Live from the 152nd Open: NBC Sports Set for Final Round; Expands Remote Operations for Top Tracer, Live From' Cameras

21/07/2024

Live from the 152nd Open: NBC Sports Set for Final Round; Expands Remote Operations for Top Tracer, Live From' Cameras As Open Championship wraps up all eyes turn to Paris for Olympics effort By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 4:42 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The NBC Sports golf team heads to the final day of the Open Championship at Royal Troon set to produce coverage for a tight final round (and with four Americans right in the mix) but also looking back with some nostalgia to the last time they were here as in 2016 this was the site of their first Open Championship production.

We are thrilled to be back and beyond lucky that we have an awesome relationship with the R&A, EMG/Gravity Media, and ETP, says Allison McAllister, NBC Sports VP, Golf Operations. It was a seamless transition when we took over the rights in 2016 and every year snice things have gotten better as we've tweaked little things here and there.

As for the coverage at the Open this year, NBC's unilateral cameras this year include six hard cameras on the course as well as two robotic cameras with long lenses on the 8th and 17th holes. In addition, there are four handhelds and then three additional robos, one in the broadcast booth as a second camera, one on the range, and one on the putting range. The NBC production team, led by Tommy Roy, NBC Sports, lead golf producer, also has access to the camera feeds captured by ETP for the world feed and cuts the show from a large control room in the center of the compound.

A two-story studio has optimal views of the 18th hole at Royal Troon in Scotland, home of the 152nd Open Championship.

LiveU is also in use, both as a backup to transmission as well as transmitting scenic from historical and other notable locations in the area.

Marc Caputo, Senior Director, Remote Technical Operations, NBC Sports says that this year the team back in Stamford is controlling more of the elements remotely.

We're using four Ross robotic cameras on the Live From' set and the team in Stamford is controlling them, he says. This is also the first year Stamford is operating Top Tracer graphics remotely.

Also new this year for the Open is the Appear transmission kit which NBC used at the US Open in June.

That kit continues to evolve, says Caputo.

The two-story studio complex is home to both NBC Sports and Sky Sports.

One interesting production challenge this year involves HDR and SDR as the actual golf coverage on NBC is 1080p SDR but Live From' is being shown in 1080p HDR. That means that the camera signals that are shared are converted to 1080p SDR for integration within the SDR tournament coverage but then go back to Stamford as 1080p HDR for use in the Live From' show.

Ready for Paris

This is no doubt a monumental month for anyone who works at NBC Sports as it has included not only this Open but the Tour de France and later this week the Summer Olympics in Paris. Upwards of 40 of the production team working on the Open Championship head directly to Paris to work on the Summer Olympics which begin later this week.

Some of the team, like Samantha Ruby, NBC Sports, golf, remote technical manager, will be at the Olympics supporting golf, NBC's unilateral coverage (which will be produced out of Control Room 8 in Stamford) as well as Golf Central which will have a presence, others are getting involved with non-golf events.

Golf Central will be on-air from the Olympics on every day starting Monday and then until Saturday, August 10 after the women's play ends, says Ruby. We'll come on air two hours after coverage is finished and we'll also have our entire engineering team from here going over.

Some of NBC's equipment is also heading to Paris as the Newbert flypack will be heading to the Le Golf National golf course near Versailles which is home to the women's and men's golf events that will be held during the second week of the Games.

While Ruby is at golf, Bridget Cugle, NBC Sports, director of golf operations, will be over at swimming as broadcast manager with NBC golf head producer Tommy Roy who will once again head up the swimming coverage for NBC.

And McAllister will find herself wearing various hats during the Games, many very different from her current role on the golf side.

The energy around an Olympics is electric, says McAllister. To be a part of all the excitement that surrounds the games is special. You're there working together to bring this amazing event to life, get caught up in all the excitement, plus cheering on our country to bring home the gold. It's quite an adrenaline rush.

For those working on both events there have been plenty of calls in the midst of Open coverage to nail down Olympics preparation.

Says Cugle: It's nice to be in the same time zone as our team in Paris and we have calls pretty much daily and when I get to Paris on Monday, we'll be ready to go.

EMG/Gravity Media has been great, says McAllister. They're wonderful to work with, without Hamish Greig [EMG UK, director of golf operations] and Alice Cutler, production manager, and team we would be lost.

When the Olympics end it will be back to golf and, specifically, the Fed ExCup Playoffs which begin on August 12 with the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, then onto Castle Rock, CO, for the BMW Championship on August 19, and then finishing up with the TOUR Championship which will be held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta beginning August 26.

Adds Caputo: We will also have three road shows for the playoff events, so it's not only tournament coverage but three studio shows for the three playoff events.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/07/21/live-from-the-152nd-open-nbc-sp...
	See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

18/03/2026

Net Insight Names Larissa GrnerMeeus CPO

Newly named chief product officer (CPO), Larissa G rner Meeus will return to Net Insight on May 4. Larissa G rner Meeus will become CPO of Net Insight on May 4...

18/03/2026

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026 explored how the sports broadcasting i...

18/03/2026

SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog Goes Live as Countdown to Vegas Heats Up

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off one month from today and SVG is once again set to cover the show from every angle. SVG's SportsTech@NAB Show Blog is now live - ...

18/03/2026

The Premiere of Dead Lover Showcases Grave Robbing and Sex With a Giant Finger

(L-R) The cast and crew of Dead Lover at The Ray Theater for its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundan...

18/03/2026

Music Row Piano from Wiltone Productions

Yamaha C7 captured in Nashville Wiltone Productions have announced the release of Music Row Piano, a deeply sampled Yamaha C7 piano library that's been ...

18/03/2026

Techivation introduce T-Warmer Mk2

Bass-enhancement plug-in upgraded Along with a steady stream of new releases, Techivation have recently been revisiting some of the older plug-ins in their ...

18/03/2026

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope

Mix-reference plug-in overhauled iZotope's powerful mix-referencing plug-in has just reached its third major version, and now boasts a new capture proce...

18/03/2026

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

18/03/2026

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture 18 March, 2026 Media releases New SBS Audio podcast For The Culture, hosted ...

18/03/2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz at NAB 2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz...

18/03/2026

LCTWS 2026

London Calling - When The Industry Convened to Help Streaming Find its MoJo In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World...

18/03/2026

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, a...

18/03/2026

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments LED wall virtual production blends 12K open gate acquisition w...

18/03/2026