
CBS Sports Continues To Innovate With PGA TOUR West Coast Swing Full RF coverage this week, FlyCam for next week are latest enhancements By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, February 3, 2023 - 1:21 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The West Coast swing of CBS Sports PGA TOUR coverage is under way, and with it come some innovations. Notable among them are a live interview with a miked Max Homa playing the 13th hole at Farmers Insurance Open last week, a FlyCam at the famed WM Phoenix Open 16th par 3, and RF coverage at Monterey Peninsula Country Club for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend.
The upper compound for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which will be broadcast on CBS this weekend
We worked in collaboration with the PGA TOUR on adding RF coverage to Monterey Peninsula last year, says Adam Stouter, senior director, remote technical operations, CBS Sports. Because of that success, we've added Spyglass so we're essentially covering three courses with RF, which is pretty cool. It has a feeling of a major with three courses, an upper and lower compound, and a BSI presence at the two outer courses.
Super Bowl LVII will be in town the same time as the WM Phoenix Open, bringing added energy to an event that can draw 200,000 fans.
The 16th has the huge bowl, and the coverage around Sam Ryder's hole-in-one last year was a lot of fun, says Stouter. We're going to add a FlyCam there this year.
During the Farmers Insurance Open, Max Homa chatted live with the CBS broadcast crew via an AirPod from Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The miked-up feature last week had golf fans on social media buzzing as Max Homa, who eventually won the tournament, was able to talk with the CBS broadcast team while playing the par-5 13th hole. (To watch the clip, click here)
I think you're definitely going to see more of that throughout the season, says Stouter. It's about giving golf fans what they want: the access and insights to the players during competition. It was huge and something we've been wanting to do for a while. And with Max winning, we couldn't have scripted it better.
The Riedel Bolero system and an Apple AirPod were at the center of the effort. We deployed Bolero antennas to give us full coverage of the hole, Stouter explains. The thought was to make this as easy as possible for the players. The only thing Homa had to do was put in one AirPod so he could focus on the competition and not on wearing gear. We've been impressed with the Bolero systems out there on the course.
(After the tournament, Homa said, Hopefully, we can keep pushing that or tweak it - just anything to help golf gain some attraction to all the viewers, hopefully a little bit younger than our typical audience. I think that's what the goal is. )
According to Stouter, the operations team is going down two parallel paths when it comes to PGA coverage: First, we want to ensure that we have robust core coverage of all the golf shots on the course. Second was just to identify enhancements we can strategically use throughout the season on designated tournaments to make them feel bigger and unique. We're also excited to have the Fed Ex playoffs for the first time.
That means up to 16 hard cameras and up to 11 RF handheld cameras, an RF jib, and an Inertia Unlimited xMo high-speed system every week. More shallow depth of field via Sony F5500, FX3, and FX6 cameras is planned, along with drone coverage supplied by Beverly Hills Aerials and Kaze Aerials. And Trackman will provide more ball tracing from tee boxes and fairways.
And we have Virtual Eye back with us, adds Stouter. Their animations, tracing, and AR are an integral part of our broadcast graphics.
As for production trucks, NEP Supershooter 4 will be used for the West Coast swing and for the Mexico Open; NEP Supershooter CBS will be deployed for the rest of the season.
We've got an amazing technical crew out here and an amazing production team led by producer Sellers Shy and director Steve Milton, adds Stouter. It's just great being back out here, and everybody's excited. We're in year two of our new deal with the PGA TOUR, and they have an amazing team as well. We just stay close with them on everything from laying out the compound or sharing resources. We're starting to see more and more potential for efficiencies on the tech side.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
27/08/2026
ESPN and Disney are launching College Football Saturdays, adding two college football games per week to Disney for U.S. subscribers as part of their existing ...
27/08/2026
Zixi will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 5, Stand 5.A76, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating the Zixi Platform and the latest release of Zixi Broadcaster, ...
27/08/2026
NDI has announced that its ecosystem has surpassed 1.2 million NDI-enabled hardware nodes worldwide, spanning products from more than 200 hardware brands across...
27/08/2026
Clear-Com conducted a pre-launch field trial of FreeSpeak Cell during Carnival 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with Brazilian systems integrator Savana C...
27/08/2026
BHV returns to IBC 2026 with an important milestone for its own SportsBox: the broadcast industry's smallest remote vision mixer and format processor has mo...
27/08/2026
TOGETHXR and Snapchat have announced the second cohort of their Snap the Gap content creator program, welcoming nine athletes as Snap Stars. The program provide...
27/08/2026
MediaKind has announced that CNBC UK has selected Beam to modernize its contribution and distribution infrastructure for live broadcast operations. The deployme...
27/08/2026
Monitor engineer Chris Dwight has deployed Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bi...
27/08/2026
Telestream has announced an expansion of its UP cloud-native platform, adding capabilities for orchestrating Telestream services, third-party technologies, and ...
27/08/2026
Swerve TV has signed a multi-year partnership with GLORY Kickboxing, bringing live GLORY events and library programming to Swerve Combat, Swerve TV's free a...
27/08/2026
Dalet has announced a new integrated content experience with Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Dalet Flex, designed to bring AFP's editorial metadata into the p...
27/08/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate an integrated live production environment at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), combining K-Frame, Maverik X, ...
27/08/2026
The National Women's Soccer League and Roku have announced an expanded partnership, with the Roku Sports Channel becoming the exclusive streaming home of ei...
27/08/2026
FuboTV has announced the launch of ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and SEC Network (SECN ) on the Fubo streaming service at no additional cost to subscribers with En...
27/08/2026
Sports marketers have entered the experiential age. Today, sports teams, leagues, and venues are increasingly using immersive interactions and real world events...
27/08/2026
MultiDyne will introduce the MDoG-8800 at IBC2026 (Stand 11.C12, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), extending its openGear portfolio with a high-density fiber tra...
27/08/2026
The Joint Task Force on the Dynamic Media Facility (JT-DMF), an initiative of AMWA and the EBU, will host a series of informal Ask Me Anything sessions during...
27/08/2026
Homestream, a mobile app that automatically syncs a team's local radio broad...
27/08/2026
A packager for TNT Sports, Kwokman Productions is on hand for the unique event w...
27/08/2026
After more than 3,000 games, five members of YES Network's original staff re...
27/08/2026
Physical modelling orchestral instrument announced
Following their recent cryptic hints, Dreamtonics have officially revealed the latest addition to their s...
27/08/2026
M5 Ultra-equipped Studio most powerful Mac to date
Apple have just announced a design refresh which they say makes the Mac mini fiercer and more versatil...
27/08/2026
Sampler receivers major upgrades
Bitwig's latest DAW update brings some major changes to the Sampler device, kitting it out with new slicing options, tw...
27/08/2026
Designed specifically for hard-hitting modern bass
Designed specifically for bass-heavy electronic music, the latest plug-in from Arturia aims to offer an a...
27/08/2026
Advertisers gain granular CTV targeting and turnkey reporting across eligible in...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Profuz Digital makes a mark by launching a powerful upgrade to its Profuz LAPIS digital media management platform this IBC in Amsterdam at Stand 8.A88. The late...
27/08/2026
DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the launch venue for what it defines as one of the most radical advances in the companys 30 year history.
Every broadcast trad...
27/08/2026
Direct connectivity between planning, production and graphics for creativity and streamlined workflows...
27/08/2026
New Photoshop innovations bring you more choice and control at every stage of yo...
27/08/2026
First Two Seasons of Vertical Series Vultures Shot on Blackmagic Design Cameras
Brie Clayton August 27, 2026
0 Comments
Director and DoP of Vultures ...
27/08/2026
For years, the media and entertainment industry has hesitated to use AI-voiced dubbing due to concern for audience experience. New data from 3Play Media, a glob...
27/08/2026
Starfish Technologies has announced the forthcoming V9 release of its Advantage AD workstation, adding support for voice synthesis services and giving Audio Des...
27/08/2026
Lightware's UBEX is a powerful AV-over-IP product well suited for rental and staging workflows where systems must be fast to deploy, easy to repurpose, and ...
27/08/2026
Lightware has expanded the scalability of its 10G TPN AV-over-IP platform with the introduction of the new TPN-MMU-X100 Matrix Management Unit, enabling systems...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
PlayBox Neo Stand 7.C29 IBC2026 - 11 14 September
Well-established global specialists in media playout, automation, and streaming solutions, PlayBox Neo ...
27/08/2026
Rise Academy, the broadcast and media skills charity dedicated to delivering practical media technology learning experiences, careers resources and work experie...
27/08/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase the latest evolution of its ...
27/08/2026
Screen Australia opens applications for Global Fellowships Program 27 August 2026
Applications are now open for the Screen Australia Global Fellowships progra...
27/08/2026
Thursday 27 August 2026
Sir Grayson Perry and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Est...
27/08/2026
Wuppertal August 27, 2026
Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market OrganizationRiedel Communications is strengthening its leadership and global go-to...
27/08/2026
More Sasquatch, more fun: Today, the sneakiest crossover of the summer lands exc...