Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SVG Sit-Down: Sony's Mikio Kita on Transformative Technologies and a Cloud-Based Future

10/05/2021

SVG Sit-Down: Sony's Mikio Kita on Transformative Technologies and a Cloud-Based Future Acquisition of Nevion enhances remote-production solutions By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Monday, May 10, 2021 - 2:15 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Mikio Kita, VP, media solutions, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions, and the Sony team around the globe had an eventful 2020 and 2021. There was the acquisition of Nevion in September, which brought in transformative technologies, continued developments around cloud-based services, and, of course, the use of digital cinema cameras in live sports broadcasts. Kita recently sat down with SVG to discuss the changing production environment, Sony's evolution, and more.

Sony's Mikio Kita: Gradually, the HD type of [live sports] production is going to be on the cloud.

Looking back at 2020, what were some of the big changes that impacted the media industry the most?

First, there was the increased need for remote solutions. Due to the influence of the COVID-19, the need for remote and distributed production is increasing at production sites across the globe. Many large-scale events took place remotely, without or with a limited audience, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, and this is where Sony's remote-production solution has shown its strength and effectiveness.

Sony's solutions offer a way to collaborate, share resources, minimize travel and contact, and have fewer personnel onsite for greater efficiency and effectiveness, while still offering a high-quality production. This transition and mentality will have a lasting impact on the way productions are achieved moving forward.

Additionally, we've seen a growing need for fast, efficient, and effective workflows that leverage cloud-based solutions. More than ever, having productive discussions with our customers and partners is helping us all to support one another and overcome these unprecedented circumstances. We firmly believe our solutions inspire professionals' creativity, and we always want to hear their voice and feedback, which encourages us to keep innovating.

What are some of the core strengths and key areas that you'll be focusing on in 2021?

The key area is, of course, the strength of our cameras, switchers, and hardware, but I would like to emphasize that the key focus is IP technology. And Sony's IP-based solution offers integrated optimal experience for the customers. We continue to bring to market new offerings for every type of broadcast production, allowing producers and companies to work effectively and safely in tighter space or remote. They can share resources - such as equipment, facilities, and even staff - across locations in real time, getting the best of the team's experience and creativity.

And then there is the cloud as well. So it's a combination of hardware, IP, software, the cloud. And we have also been working on integrating AI technologies for advanced remote solutions and more-efficient workflow.

It's all part of our corporate technology theme this year, which is 3R technology: reality, real time, and remote. We will continue development of the camera technology and switchers, but, on top of that, we acquired Nevion, and the entire wide-range network-architecture design is now ready from Sony Nevion.

What does Nevion mean for your workflows and technology?

Nevion is a Norwegian technology company that is providing media-network infrastructure solutions to broadcasters, telecommunication-service providers, government agencies, and, of course, other industries. Their solutions are [increasingly] based on ST-2110 IP and cloud technology, and they enable transport, processing, monitoring, and management of professional-quality video, audio, data in real time, reliably and securely.

Nevion's solutions are used to power major sporting and live events across the globe, and we have been working very closely with them for several years. Last September, we acquired 100% of the company. And now, as venues and facilities are connected via WAN or LAN, we can control them, share resources, and make remote-production concepts happen.

We fully understood that the last important technology piece is SDN, software-defined-network technologies. And Nevion's SDN technology fully controls the COTS IP suite, regardless of which manufacturer it is.

So, the acquisition ties directly to our 3R technology and further solidifies Sony's commitment to IP and leadership in the space.

How do you see your remote-production solutions creating new business opportunities for you?

As our solutions move to the cloud and data-center type of resource-sharing, our customers can move from capex model to opex and pay-as-you go type of model. In the case of the very high-end sports [coverage], like 4K or UHD, where very large bit streams are necessary, we will still need a hardware-based and on-premises type of solution. But, gradually, the HD type of production is going to be on the cloud.

Sony cinema cameras are being used in sports. Are you surprised to see those cameras deployed in those sorts of applications?

Yeah. Sony has been at the forefront of a new trend in live sports production, in which broadcast companies are keen to utilize cinema camera, like our VENICE, in handheld gimbals and capable of shallow depths of field shooting on the field during the game. It's also about after the big play: [the shot of] the player's expression in shallow-depth-of-field pictures is very impressive.

That trend will continue, and the larger sensor and the great auto-focus technology of our camera gives the content a great cinematic look, which viewers are appreciating now. We are really enjoying the new trend and offering our cinema cameras.

Do you think there's a new opportunity for a new type of digi
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/05/10/svg-sit-down-sonys-mikio-kita-o...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation in Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Dublin Opener Sees Sky Sports Take Remote Route

Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Pumas Maul Lions as S4C and TG4 Deliver First-Ever Joint Host in Dublin

Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...

24/06/2025

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...

23/06/2025

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NBC Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery, and AWS

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...

23/06/2025

Finding the Edge: How Badger & Combes Produces Live-Streamed Coverage of County Cricket for LancsTV

Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...

23/06/2025

Masters of Madness: New Football Format Shakes Up the Rules of Sportainment

Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38 Print This Story The ball i...

23/06/2025

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Building Near Denver

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...

23/06/2025

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production Facility at Disney's 7 Hudson Square

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...

20/06/2025

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can Play

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...

20/06/2025

Sky Sports Goes Large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR Graphics, UHD and a Pop Up Channel

Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...

20/06/2025

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, Legacy

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...

19/06/2025

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning George Wensel Technical Achievement Award

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning Geor...

18/06/2025

Technology Focus: Fan Expectations Drive Advances in the In-Stadium Experience

Technology focus: Fan expectations drive advances in the in-stadium experience By Jo Ruddock Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 08:36 Print This Story For years, att...

18/06/2025

Making Connections: How Stadiums Are Meeting the Ever-Growing Demand for Data and Connectivity

Making connections: How stadiums are meeting the ever-growing demand for data an...

18/06/2025

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at 2024 Paris Olympics

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at ...

18/06/2025

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League Victory Parade

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League...

17/06/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon on Powering DTC Streams for Teams Reclaiming Media Rights

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon o...

17/06/2025

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, Brand Measurement

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, B...

17/06/2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025 Leaders from ESL FACEIT Group, Riot Games, and more break down the latest trends By Jason Dachman, ...

17/06/2025

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Stefan Wistuba

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS...

17/06/2025

Production Ambitions: Over Exposed on Making the National League Promotion Final for DAZN as Spectacular as Possible

Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...