NHL Puck Drop 2021: In Bristol, ESPN Opens New Studio for The Point, Continues To Push the REMI Envelope New workflow is intended to produce in-game wraparound coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 4:17 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
While much of the attention for the NHL's return to ESPN tonight is focused on the broadcaster's innovative game productions, ESPN's team has worked equally hard to ensure that the studio product is just as groundbreaking. In addition to launching a studio for The Point - ESPN's new NHL-focused studio show - at its Bristol, CT, facility, ESPN has also built a pair of REMI production-control rooms and an innovative switching workflow to support wrap-around coverage of each game.
Inside Studio F: Technology and Style Meet at The Point The Point, which premiered on Oct. 7 and is airing daily Oct. 12-15 before moving to its weekly home at 3 p.m. ET Thursdays on ESPN2, originates from Studio F in the DC1 building on the Bristol campus.
John Buccigross, primary host of NHL 2Night on ESPN2 from 1998 to 2004, returns to the host seat for The Point. (All photos: Kelly Backus/ESPN Images)
Originally a SportsCenter studio, Studio F has been used as a wrap studio in recent years. When ESPN obtained the NHL rights package, the studio-operations team opted to split the 4,357-sq-ft. area with two-thirds of the space going to the new NHL studio and the other third reserved for a future project. A wall was erected, the studio was gutted, and the studio-design team began with a clean slate.
The result is an ultra-flexible set featuring a sleek new look and state-of-the-art technology. The set's flexible color palette uses light tones, brushed aluminum, white marble, and light wood laminates, whose appearance changes with adjusted lighting cues. Tracked Plexiglas panels enable a broad array of graphic looks that can change easily throughout the programming.
Studio F is one of the facilities inside DC1 that has been upgraded from 720p to 1080p (the entire building will eventually be 1080p like its counterpart DC2), and it is equipped with 4K-capable cameras.
The main desk can accommodate up to five hosts and analysts and has removable wings with LED displays, allowing the size to be adjusted on the fly to meet the needs of the show or segment.
With those removable wings and the LED displays integrated, the desk can be extended when you have more [on-air] talent or can be shrunk down if you have less talent, says Tony Lacaprucia, coordinating operations specialist, ESPN. The main desk can be shot in a traditional sense, or it can be shot in the round. The large LED display directly behind the desk has two alcoves where we can put cameras so they're out of sight. They don't make it into the other camera shots, which allows us to shoot in the round.
All LED displays throughout the studio comprise Design LED AmFlex Pro 1.9-mm LED tiles. Behind the main desk are two 1440 1080 displays stitched together to form a video wall. The displays flanking the main desk are 1456 780, and the LED display on the desk itself is 208 1560 wide (with two 624 208 LED displays for the optional wings).
The studio features an interview area with swappable scenic pieces that allow ESPN to easily switch among a variety of looks: traditional desk, casual seating with a coffee table, demo area, virtual/AR. This area also has a trio of 1040 624 LED walls.
The template we use for all our studios is that everything has to be versatile, but that space is especially unique and versatile, says Lacaprucia. We have to be able to adjust and rebrand very quickly, and this studio allows us to do that.
The third area of Studio F has an 86-in. Phillips 10-point touchscreen, the only non-LED display in the entire studio.
Besides manually operated cameras, the studio is equipped with two fully robotic cameras. A MoSys eCrane running on StarTracker real-time optical-camera-tracking software allows AR elements to be integrated into the show live.
In addition to The Point and In the Crease from Studio F, The Drop, a 30-minute digital live-streaming production, originates from the Studio E Lounge set in Bristol.
REMI, REMCO, and Wraparounds: Bristol Is the Hub In addition to the new studio, Bristol will serve as the home to REMI (Remote Integration) and REMCO (Remote Control) NHL productions this year and also serve as the hub for its extensive wrap-around coverage throughout the season. To support the REMI workload for NHL and other shows, ESPN recently built two production-control rooms.
Between REMI, REMCO, and studio [operations], it's quite a new challenge, and we couldn't ask for better people to be involved in taking it on, says Joel Banks, senior manager, production operations, ESPN. We have developed unique workflows to manage multiple streams [to serve] ESPN+, ESPN linear, and the various end points for each of these events. We have developed workflows that allow us to do [wrap-arounds for] multiple games at the same time out of the same facility.
Under this production model for wrap-arounds, the TD in the control room responsible for wrap-around coverage of each game uses innovative switching to send multiple versions of simultaneous events to the Bristol Transmission Center for delivery to ESPN, ESPN+, ABC, or Hulu. As a result, what would previously have taken multiple master-control rooms can now be done in a single production-control room using innovative switcher resources.
Given that we will have some doubleheaders, games that slightly overlap, and things like that, says Banks, we knew we may have to do wrap-arounds on multiple networks at similar times. So we had to rethink how we were going to handle that. We have the source to master control be the PCR, and the output of that PCR coul
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
NHL Puck Drop 2021: In Bristol, ESPN Opens New Studio for The Point, Continues To Push the REMI Envelope New workflow is intended to produce in-game wraparound coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
