Temple Athletics Enters New Era With In-House Control Room for Live Streaming Built around Ross Video gear, the facility powers live production for ESPN+ By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 2:54 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
For Kevin Hession, director, video production/broadcast engineer, Athletics Department, Temple University, it was an offer he couldn't refuse.
In fall 2019, he was happily producing live events in the ultra-busy (at the time) Ivy League for Brown University. But, when Kevin Copp, associate athletic director, video production, Temple - a former Ivy League colleague - came calling with an opportunity to oversee construction of a brand-new control room, how could he possibly say no?
Temple University's brand-new centralized control room in Liacouras Center supports live-streaming production to the AAC's media-rights partner, ESPN.
A move down I-95, a global pandemic, and a speedy integration later, Hession and his team of three full-time video-production professionals are ensconced in their new control room, delivering a wealth of live coverage of Owl sports to ESPN
This is an opportunity to bring more in-depth coverage of Temple's athletics programs than our alumni and fanbase may traditionally be used to, says Hession. We have a solid team here now, and we're starting to put some miles on this thing. We needed to do this, and this was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
The control room, which takes up space previously occupied by a storage room in Temple's primary basketball venue, Liacouras Center, and can produce live broadcasts of multiple sports from three athletics facilities on campus. In addition to Liacouras Center, the control room is connected via 24 strands of fiber to McGonigle Hall across the street (courtesy of the Temple University IT Department) and by NDI cloud through internet connection provided by Comcast to the Temple Sports Complex, which is about a half mile down the road.
Construction began in earnest in fall 2019 when Hession came on board, but it hit a significant roadblock when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down collegiate athletics in March 2020. The goal had been to have a control room operational for the start of the 2020-21 academic year, which is when the American Athletic Conference's media-rights agreement with ESPN would deliver live sports coverage to the rapidly growing ESPN+ streaming platform.
Integrated by Alpha Video, Temple's new control room is built around a core of gear from Ross Video.
Instead, Liacouras Center became a FEMA overflow center in Philadelphia's fight against the coronavirus, and full integration on the room didn't begin until September.
Working with integration partner Alpha Video, the Temple team built the space in just three months, finishing it five days before its first event: a men's basketball game vs. New Jersey Institute of Technology on Dec. 19.
To go from a storage space to a fully produced in-house men's basketball game in about a year, says Hession. I'm still shocked at how quickly that went.
The control room is built around Ross gear: Ultrix 5RU routing core, Carbonite Ultra production switcher, Carbonite Black 2S 2M/E control panel, a pair of Xpressions (provided by the AAC office to facilitate graphics integration with league media partner ESPN), Abekas Mira+ eight-channel replay system, Yamaha CL3 digital audio-mixing console, and Telex RTS ODIN 64-port intercom matrix.
The gear supports a full-fledged, two-bench primary control room. An additional B-level control room, Hession says, is being constructed in the back. The hope is, having the secondary space will enable simultaneous production of multiple events for live streaming. The need for such ability was emphasized during an extremely busy crossover season this spring, when numerous winter, spring, and rescheduled fall sports overlapped.
After construction and integration that took less than three months, a home men's basketball game on Dec. 19 was the first event produced from the new control room.
In addition to Copp and Hession, Live Production Coordinators Cristian Chavez and Russ Troeller are filling crucial roles as the team looks to make the most of the busy crossover season, delivering live coverage for such sports as men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, and women's lacrosse.
According to Hession, things are just getting started. He and the team hope to continue to build out the secondary production space to allow multiple full live productions and to bring even more live coverage to Temple sports in the 2021-22 season, when, hopefully, schedules return to a more traditional cadence.
The main goals are to provide the best coverage possible and to grow that coverage year after year, says Hession. I want to keep it going and keep building. I think Temple and the AAC have given us the tools to accomplish that.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Temple Athletics Enters New Era With In-House Control Room for Live Streaming Built around Ross Video gear, the facility powers live production for ESPN+ By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
