CBS Sports Digital Boosts Studio-Production Ops With Revamped Facilities in Ft. Lauderdale, Stamford Besides CBS Sports HQ and soccer streaming, the new studios serve CBS linear broadcasts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - 2:36 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
As CBS Sports and CBS Sports Digital continue to grow their combined portfolio of live sports programming, both entities are looking for new ways to efficiently share studio and control-room resources. With that in mind, CBS Sports Digital relaunched its studios in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Stamford, CT, in time for the fall 2022 football and Italian soccer seasons with major technological enhancements to the sets and control rooms.
The CBS Sports Digital studios in Ft. Lauderdale and Stamford relaunched with new LED walls prior to the NFL season.
We were looking at [studio operations] from a much higher level, not just our streaming shows but also CBS Sports, soccer shows, and everything across the CBS family, says Aaron Gillespy, director, engineering, CBS Sports Digital. And we wanted to build facilities that would not only serve us today but could change and adapt in the future.
In addition to around-the-clock live studio programming on CBS Sports HQ, the facilities also play a big role in streaming coverage of UEFA Champions League, Serie A, and other international club soccer on CBS Sports and Paramount+. The upgrades at the two studios created a parallel setup across the Ft. Lauderdale and Stamford locations for a consistent look for productions of Serie A, CBS Sports HQ, Fantasy Football Today, SportsLine programming, as well as CBS Sports HQ Spotlight, which airs on CBS Sports Network.
From the linear perspective, we saw a great opportunity to collaborate and bring the streaming and linear teams together, says Mike Francis, VP, engineering and technology, CBS Sports. We don't have the footprint for any additional studio space here at the CBS Broadcast Center and BMW building [in New York City]. Being able to have a multi-use facility that we can leverage has been great for the linear-production teams while also creating a better product for streaming.
Inside the Studio: LED Wall With Three-Curves Offers Versatility, Quality With a three-curve LED wall on set and agile control-room designs, the two nearly identical studios can seamlessly transition from one show to the next in matter of minutes.
The beauty of these facilities is, we can mix and match, says Gillespy. We can run soccer in the morning, CBS Sports HQ in the afternoon, more soccer right behind that, and then highlights for HQ or other groups in the evening. Because it's LED with minimal set pieces, with the flip of a switch, you can transition from one show to another.
CBS Sports HQ Spotlight host Amanda Guerra on the new set (Photo: Mary Kouw/CBS)
With the 35 million-pixel, 1.8-DPI LED wall, CBS Sports HQ and other shows can produce a higher-quality studio design that matches the level of CBS and CBS Sports Network's linear programming.
The studio is outfitted with five Sony HCP-P50 cameras with Canon CJ15ex4.3B, CJ17ex6.2B, and CJ20ex5B lenses; three Ross Video CamBot robotic-camera pedestals; one Egripment TDT crane; and one ARRI Artemis 2 camera stabilizer with Vislink wireless Tx/Rx and RCP control.
513 Partner/Principal Tom Lenz was enlisted to design the studio, and systems integration was done in-house, led by CBS Sports Digital Lead Systems Administrator Keith Pryor. Other key vendors included Fuse and DetaiLED Solutions for the LED panels and Showman Fabricators for set fabrication.
After we went through rehearsals for the first time with graphics, it didn't have the feel that we were looking for, recounts Gillespy. But because of the flexibility of the LED wall, within a week, the graphics group had built a completely new look for the set, giving it an absolutely different feel. Within two weeks, we had gone through three or four iterations of a different look for the set; that would have taken us months to change out in the past. There was no changing paint color or swapping out gear; it was just the graphics group designing it and making the change pretty much instantly.
Inside the Control Room: Serving Live Productions Big and Small The control room is built around a Ross Ultrix Accuity switcher and features Ross Xpression for on-air graphics and Ross Tessera for the in-studio LED screens, Evertz DreamCatcher replay systems, a Grass Valley GVOrbit routing/orchestration system, and Calrec Brio audio console.
You have the ability to go from more linear-style production for soccer with a fully staffed control room and studio to an HQ production, which is on a more efficient scale on back-to-back shows, says Francis. The [CBS Sports Digital] team did a great job of making it a flexible control-room space. The smaller-scale shows can operate as thin as a couple of people, or we can fill every bench with a full crew like you would see in a larger linear-network production. They did a great job of being flexible.
SportsLine host Tommy Tran inside the new studio (Photo: Mary Kouw/CBS)
To meet the tight timeline to launch by the beginning of the U.S. football and Italian soccer seasons, the studio went live in HD-SDI, but the entire facility has an upgrade path to SMPTE ST 2110 as well as to 4K and HDR.
We landed on HD-SDI to make that deadline, but there's absolutely no reason that we can't go 2110 for on both of them at any point in time, says Gillespy. Everything has an upgrade path at the flip of a switch. The wall itself supports 4K, the processors support both 4K and HDR, lenses are already 4K, and the cameras are running 1080i but with a license available for 4K. So everything is ready to go should we decide to go in that direction.
From Co
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
CBS Sports Digital Boosts Studio-Production Ops With Revamped Facilities in Ft. Lauderdale, Stamford Besides CBS Sports HQ and soccer streaming, the new studios serve CBS linear broadcasts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
