Big step forward: EMG Italy unveils basketball Instant Replay Center By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Friday, January 27, 2023 - 09:45
Print This Story
The Instant Replay Center is part of a wider remote production project for championship rightsholder Eleven Sports
EMG Italy has created a centralised remote basketball refereeing service in a new control room within its production centre in Cologno Monzese, Milan.
Officially inaugurated on the 16th day of the championship, before the second round, and called the Instant Replay Center, the control room is being used by Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the FIP Italian Referees Committee. It is part of a wider remote production project for championship rightsholder Eleven Sports.
All incoming signals from the fields of play are received in the centre, allowing precise control of the action to support the decisions of referees, who are connected live via audio and video from courts around Italy.
Building on experience
While the Instant Replay Center is new, it builds on the solid basis of EMG Italy's experience in remote production and the systems installed derive from those already widely used by EMG for other sports.
EMG Italy proposed a centralised arbitration control centre after seeing a similar setup for the NBA in the US. From a technical point of view, this is an enhanced structure that required investments in infrastructure and connectivity: in fact, dedicated connection lines were installed with Fastweb, which created a 1GB A link and a second 200MB B link, explains Francesco Donato, CTO of EMG Italy. In addition, at the Cologno headquarters, two 10GB links were installed to guarantee the management of [up to eight] matches at the same time. This has allowed us to enhance the contribution loops to and from the playing fields.
The project also involved the fixed fibre optic cabling of 16 arenas. In practice, EMG Italy has created a network dedicated to basketball instant replays which handles eight signals coming from each of the basketball arenas to connect these to the Cologno Monzese production centre.
How it works
The installation is full IP , continues Donato. In fact, we start by taking the signal from the cameras in the field, which is conveyed through a system architecture which then allows us to use the content both to feed the instant replay solution and to supply signals to the remote production centre.
In the Instant Replay room each operator for each of the stations is in constant contact with a spotter' on the field, a person in charge of the judges' table who facilitates communications.
The request to intervene in a match can be made by the coach or the referee, who can ask to review game action. The operator in the Instant Replay room collaborates with both.
Each of the stations receives signals from all the cameras on the court using a monitor and multiviewer to operate the system. At the centre of this mosaic of simultaneous images, a further picture-in-picture box shows the scoreboard so the timing of the match can be checked.
The Instant Replay Center is a big step forward for this great sport
The instant replay operator has a control panel and a hardware interface to move the images forwards and backwards at various speeds, frame by frame, and they can share one or more shots with the referee in real-time, depending on the request.
Each referee on the field receives a service signal in audio and the images requested in the video. These images are also available for airing.
Dario Marra, head of graphics at EMG Italy, says: System latencies and two-way remote communication were some of the potential difficulties to face in remote production. So we launched the appropriate technical standards, trained the instant replay operators and added a project manager, who is a dedicated project leader and co-ordinator.
He takes care of the co-ordination of the service, maintains relations with the clubs, takes care of the preventive installations at the arenas, the alignment of all the signals, and verifies a dedicated checklist pre-match.
Furthermore, thanks to his technical preparation on the system, he is able to help the refereeing team by proposing the best shots to the operator and becomes the reference for the customer in the project, to update staff in a co-ordinated way.
Leading from the front
The instant replay service has been used in Italy for many years, operating locally on courts and often managed by personnel delegated by the host clubs. However, EMG Italy wanted to lead the way in Europe and improve the level of operations.
We wanted to improve the whole structure of the arbitration control from a technical point of view, increasing the quality standard, and from an operational point of view with a new level of preparation and management, adds Marra.
The system has all the functions required by FIP for federal approval and is a crucial tool for referee management.
EMG Italy's Cologno Monzese production centre
Umberto Gandini, president of Lega Basket, says: After being the first European basketball league to use instant replay in all matches starting from the 2014-15 season in agreement with the Italian Basketball Federation, we continue to introduce technological improvements giving clubs and referees increasingly advanced tools to ensure certainty and uniformity of decisions at each match.
Luigi Lamonica, commissioner of the Italian Referees Committee, adds: The new system will facilitate the work of the referees above all by speeding up the time taken to reach decisions subject to verification. The hope is that this work will continue and that, thanks to technology, further possibilities may be developed to increasingly facilitate the decisions of referees.
It's certainly big news, underlines Donato, because we have introduced
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration
Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...
04/06/2026
Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands
GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...
04/06/2026
Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine
Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...
04/06/2026
Is Your Job Making You Work this June?
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...
04/06/2026
Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands
Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
Big step forward: EMG Italy unveils basketball Instant Replay Center By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
