
BitFire Networks Develops Custom Remote Production Solutions Through Their Propriety Transport Network By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - 9:15 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Sports Video Group is excited to introduce BitFire Networks as a new corporate sponsor. With headquarters in Phoenix and Boston, the company is an end-to-end live video transmission and production solution built by broadcasters. BitFire was created in response to a new-world demand for agile, professional-grade, live IP video transport. At its core, the company was formed from the collaboration of broadcast veterans, including Ken Aagaard, Bob Sullivan, Jim Akimchuk, and Ben Grafchik, and successful manufacturing and transport business owner and strategist, Timothy W. Sullivan.
It was a top priority to join the SVG community given its reach and history, says Grafchik, VP, Business Development, BitFire Networks. Members of our company have been a part of the SVG community for a long time.
BitFire's comprehensive platform includes the BitFire Transport Network, a fully managed portal that provides point-to-point delivery of broadcast-quality video to wherever it needs to go. The BitFire Transport Network can be accessed in one of two ways:
through browser-based FireBridge, when broadcast is needed for one-to-one or one-to-many live contribution and collaboration
through FirePower, a stackable HD server and authentic configuration that receives and delivers video packets with deterministic latency and frame-accurate synchronization
BitFire production services are provided by a team of broadcast experts, along with production trucks and additional assets, including remote production control rooms (REMI), camera packages, and live production and post- production capabilities. The BitFire team takes live video from where it is, to where it needs to be.
Over the past year, BitFire Networks has been at the center of many high-profile sports productions. One of the biggest was the NHL Draft back in October. BitFire was able to integrate all 31 teams and more than 40 of the top prospects around the globe into the BitFire Transport Network. The setup allowed them to transmit live feeds to and from The NHL Network's control center in Secaucus, NJ.
Collaborating with BitFire to produce coverage of the 2020 NHL Draft was an extremely rewarding experience, says Susan Stone SVP Operations & Engineering, MLB Network. BitFire provided a robust and efficient IP transmission system, which was vital in presenting this world-class virtual experience for one of the NHL's tentpole events.
Staying within NHL-related productions, BitFire was also tapped for the 2020 NHL Gaming World Championship and the live streams being presented on Twitch. With competitors playing in remote locations around the world, BitFire's FireBridge helped players communicate with one another while their discrete camera and audio feeds were sent to BitFire's control room in Boston for a full broadcast production complete with EVS replay and Chyron graphics.
As the calendar flipped to college football and basketball, the industry once again called on BitFire to adjust to an increased volume of remote productions. For example, SkyCam, a technical innovation that has become commonplace on both NFL and college football broadcasts, utilized the services of BitFire Networks. SkyCam's video feed was encoded through the BitFire Transport Network servers and was then sent to FireBridge. The setup allowed SkyCam to not only monitor and communicate, but also operate their systems in real time, via a browser, from disparate, remote locations.
While the Pandemic has accelerated everyone's timetable for remote initiatives, we found BitFire has a mature solution and platform already in place, says Stephen Wharton, Chief Operating Officer, SkyCam.
In addition, CBS Sports Network's partner, Gravity Productions, leveraged BitFire servers inside their onsite mobile units for the NCAA Season. Bitfire sent real-time feeds to announcers in their offsite production facility in New Jersey and back to Gravity's headquarters in California to add graphics and replay elements.
These numerous case studies illustrate the reliability and reach of BitFire's production services. Moving forward, Grafchik is excited to showcase these products to a larger audience through the Sports Video Group.
SVG is an industry leader, he concludes. The ability to work with other leaders across various aspects of sports video production will allow us to provide a more advanced, agile, and scalable product as we continue to deal with the ever-evolving changes within the technical landscape which is sports video.
North America Stories
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
11/06/2026
Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards)
By Lucy Spicer
It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...
11/06/2026
MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...
11/06/2026
Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...