NBA Returns: Steve Hellmuth Discusses the Monumental and Multi-pronged Effort to Produce Quality Coverage By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Thursday, August 6, 2020 - 3:23 pm
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The NBA Summer League has historically been a competition where NBA teams can try out different players and the league can try out different broadcast and digital technologies and workflows. It also provided a blueprint for what is happening this summer as the NBA season has continued at the Wide World of Sports facility in Orlando and the NBA, along with ESPN, Turner Sports, and the regional sports network, have collaborated on a massive 200,000 sq. ft. production facility and completely new approaches towards NBA production.
With 35 robotic cameras across the WWOS campus the league can cover the action safely.
Some days I wake up in Orlando and think I am at the Summer League, says Steve Hellmuth, NBA Entertainment, EVP, Media Operations and Technology. The Summer League was where we tested the railcam with ESPN and Turner, and now it is here, and it's been spectacular.
TV production innovation is what the NAB restart has been all about as the goal is to produce a top-quality product with a minimal team to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infections and spread. Collaboration among hundreds of people on site has been the difference and Hellmuth says the work done with ESPN's Eddie Okuno, senior remote production operations specialist and Chris Brown, Turner Sports, VP, Sports Production Technology, is indicative of the collaboration.
At the Summer League we experimented with a courtside robotic camera and Eddie and Chris really talked it through for WWOS and came up with the idea for a robotic camera on an arm on the side of the backboard that looks through the glass and can go above the glass, says Hellmuth.
The NBA's IBC is a massive 200,000 sq. ft. compound that is at the center of the NBA's restart.
Hellmuth points to a frictionless interview position as another innovation that is taking place in the NBA bubble. The goal was to figure out a way for players to simply walk off the court and up to a camera and be interviewed without the need for any in-person human interaction.
The engineers at NEP worked on the idea and the player walks up and give the player a return of the actual video and audio of the announcer in the studio via the NBA HSAN, says Hellmuth. The player can see the talent, listen to the question, and then look into the camera to answer it.
While it sounds simple in concept, Hellmuth says it required a lot of rehearsal so that the audio mixer can raise and lower the appropriate audio channel. Mounted on the camera is a shotgun mic so the player doesn't have to touch anything. There is also no need to put on a headset or IFB. Paul Benedict, NBA Broadcasting lead, is in the Green Zone with the players, and has been working directly on the implementation.
The player is very comfortable, says Hellmuth.
The robotics control room at the NBA Production Center.
NBA Entertainment has installed 35 robotic cameras across the Wide World of Sports campus and operates a robotic farm where all of those cameras are controlled. Those cameras are used to cover everything from interviews at the practice facilities (again, frictionless) as well as capturing practices.
The coaches let us know when the practices are open and we also have to let them easily see when the cameras are on, says Hellmuth. If the camera's on and audio is working there is a green light and if the light is red the camera is completely shut down. We also turn the camera away from the court.
Hellmuth says the biggest challenge is that the NBA's technical operations center in Secaucus, NJ was never designed to support the needs of 22 regional sports networks at once and the required social distancing makes it a real challenge.
We're doing extensive testing for everyone in Secaucus and keeping people in their work cells, so they don't wander, he says.
Key to the entire effort at WWOS is creation of a world feed that is at the core of wherever the broadcast is ultimately viewed. Every game is either RSN only, national network plus RSN, or national network exclusive so it made sense to make the signals available to the RSNs remotely and have ESPN and Turner crews produce the games.
Canopies over the trucks in the compound not only protect from the elements but also allow for air conditioning to be more efficient as the canopy lowers the temperature of the trailer's roof.
The RSNs are also busy restarting baseball and hockey as well, says Hellmuth. We've been fortunate that we have had regular communication with Jon Slobotkin [NBC Sports Regional Networks SVP, Content and Live Programming] and Mike Connelly [Fox Sports Regional Networks, SVP/EP]. And Howie Singer, director for MSG Networks, is also on site and understands exactly what the RSNs need. He has gone out of his way to make sure they get everything they need, from pregame arrivals to scenic and warm-ups so the RSNs have everything they need.
Hellmuth played a big part in enhancing the audio by placing more than 30 microphones in the floor. Putting microphones in the hardwood is something he experimented with in the past but the green site at the WWOS provided the opportunity to really do it properly.
The court provides a lot of unique sounds and I gave [Audio Mixer] Dave Grundtvig a call and talked to him about it, says Hellmuth. He'll give me credit for initiating the thing, but he and NBA Technical Manager Alex Berman really did it.
With the mic plan in place, Hellmuth says the A1's working in all the trucks worked hard to figure out how to best mix the audio.
Nick Georgiev, NBA, senior technical manager, monitoring various feeds.
