
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...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
08/09/2026
BERLIN, September 8, 2026 - J nger Audio will introduce a major expansion of its flexAI audio processing platform at IBC 2026. The flexAI system adds autonomous...