2023 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inductee Profile: Tom Fletcher's Passion for Production Innovation By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, November 7, 2023 - 11:54 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
When Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Tom Fletcher and his father, Archie, started Fletcher Chicago in 1987, having a big impact on sports production around the globe was most likely not on the to-do list. But the then-fledgling company made a ton of right moves in those early days, making the right hires (like Dan Grainge, Ed Andrzejewski and Jonathan Stein), building the right relationships with networks and leagues, and understanding how to put new camera systems into new locations to capture sports events in completely new ways.
There are many angles of coverage that you are familiar with that, before Fletcher, did not exist. Take the now ubiquitous camera position in NBA and big-time college basketball coverage of Above the Rim (on top of the shot clock) or remote controlled Slam Cam (behind the glass). It's come a long way since those early days in the 1991 NBA Finals with a full sized Hot Head or 1994 NBA All-Star game when the camera was an industrial security camera that required two people (Tom and Dan) to operate it. Fletcher says many camera positions were inspired by the iconic Sports Illustrated still photographers.
We wanted to create cameras that were more impactful and more necessary in the game, says Fletcher. The shots that really drove us to the next level were putting a remote-controlled camera behind the backboard for NBA on NBC director Andy Rosenberg.
Operating the cameras back then was a two-person job, with Grainge handling the pan and tilt while Fletcher operated a separate device that controlled zoom in (one button), zoom out (another button) and focus (two additional buttons).
It was designed for security guards not to cover guards, Fletcher loves to say. The team at Fletcher pushed manufacturers to build small more professional tools.
And then there is Fletcher's favorite sport: hockey. Watch any NHL game today and you will see literally decades worth of innovations on-air that were developed by Fletcher Chicago.
We had the idea for a goal judge camera when they used to have a physical goal judge cage in Los Angeles, he says. They had a still camera located up behind the net above the glass and looking down on the net and the slot area. I asked if we could put a camera there because the technology was still a full-sized hothead. We tested it, and it became a staple shot that they just take on power plays, and just became a go-to angle on all shots. I'm a hockey fan over all the sports, so that's the one that I'm most passionate about because it helped the sport of hockey translate better to TV.
Adds Dan Grainge: Hockey was Tom's passion and he was always looking for ways to improve the coverage. His idea was to find a way to stay inside the glass, so you never lost sight of the puck. With that goal in mind, we worked together to develop the Goal Judge and Red Line camera angles and we combined the best quality box camera with the widest lens and the fastest robo on the market. We came up with a new mounting method using speedrail to reduce fan blockage by hiding our mount behind the existing stanchion and, eventually, these angles would become standard and change the way hockey was covered.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says that Fletcher Cams revolutionized the televising of NHL games at about the same time that high definition television was coming into being. Tom and his group gave us an opportunity to show views of the game that nobody had ever seen before, says Bettman. Whether it was the speed shot or the rocker cam, or overhead from the scoreboard or in net, it enabled our fans to get inside a game that up until then, many people thought was too fast to televise. It was always a priority of our broadcast department to work with Fletcher because we knew we needed to try new things that we needed to be innovative and we couldn't afford not to experiment. And again, because the game is so fast, all of these innovations actually made us as good a sport on television as all the other sports, when the conventional wisdom at the time was that was not possible.
Getting Started
Fletcher graduated from the University of Illinois in 1985 with an eye on the film industry when an opportunity to start a new business with his father, who was a regional director for the lighting company Strand Chicago, arose.
My father had just secured a deal to build a new studio for Oprah Winfrey for WLS Chicago and redo all of their studios dimming and lighting fixtures and things like that, he says. And one of the companies involved was a company out of San Antonio, Texas called Media Specialties and they asked my father to start a business together and open up a Chicago office. I didn't want to do sales, but I went down to San Antonio for the for the summer and learned the lighting side of the business.
Eighteen months later the relationship the team in San Antonio and his father soured and a friend, Ginny Hart suggested that Tom and his father start their own business.
I called my dad and said, let's do this together' and we started an equipment company to sell dimming systems, but we quickly pivoted to sell to news' mini-cam departments. And I liked going into the mini-cam departments because when you'd go in and show them a new piece of equipment, they'd buy enough for whatever number of crews they had.
Helping boost sales was the major transition from two-man to one-many crews. And given the weight of cameras back then, close to 30 pounds, helping cut down that weight made the Fletcher team popular in through in the Midwest.
I needed my dad&#
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
2023 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inductee Profile: Tom Fletcher's Passion for Production Innovation By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
