Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

P-X-P Is Striving Toward Play-by-Play in American Sign Language

01/06/2023

P-X-P Is Striving Toward Play-by-Play in American Sign Language The interpretation company will provide ASL signing during NHL Stanley Cup Finals By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Thursday, June 1, 2023 - 11:34 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Audio is defined not only by sound but by its absence. In fact, a hallmark of digital audio is its ability to convey absolute silence, uncluttered by the inherent noise created by tape, vinyl, and other contact recording and reproduction formats.

But absolute silence is a fact of life for approximately 1 million Americans, who have what the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) describes as disabling hearing loss. That number balloons to 30 million, according to the National Institutes of Health, when the hard-of-hearing category is included. And they're big fans of sports on television.

P-X-P's Brice Christianson (left) and Jason Altmann founded the ASL interpretation company in 2020.

The passion [the] Deaf community has for sports is very real, says P-X-P COO Jason Altmann, who describes himself as third-generation deaf. He founded the Milwaukee-based company in August 2020 with partner CEO Brice Christianson to develop and provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services for broadcast sports and live events. The company started out providing the service for NHL Milwaukee Bucks media events, such as press conferences, in 2021. Unfortunately, Altmann adds, the majority of professional sports leagues and teams do not offer a [completely] accessible and inclusive experience.

P-X-P's mission is to change that, according to Christianson, who is CODA (child of deaf parents) and hearing himself. He notes that the closed captioning used on television isn't an alternative to ASL.

ASL is an actual, bona fide language, he explains, whereas captioning is simply the [transcription] of whatever language the speaker is speaking, delineating the difference between interpretation - P-X-P's intent - and simple dictation. Deaf persons would rather see the signing than read captioning, because ASL is their language. Captions, especially when done using AI, don't achieve that goal because they are often filled with grammatical errors and misspellings.

The NHL Hears the Message P-X-P's biggest success thus far has been with the Bucks, and the company has been performing similar services for Seattle's Kraken of the NHL and OL Reign of the NWSL. A breakthrough came last year when it interpreted for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's state-of-the-league address prior to the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. It will reprise that role this year, when Bettman speaks before the Finals commence in Las Vegas on June 3, broadcast by TNT/WDC Sports.

P-X-P's Brice Christianson (right) signed NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's address prior to the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals.

Our relationship with the NHL began a few years ago when [Bucks VP, Arena Experience,] Kieran Nulty, who was our first connection to the NHL, introduced us to [NHL VP, Growth Strategies and Innovation,] Paul LaCaruba, Christianson recalls, noting that a formal partnership was announced on Dec. 3, 2022, UNESCO's International Day of Persons With Disabilities (IDPD). From there, I developed a relationship with Paul and several others within the NHL. We unveiled our vision last year, [interpreting] the commissioner's address at Ball Arena ahead of the first game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning. And it blew up it and went international.

Since then, P-X-P also done ASL interpretation for the league's Winter Classic, its Stadium Series games, and the All-Star Game, in the process doing some training in ASL applications for the league as well. A P-X-P interpreter will sign the commissioner's pre-Stanley Cup Finals speech again this year, as well as the national anthem and other pre-match events.

P-X-P interpreters appear on-screen either on stage with speakers or in picture-in-picture inserts. That accomplishes two things, says Christianson: it gets the ASL translation across in real time (the American Sign Language University stipulates an ASL signing rate of 110-130 words per minute) while also putting the interpreter onscreen as the face of the Deaf community at large.

I think a lot of times we focus solely on accessibility that we forget to include the Deaf community and make them a part and recognize that they're a vital part of the fanbase of sports, he says.

The ultimate goal, says Christianson, is to sign a game in progress, including color and play-by-play commentary, something he says P-X-P and the NHL have been building toward.

What we have with the NHL is unique on so many levels, he explains, but what I really appreciate is that they listen rather than our being told, Hey, this is what we're going to do.' We've been building this and going to NHL headquarters, meeting the staff, having Jason present in American Sign Language. For a lot of [the staff], that was the first time that they'd ever met a deaf person. You could feel it - it was palpable, their realizing, here's a brilliant deaf individual who just unveiled how inaccessible sports is.

It would be a huge moment for the Deaf community, Christianson continues, as well as for me professionally and personally to do play-by-play and interpret color commentary. That has never been done before, and we're working toward that. There'll be bumps and hiccups, but it's definitely doable.

Signing Sports Jargon Most languages are dynamic; they have to be to accommodate the evolution of the world they seek to describe. That's true of ASL as it moves deeper into broadcast sports and especially as more athletes are wired for sound, vastly increasing
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/06/01/p-x-p-is-striving-toward-play-b...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

14/07/2025

Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL

Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on the Weeklong Efforts in Atlanta

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...

13/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB Draft Coverage

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...

11/07/2025

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks Adjusts Broadcast Booths for Rangers, Devils

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...

11/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Clients' Needs With Scalable Cloud-Based Storage

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...

11/07/2025

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transition to the Cloud

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...

11/07/2025

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff Friday, July 1...

11/07/2025

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimbledon

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...

11/07/2025

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-Serrano 3 Card at MSG

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...

10/07/2025

5G for All? What the DFL's Use of Easy5G, RefCam Could Mean for Events in the Future

5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...

10/07/2025

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-15

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...

10/07/2025

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New Era

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...

10/07/2025

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions In-House

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...

10/07/2025

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First Production

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...

10/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint Venture Targeting Local-Sports-Media Market

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...

09/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Venture as Regional Sports Market Transforms

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...

09/07/2025

SVG Europe Audio - State of Wireless Mics Forum: If We Lose the Spectrum, It's Going Back to the Boring Stuff

SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...

09/07/2025

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...

08/07/2025

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...

07/07/2025

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distribution

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Host Broadcaster Aurora on Launching New AR Graphics at the Jakarta E-Prix

Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Using New AR Graphics for Storytelling at the Formula E Penultimate, Final E-Prix of the Season

Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...

07/07/2025

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...

07/07/2025

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's Rock Block' Development

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...