Even with mobile sports production booming, truck providers face a host of challenges - both for today and for tomorrow. Although more sports events than ever are being produced for television and streaming, vendors are being asked to deliver more for less as networks look to trim production costs. In addition, technology continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, forcing providers to address the needs of today while preparing for the potential arrival of 4K and IP infrastructure. SVG sat down with 15 industry leaders to discuss the current state of the business and, more important, where it's headed in the coming years.
Here are the executives we spoke with:
Mary Ellen Carlyle, SVP/GM, Dome Productions
Len Chase, president, CSP Mobile
Craig Farrell, president, Alliance Productions
Philip Garvin, GM/founder, MTVG
Robby Greene, president/COO, IMS Productions
George Hoover, CTO, NEP
Mike Johnson, director, engineering, Dome Productions
Tim Lewis, president/founder, Proshow Broadcast
Bob Lyon, president/founder, Lyon Video
Kevin Moorhouse, managing director, Gearhouse Broadcast
George Orgera, president/CEO, F&F Productions
Chad Snyder, account manager/GM, Lyon Video
Pat Sullivan, president, Game Creek Video
Jason Taubman, VP, design and new technology, Game Creek Video
Mike Werteen, co-president, U.S. Mobile Units, NEP Broadcasting
[Click here for Executive Perspectives: The State of Mobile Sports Production, Part 2]
Large-scale events, such as tennis grand slams and golf majors, are dedicating more resources to live-streaming feeds. Do you see this expanding to more sports and events?
Carlyle: We see this trend more and more. As we provide facilities to an event - large-scale or small - there always seems to be a request for additional equipment for live streaming or second screen. Dome has a full-service rate card: mobiles, uplinks, and Web trailers. This past year, we did a skiing event where we added uplink, on-screen productions, and Webcast. Rogers NHL added EVS C-Cast for GameCentre Live on all Saturday-night broadcasts.
Snyder: We have seen small events understand streaming for several years. In fall 2012, Lyon Video provided mobile facilities for Red Bull's Stratos coverage, which was planned to only be streamed initially. At the last minute, Discovery came in and put coverage on their linear channel. At the time of the event, Stratos held the record for the most live streams of one event. Streaming has been part of our business for many years, and we have embraced the need for streaming requirements.
Moorhouse: Yes, I do, and, if anything, the second- and third-tier events will make use of this type of technology more and more as a cheaper way to get their events out to consumers. This is where IP technology will become a bigger player. It will allow us to deliver various flavors of signals to these different platforms. As a company, we just need to ensure we are up to speed with these new technologies. To this end, we have [dedicated] one of our top project engineers to investigating new technology.
How has the growth in the production of college Olympic-sports events impacted your business? Have you seen increased demand for trucks to service them?
Chase: Yes, this market is growing, but most of it is at the lower level of equipment. So there is a need for small trucks in this market. This does help some because some of these sports are during football and basketball season; there are only so many trucks [available] on any given day. With more shows at any level, it creates a demand across the board.
Greene: What I'm seeing is the need for even more content. Our partners are developing digital channels and pushing the content to as many outlets as technology and demand require. We're being asked to cover additional events that, maybe three to five years ago, we would not have had the opportunity [to cover]. Some of the budgets and expectations for the final product may vary against an A-level primetime show, but [they are] no less important.
Lewis: Absolutely. In fact, this is one of the staples of our business model. We will provide remote facilities for literally hundreds of broadcasts of Olympic sports in this college season.
Sullivan: A lot of the Olympic college events are being streamed. It is the most efficient and cost-effective way to do them, and demand will increase as the conference networks expand.
Are you planning for the potential rise of 4K? If so, how? Can the current 3G infrastructure meet near-term 4K needs? What about the long-term path for 4K?
Taubman: Yes, we are planning for 4K. A few years ago, we began installing a 3G infrastructure for 60p, which may pay benefits for 4K. We are trying to understand how to best do a 4K show with quadlink 3G, and we are prepared to do that now with a bunch of our trucks with [Grass Valley] K-Frame switchers, [EVS] XT3 replay, and Sony HDC-4300 cameras. So we are starting to get all the pieces in place. We built PeacockOne for NBC with quadlink from all of the camera sources - a first for us. So that is a sign of things to come. We are looking very carefully at IP and what is coming next. If 4K is going to move forward, is it going to have to do so on a single link? It appears that the path toward single-link will be IP.
Garvin: We are in the process of building our second 4K mobile unit, 39 FLEX, which will expand on the technology in 38 FLEX and be capable of a somewhat larger 4K production. The 3G [quadlink] infrastructure is limited by the size of an SDI router you can reasonably [install]. Long term, we would like to see the industry agree on a compression standard for 4K using an IP router.
Hoover: Currently, less than 3% of U.S. TVs have 4K capability. All our trucks built since 2011 are 4K-capable. The biggest limitation in 4K is creative restrictions imposed by the number
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Even with mobile sports production booming, truck providers face a host of challenges - both for today and for tomorrow. Although more sports events than ever are being produced for television and streaming, vendors are being asked to deliver more for less as networks look to trim production costs. In addition, technology continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, forcing providers to address the needs of today while preparing for the potential arrival of 4K and IP infrastructure. SVG sat down with 15 industry leaders to discuss the current state of the business and, more important, where it's headed in the coming years.
