14/03/2014
FOX Sports' Coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII
Vitec Videocom technology-leading products supported the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVII to over 100million people.
Vinten amd sister brands Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Bexel, Litepanels, Sachtler contributed to Fox Sports delivery of interviews, live shows, the action, hype and festivities.
Bexel supplied much of the glue for the production, including fiber-optic cabling to handle all the short-haul, high-definition video runs between the Times Square studio, FOX Sports' editing facility a few blocks away, and between NYC and MetLife Stadium.
Background: Bexel has a strong track record of supporting the world's largest live sporting events, so it was no surprise that FOX Sports called in Bexel help them with their pre-game build up and live coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII.
Challenge: Provide the major conduits and high-quality, reliable broadcast solutions between several key locales, including MetLife Stadium, Times Square, and Manhattan's Millennium Hotel, vital to the broadcasts of the Super Bowl week.
Solution: Bexel brought a team of 20 engineers and technicians to link the Times Square studio (part of NYC's Super Bowl Boulevard ) to a file-based edit facility inside Manhattan's Millennium Hotel, and to the studio set and edit facility inside MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey (where the game took place).
The networks game plan included Autoscript teleprompters, Litepanels LED fixtures and a mix of Vinten and Sachtler camera supports using Anton Bauer batteries and chargers. All contributed to the precise execution of one of the biggest days in American sports.
This year's production, seen by 111.5 million people, leveraged a special and highly portable fiber-optic cabling infrastructure, provided by Bexel. This included two 72-strand runs in Times Square connecting the street set with the edit facility at the nearby Millennium Hotel and the facilities in MetLife Stadium, a few miles away. There was also several thousand feet of fiber at the Stadium linking various production pieces together. Bexel also provided conversion boxes and signal distribution technology to move signals from one place to the other.
Of course, keeping track of all those fiber feeds was another major challenge, but Bexel solved it by setting up a 32-channel IPTV system, which allowed FOX Sports personnel to monitor the various incoming and outgoing program feeds between locations. The Millennium Hotel and MetLife stadium had identical 16-channel units set up, both worked seamlessly together without a glitch.
Bexel also worked with a third-party post-production company called Thumbwar, (based in Calif.) to set up a fully working edit workflow complete with content stored on a 48 TB SAN for production of graphics and video packages. Inside a seventh floor suite at the Millennium, Bexel staff worked with Thumbwar to network eight Apple Final Cut Pro workstations, two Autodesk Smoke systems, and several Adobe After Effects systems, in addition to ingest and logging stations. FOX Sports staff had seamless access to the network inside MetLife Stadium as well. The Bexel/Thumbwar team configured two mirrored systems so that editors could work from either location without missing a beat.
Litepanels fixtures used on set during pre-game festivities and the Super Bowl itself provided big benefits for the crew and talent. In particular, FOX Sports has been a big fan of the Sola 6 Fresnel fixtures, which provide the performance of a large Fresnel (the industry workhorse in terms of lighting), but operate a lot cooler and with less power due to the unit's built-in LED technology. The daylight-balanced Sola 6 also offers FOX Sports the controllability and light-shaping properties inherent in a Fresnel light. The fixtures draw a small fraction of the power of conventional Fresnel fixtures, and like the rest of Sola Series, provides Litepanels' full-spectrum of quality light.
Bexel's Engineered Services and Solutions (ESS) also provided engineering, fiber-management services and a variety of equipment for ESPN and NFL Films during the run-up to Super Bowl. Justin Paulk, Fiber Business Segment manager for Bexel ESS, said that FOX Sports utilized 73 individual fiber-optic cables, and NFL Films used 96 fiber cables. The individual fiber optic strands would extend over 438 miles if barreled together.
For all the teleprompter needs, Autoscript was at the studio positions on Vinten pedestals at MetLife and Times Square. Designed with purpose, the Autoscript prompting software allowed for essential updates during the game.
Vinten 750 heads and Quattro pedestals, provided by Game Creek, were at each site, smoothly capturing the game action and reports from the studio.
Sachtler systems, using Anton/Bauer batteries, were used by mobile crews to capture viewers' opinions out in Times Square. Sachtler gear allowed the crew to set up and capture the moments quickly, while providing a sturdy foundation. Anton/Bauer's RealTime display provided reliable mobile power, helping operators monitor the batteries' charges, so they didn't have to worry about stopping in the middle of a crucial take to swap out the battery.
The challenge was providing enough capacity to move those HD signals back and forth, and doing it redundantly to ensure reliability. Bexel helped out a great deal in planning and implementing that infrastructure and figuring out the logistics of making it all work, including what equipment we'd need to do what we needed to accomplish.
At FOX Sports we're focused on efficiency and have used Litepanels 1x1 panels and Sola 6 fixtures in our production booth and field studios for four years. We like that they don't run hot and don't require much power. On this Super Bowl production, we had them in grea
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
14/03/2014
