As Team USA Looks to Rally at the America's Cup, NBC Sports Puts Its Best Tech Foot Forward in Bermuda NBCs coverage from Bermuda features the return of the Emmy Award-winning AC LiveLine virtual-graphics technology By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, June 23, 2017 - 1:54 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
With a 3-0 lead heading into the final weekend at the America's Cup, Team Emirates New Zealand is threatening to swipe the Auld Mug away from two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA, which would need to win seven races in the coming days to retain the Cup. However, U.S. rightsholder NBC Sports Group knows first-hand that it's far from over in Bermuda. After all, in 2013, the Peacock covered one of the most dramatic comebacks in America's Cup history, when Team USA trailed Team New Zealand 8-1 before winning eight consecutive races to keep the Cup stateside.
NBC Sports Group's set at the America's Cup looks out upon the Bermuda Great Sound.
The America's Cup is the premier sailing competition in the world, and it remains one of the greatest events in all of sports competition, says Dan Steir, SVP of Production and Senior Coordination Producer for NBC Sports Group. The America's Cup has been a great partner and we look forward to an exciting finale to the America's Cup Match in Bermuda.
AC LiveLine Headlines NBC's High-Tech Production
Regardless of the outcome, America's Cup viewers in the U.S. have been privy to one of the most state-of-the-art live sports productions of the year courtesy of NBC and America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA), which produces the ACTV host broadcast.
The Emmy Award-winning AC LiveLine virtual graphic technology is back at America's Cup this year.
Once again headlining the tech toys on hand in Bermuda is Emmy Award-winning AC LiveLine graphics system to provide viewers real-time on-course information throughout the event. Developed exclusively for the America's Cup by Sportvision (now a division of SMT), the AC LiveLine tracking/telemetry system overlays geo-positioned lines and data streams at an accuracy of within an inch on live race course video shots that are taken from rapidly moving helicopter and water-based platforms. This allows real-time virtual graphics to be integrated into the telecasts, including ahead-behind lines so audiences can clearly see who is leading the race.
In addition to retaining the features introduced for the 2013 America's Cup, all AC LiveLine graphical images have been upgraded for the 35th America's Cup. In addition, the system has added commercial branding in boundary graphics and gates to enable greater exposure and ROI for commercial partners. ACTV and NBC Sports have also added biodata to illustrate heartrate and showcase athleticism of the sailors working at the extremes of performance. The coverage is also measuring true wind direction and heading off the yachts.
All of these elements are designed to increase and enhance viewer engagement, says Steir. We believe all of these technological evolutions, like LiveLine and the sailors' biodata, will help provide context to what viewers are seeing on the screen, and add depth and richness to the coverage.
NBC Makes Itself at Home in Bermuda With Support From ACTV, RMP
In order to produce the U.S. domestic telecast, NBC is taking the ACTV world feed provided by ACEA and also has access to isolated cameras to supplement the world feed (NBC is taking 12 total feeds from the ACTV truck in the broadcast compound). Although NBC is capable of cutting to these iso's during the race, they are primarily used to produce race recaps with on-camera highlights and features to supplement the broadcast. NBC is using the ACTV host-feed announcers for its commentary.
Inside NBC's RMP production truck at the America's Cup in Bermuda
Our communication and coordination with ACTV have made for smooth sailing, says Steir. ACTV has been outstanding and we have daily communication with executive producer Denis Harvey. Their coverage and resources are really second to none.
NBC's on-site studio set oversees the finish line on the Royal Naval Dockyard at the Bermuda Great Sound, as well as the natural amphitheater dockyard and AC Village. The three-camera set features a Versa Desk where anchor Todd Harris hosts NBC's coverage along with analysts Nathan Outteridge (skipper for Team Artemis Sweden at this year's America's Cup) and Chris Draper (helmsman for Team Softbank Japan).
Ross Mobile Productions is providing its FIN5 unit for NBC at the America's Cup broadcast compound.
One factor always on the production team's mind during the coverage in Bermuda is weather. What's really unique in regard to production is that it's a sport that is truly impacted by the weather, says Steir. There can always be weather in many outdoor sports, but this is dependent on the right conditions to hold competition.
Ross Mobile Productions (RMP) is providing its 24-foot FIN5 production truck in Bermuda for NBC's studio and racing-coverage, as well as additional facilities and support.
[RMP] is a vendor that we work with periodically on a variety of events, says Steir. We have a great relationship with Ross and they have proven time and again to be efficient and reliable.
NBC Sports' Signature Storytelling Style Sets Sail
In addition to the live racing and studio coverage, NBC Sports Group has rolled out a host of features and original elements to weave into the telecasts. Using the Peacock's signature Olympics-style storytelling, NBC is focused telling the stories of the athletes involved, as well as the history of the iconic America's Cup.
We always aim to tell the stories of these athletes and the histories behind events, and the America'
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...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
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...
As Team USA Looks to Rally at the America's Cup, NBC Sports Puts Its Best Tech Foot Forward in Bermuda NBCs coverage from Bermuda features the return of the Emmy Award-winning AC LiveLine virtual-graphics technology By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
