RSNs.

When
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/07/21/bally-sports-regional-networks-...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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 Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

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...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Inks New WNBA Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Apogee Insight Acquires PMA Research

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

NBC Announces Exclusive Coverage of Sail4th 250 Tall Ships in NYC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

UK Group of media tech companies take the spotlight at NA...

28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...

26/03/2026

Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026

Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026 Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments New graphical configuration tool and...

26/03/2026

Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026

Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026 Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...

26/03/2026

Allen Media Group To Deploy Anoki ContextIQ

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

LG Announces New Premium FAST Channels

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

IABM to Host Breakfast Event at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Nexstar Defends Tegna Deal in Calif. Court Filing

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast control capability

Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...

26/03/2026

2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design

2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 25, 2026 0 Comments DaVinci Resolve Studio used on 27 of this year's no...

26/03/2026

Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Show 2026

Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Sho...

26/03/2026

Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbreaking Opera Time to Act

Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbrea...

26/03/2026

ABC Business Media Report: Trusted Data, Real Insight

Open the report Our 2025 report brings together results from 79 business magazine titles across 22 market sectors, published by 49 media owners. Over the year,...

26/03/2026

Into the Omniverse: NVIDIA GTC Showcases Virtual Worlds Powering the Physical AI Era

Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...

26/03/2026

Fiat to sponsor The Louise Duffy Show on RT Radio 1

RT Commercial today announced Fiat as sponsor of The Louise Duffy Show on RT Radio 1, Weekdays 3pm 4pm. The Louise Duffy Show is the home of daytime music...

26/03/2026

Game On: Five New Titles Now Streaming on GeForce NOW

That gaming backlog won't clear itself - GeForce NOW is here to help. Stream the latest titles straight from the cloud across a variety of devices. This we...

26/03/2026

Phantom C-Series High-Speed Cameras Set a New Standard for Automotive Crash and Safety Imaging

Wayne, N.J., March 26, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the latest product li...

25/03/2026

In The Hot Seat: The Art of Directing a Premier League Match

Live match directors Sarah Cheadle (Sky Sports), Rob Levi (TNT Sports), and Andrew Swift (BBC Sport) sit down with the Premier League's Rachel Nightingale t...

25/03/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Kyle Maier, St. Bonaventure University

The senior from Upstate New York is manning the mic while also interning for the athletic department's sports-information team In the live-sports-video ind...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia Launches Edge Watermarking Solution, Marks 10 Years of ContentArmor

Synamedia has announced ContentArmor Edge Watermarking, a server-side solution t...

25/03/2026

SES Taps K2 Space to Build meoSphere MEO Satellite Network

SES has announced meoSphere, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030. The first phase will pair SES-developed software-defin...

25/03/2026

Reuters and TVU Networks Begin Satellite-to-IP Migration for Live News Distribution

TVU Networks is working with Reuters on a phased migration from satellite to a c...

25/03/2026

Nielsen Names Three Senior Hires in Sports, Advertising, and Publishing Roles

Nielsen has announced three senior appointments. Seth Ladetsky has been named Head of Global Sports. Trevor Fellows will lead Nielsen's advertiser and agenc...

25/03/2026

Anoki and Amagi Bring Scene-Level Intelligence to In-Content CTV Ads

Anoki and Amagi have launched In-Scene Ads powered by Anoki ContextIQ across Amagi's portfolio of in-content ad formats for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: Arkona to Unveil BLADE//planner and Platform Updates

Arkona Technologies will announce a series of enhancements to its BLADE//runner platform at NAB 2026 (Booth C.1808). The updates focus on usability and workflow...

25/03/2026

San Diego Padres Partners With Daktronics to Enhance Petco Park

Daktronics has installed two tower displays and a video wall in the Lexus Club at Petco Park in San Diego ahead of the 2026 season. Continuing to improve the ...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: MultiDyne Marks 50th Anniversary

MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is celebrating its 50th anniversary as NAB Show 2026 approaches. The company was founded in 1976 by Vincent Jachetta, an N...

25/03/2026

NAB 2026: IPC to Debut with One Connect Intercom Platform and New One Link Keypanels

IPC, a provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 de...

25/03/2026

ESPN Tops 2026 Sports Emmy Nominations With 63 Nods

Live production categories were led by NBC, FOX, and ESPN's NFL coverage...

25/03/2026

Atlanta Braves and Spectrum Reach Multiyear Distribution Agreement for BravesVision

The Atlanta Braves and Spectrum have announced a multiyear distribution agreemen...

25/03/2026

The AI Doc Asks the Question No One Wants to Answer

(L-R) Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher attend The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre ...

25/03/2026

Kelsey Lu and Savanah Leaf Lean Into the Emotional Core of Running To Pain' in Episode Three of Directed By'

Directed By, Spotify's documentary-style series that pulls back the curtain ...

25/03/2026

BTS and Spotify Bring ARIRANG' to Top Fans in New York City

BTS is so back., This week, the global pop superstars took the stage at New York City's Pier 17 for their first U.S. performance in four years. Part of Spo...

25/03/2026

Step Into Sound at Our New Spotify Listening Lounge in London

How you listen can shape what you hear. That's the idea behind the new Spotify Listening Lounge, an acoustic space at our London headquarters purpose-built ...

25/03/2026

Iconic Instruments launch Transport Vintage Tape

Tape effects taken to the extreme The latest release from New York-based developer Iconic Instruments is said to accurately recreate the saturation and comp...

25/03/2026

Sonuscore introduce Fantasy Vocal Phrases

Launched alongside new Vocal Phrases bundle Sonuscore's latest release has been designed specifically for composers working on fantasy TV, film and game...

25/03/2026

Steinberg unveil Nuendo 15

Latest update now live The latest version of Steinberg's post-production-focused DAW has just arrived, and comes packed with new dialogue editing, sound...

25/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz joins FormFactor's MeasureOne partner program

Rohde & Schwarz joins FormFactor's MeasureOne partner program FormFactor and Rohde & Schwarz advance their partnership for on-wafer RF component character...

25/03/2026

L3Harris, RFTEQ Sign Agreement to Advance Sovereign Electronic Warfare Capability in Australia

L3Harris Technologies and RFTEQ Pty Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to ...

25/03/2026

L3Harris to Provide Autonomous Underwater Capability for US Navy Submarines

L3Harris delivers combat-ready Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery system, which deploys and retrieves Iver4 900 autonomous underwater vehicles through submarine t...

25/03/2026

Nielsen Names New Senior Leaders Supporting Sports, Advertising and Publishing Clients

The company expands leadership team under Chief Revenue Officer Amilcar Perez S...

25/03/2026

Stable TV Viewership in Poland in February as Warner Bros. Discovery Retains Top Spot

Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony features in top 10 programmes of the month...

25/03/2026

Mediaproxy to Show Upgrades to LogServer at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...