Live From the US Open: ESPN Operation Is Bigger Than Ever, Has Plenty of New Tech Toys Aerial system, NetCam, behind-scenes robos top the camera debuts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, August 31, 2018 - 3:15 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
For ESPN, it simply doesn't get bigger than US Open tennis. Even with thousands of live events on its annual production calendar, ESPN's annual pilgrimage to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC) stands out as the largest and most complex.
The ESPN ops/tech team leaders (from left) at the US Open: Dennis Cleary, Steve Raymond, Sam Olsen, and Joalin Goff
In ESPN's fourth year as host broadcaster and sole domestic-rights holder -part of an 11-year rights deal - the technical and operations teams continue to evolve production workflows and add elements. Highlights this year include the debut of a Fletcher Tr-ACE/SimplyLive ViBox automated production system covering the nine outer courts, a CineLine two-point aerial system, the US Open debut of the NetCam, and several new behind-the-scenes robotic positions at the NTC.
This truly is the largest event that ESPN produces out of the thousands of events that we do all year, and it's all done in a 3 week span, says ESPN Director, Remote Operations, Dennis Cleary. And the most important thing to remember is that we are not here just for ESPN domestic. Our primary role is as the host broadcaster to serve the USTA and all of their clients, and all of our other productions come off that. That is a huge undertaking for this team, and we think it's pretty impressive.
135 Cameras Cover the NTC
ESPN has once again deployed a throng of cameras at the NTC, totaling 135 in all (including nine Fletcher Tr-ACE systems with four robotic cameras each).
New this year is a two-point aerial CineLine system (top of image here) running between Armstrong and Court 10 over the South Plaza Fountain
New this year is a two-point aerial CineLine system (provided by Picture Factory) running between Armstrong and Court 10, a run of roughly 1,000 ft. The lightweight, RF system is battery-powered, making for easier setup than the two-point systems previously used. The system, which provides bumpers and beauty shots from the South Plaza Fountain area, was set up and live in just over a day.
There have been two-point systems here before, notes Steve Raymond, senior remote operations specialist, ESPN. But we feel that this is the most sophisticated that we've had here. As more of these systems are coming to market, we are looking for solutions that are easier to implement. Because this one runs primarily on batteries, it requires very little in terms of infrastructure. With some of the more complex systems, you have to rig fiber and three-phase motors. So, in terms of the time to deploy and ease of deployment, it is significantly easier.
After a successful debut at Wimbledon in June and the Australian Open in January, Telstra Broadcast Services' NetCam is getting its US Open debut this week. The Globecam POV miniature camera is deployed on each side of the net at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the Grandstand for singles matches. The HD 1080i/50 camera system features full-remote camera control and digital pan/framing adjustment, providing viewers with a close-up look at the action on the court.
2018 seems to be the year of the NetCam - kicking off in Australia and then Wimbledon and then here at the Open - with advancements along the way, says ESPN Manager, Remote Operations, Joalin Goff. It's really been embraced by [the production team] and integrated heavily into our coverage. In just the first day, we had over a dozen replays and multiple live warmup shots.
The SpiderCam four-point aerial camera system is back at Ashe this year.
In addition to CineLine and NetCam, Intel's Tru View 360-degree camera system and the SpiderCam four-point aerial system are both back at Ashe.
ESPN has also added three robotic camera locations to provide more-intimate looks at two newly constructed player warmup areas and the stringer room, where rackets are strung during the tournament.
In addition to everything that has been expanded on the grounds externally, the USTA has improved the internal player areas, says Goff. So we have activated three new robotic cameras to give us a more intimate look at those areas. The warmup areas give us great behind-the-scenes shots of the players. In the stringer room, if a racket comes off the court to be restrung, we typically have used a handheld to cover that. Now we have a robo back there, so we have the ability to go to that shot at any moment.
Camera Positions In New Armstrong Stadium Evolve
The debut of the brand-new Louis Armstrong Stadium this week is the culmination of more than two years of planning and construction, a process throughout which ESPN worked closely with the USTA.
The debut of the brand-new Louis Armstrong Stadium this week is the culmination of more than two years of planning and construction in which ESPN played a major role with the USTA.
[Our technical team] has worked with the USTA group to make sure that the appropriate amount of fiber connectivity and power exists in Armstrong, not only from our typical camera locations but also with an eye on expanding the coverage, says Goff. [During construction], you have the maps, but you don't know what the site is truly going to look like until you get closer to the event. Now seeing it in action gives us the chance to adjust as necessary based on structural positioning.
In addition to ESPN's primary set at the South Gate Fountain (seen here), it has its practice court set and a new standup location inside Armstrong.
However, a venue is never truly finished. In response to TV-viewer feedback, ESPN worked with the USTA t
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Live From the US Open: ESPN Operation Is Bigger Than Ever, Has Plenty of New Tech Toys Aerial system, NetCam, behind-scenes robos top the camera debuts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
