Live From FIFA World Cup: Kevin Callahan of Fox Sports on the IP Transition and Return of Match-Day Control Rooms Matches are composited into programs at Fox's facilities in Doha and sent to Tempe and L.A. By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, December 5, 2022 - 10:11 am
Print This Story
The 2022 FIFA World Cup has shifted from the grind of the Group Stage, with four matches a day, to the Knockout Stage. For the Fox Sports production team, getting to this point has taken years of planning and months of onsite activity to ensure that new workflows and old workflows mesh and help deliver a top-level product for fans back home. And Fox Sports VP, Field Operations and Engineering, Kevin Callahan is the first to acknowledge that knowing that fans are tuning in at a record pace makes a difference.
The Fox Sports crew at the IBC gets a welcome break later this week.
It helps, and it's one reason we like to let everybody know the figures and viewership that we're getting, says Callahan. It's great to see the work is being appreciated back home and is being consumed. Being 8,000 miles away, it would be more difficult if we weren't getting that feedback from friends and family. It helps give you that extra energy on Day 20.
The IBC facility is 30 x 38 meters and houses the central operations for all Fox Qatar operations. All match feeds from HBS and all unilateral feeds from the venues or studios and stages hit this plant before heading to the U.S. and the Fox facilities in Tempe, AZ, and Los Angeles.
The biggest change for this World Cup compared with the previous few is that all matches are being put together in one of two match-control rooms, each comprising an audio room and a video-mixing room.
We insert the clock and score as well as do transitions to and from the studio show, says Callahan. The audio is here as well, taking our announcers from the stadium and incorporating them with the effects that come from HBS. We haven't had those match-control rooms in-country since 2015, when we did the Women's World Cup in Canada.
The reason for the change? There is an additional commercial break between the national anthems and kickoff.
Because of the tightness of that break and some elements we are required to get in as a condition of that, says Callahan, we wanted to have the match-control rooms here in-country to give us the most flexibility to work with the studio show. Ross Carbonite production switchers and Calrec audio consoles are key components in those rooms.
Fox Sports Kevin Callahan: We've always talked about converged networks and things coming together, and we truly are there now with a singular network.
The advantages of having match control onsite is that it reduces the number of signals Fox needs to send between facilities.
We're able to deliver our final composited program from here in Doha; that cuts down latency with return feeds back to the venue and it makes for a smoother integration with the studio, he says. The downside is, we need to travel more people and it's taking up real estate in the IBC.
The IBC is also where Fox Sports drives its media-management and central-ingest operations.
The Google IAS MAM system makes our content instantly available wherever somebody needs it, Callahan says. We are writing that content to storage located here at the IBC and sending the growing files up to the cloud. We're also doing some live streaming to our storage in Los Angeles direct from here. The latter is for post and quick-turnaround stuff.
In terms of innovations, the biggest advance has been the use of the EVS Strata media-infrastructure products.
That's the core behind everything we're doing here, he says. Their Neuron Compress, Neuron Convert, and Neuron Bridge are at the core of our signal management and routing. They're extremely flexible: [for example,] Convert allows for up-, down-, cross-, and tone-mapping natively in the ST 2110 environment. We don't have to go through a gateway.
Callahan notes that it has flexibility in terms of LUTs (Look Up Tables) that can be loaded in for the UHD/HDR side of things.
The FIFA LUT is slightly different from the ones we've used in our other broadcasts, he adds. And the Neuron Shuffle gives us greater flexibility with audio and having different group sizes. With that, we can take in what comes from the host, use it in our own production, but then archive something different, and create the different versions that are needed throughout Fox.
FIFA and HBS are offering a choice of feed formats, and Fox is taking both the 12-Gbps 4K HDR feed and then the 3G HDR feed with the latter being the base level.
Everything in this facility is operating at a minimum of 1080p50 HDR, says Callahan. The studio operations are limited to 1080p50, primarily because of the current limitations of augmented-reality graphics to be fully 4K HDR-capable. The 4K HDR feed is being sent to a control center in Tempe, AZ, where ad insertion is completed and the signal distributed to MVPDs and the FOX Sports App.
It's the same source material the linear broadcast would have, he says.
More than 100 feeds are being sent to the U.S., and latency is only 128 ms one way. That does open up the type of remote workflows that signal a future where everything can be done at home. But there is still very much a need to be close to where the signals originate because problem solving and triage is much easier when they can be done onsite.
That's one of the reasons we do all our frame-rate conversion here, says Callahan. We are sending product back that is ready for air, and we can compare it to the original and say, Okay, we need to change the setting on the Alchemist or we need to do this or do that.
That said, there is plenty of reliance
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...
Live From FIFA World Cup: Kevin Callahan of Fox Sports on the IP Transition and Return of Match-Day Control Rooms Matches are composited into programs at Fox's facilities in Doha and sent to Tempe and L.A. By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
