ESPN Deploys Globe-Spanning REMI Production To Serve Australian Open to Viewers Worldwide Operation comprises staff in Melbourne, cloud editing in London, REMI team in Bristol By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, January 13, 2025 - 2:13 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
ESPN's Australian Open production shifted into high gear on Saturday, and the effort truly spans the globe, with staff onsite in Melbourne, a cloud-based edit in London, and a large REMI team in Bristol, CT, working on both the domestic and ESPN International effort (which also includes personnel operating in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico).
It has been nice to work our way back from the pandemic and have a presence in Melbourne, says Larry Wilson, senior manager, remote operations, ESPN, but there are efficiencies in doing it this way as we have found a balance. The REMI team has been incredibly supportive and creative in being able to produce such high-quality content for us over the years.
For the ESPN REMI team, the event stands alone on the yearly calendar. It's the biggest yearly production that requires a new sleep schedule: on-air days can run from 9 p.m. ET to 9 a.m. or even 10 a.m.
ESPN's Australian Open domestic control room in Bristol, CT.
The odd hours also make the event unique for the REMI teams not working in Melbourne. Notes Scott Chamberland, supervisor, REMI operations, ESPN, The individuals crewed in Bristol flip their life schedule for a month to make this project happen.
Mike McQuade, EVP, sports production, ESPN, says the folks on the team are thrilled to be in Melbourne to showcase world-class tennis to fans around the globe and the vibrant culture Down Under. Our incredibly talented team is uniquely qualified to navigate the challenges that come with creating and distributing content across a multitude of platforms and countries - some 10,000 miles apart - over nearly three weeks.
During those three weeks, the ESPN team in Bristol works out of Production Control Room D70, where all the domestic coverage is produced before the signals head to master control. Additional Bristol facilities include a production-support space, voiceover booth for International, and two tape rooms equipped with Evertz DreamCatchers. The tape rooms record all feeds coming in from Melbourne and are networked for content sharing.
Right now, McQuade adds, we're staffing 24 techs just from the REMI group alone daily, and they support our ESPN domestic and international footprint. As the tournament plays on, we will start getting clean camera feeds, which are integrated into the production. As the tournament play moves into the second week, our crews will shrink.
According to Wilson, 41 outbound transmission paths from Melbourne include 16 court feeds, press conferences, and other behind-the-scenes content. Each path runs through frame converters to change the frame rate from 50p to 59.94. Three of those 41 feeds, he explains, are solely for the ESPN International side, which can take whatever content they want for their purposes and audiences.
New this year is the use of the cloud for editing. Postproduction company CMSI provides infrastructure supporting a remote edit that is based in the UK and cloud-connected to feature producers in Chicago and North Carolina. The producers have their own interface to view the cloud-based work, Wilson explains. All the editing is happening in the cloud, allowing the producers to log in and watch the progress and check things out before it is sent to Bristol for integration.
An International Effort London isn't the only international location for Australian Open operations. ESPN International staffers in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada work to serve their viewers. According to Chris Calcagno, coordinating producer II, ESPN International/ESPN Deportes, two ESPN International control rooms in Buenos Aires are connected to Bristol. In a smaller control room in Bristol, all the feeds are coordinated before being output to the various platforms in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada.
In ESPN's Australian Open international control room: (from left) ESPN International/ESPN Deportes Producer Amy McTigue, Coordinating Producer II Christian Calcagno, Operator Austin Smith
We have a big facility in Buenos Aires, he says, where we put together the Spanish feeds for two simultaneous networks for the first eight days of the tournament. Many of the talent are based in Buenos Aires, but we also have talent in Bristol and Mexico as well as a reporter at the Open, who gets interviews. But everything gets incorporated in Buenos Aires for the Spanish-language side of things.
ESPN Brazil, meanwhile, has two control rooms in operation during the first eight days and has a reporter in Melbourne for its Portuguese broadcast. A TSN control room creates a channel for Canadian viewers.
ESPN International has a studio at the Australian Open so we can do interviews, says Calcagno, adding, It is also connected to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, and Toronto.
Tennis Australia will be pushing innovation for the next two weeks, and the ESPN team around the globe is eager not only to deliver it to viewers but to be part of the official start of the 2025 tennis-major season.
The people who participate on this love tennis and love being part of this team, says Chamberland. This is my fifth year. Now I'm in a management role, so it's cool to see it from a different perspective. But we have the buy-in from everybody who participates, and that makes the end product that much better.
Most recent headlines
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Sequins, chat shows, live sporting action, ground-breaking docuseries and brand-new Irish drama to kick off 2026
New Year, New Content Coming Soon across RT
...
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
Your live countdown to 2026 with Inhaler, David Gray, Lyra, Garron Noone, Sharon...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
ESPN Deploys Globe-Spanning REMI Production To Serve Australian Open to Viewers Worldwide Operation comprises staff in Melbourne, cloud editing in London, REMI team in Bristol By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
