Live From the US Open: New Automated Production Helps ESPN Go Live From All Courts Fletcher Tr-ACE robotic camera, SimplyLive ViBox systems drive outer-court coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, August 31, 2018 - 2:41 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
For the first time, ESPN is covering all 16 courts at the US Open, thanks to a new automated production system deployed on the nine outer courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC). Having debuted at Wimbledon in June, the Fletcher Tr-ACE motion-detecting robotic camera system has been deployed on each court (with four robos per court) and relies on SimplyLive's ViBox for switching and replay and an SMT automated graphics system. With this workflow, one robotic camera operator and one ViBox director/producer is covering each of the nine courts.
ESPN has deployed the Fletcher Tr-ACE motion-detecting robotic camera system on the nine outer courts at the US Open.
With one production room and one rack room here, we are essentially replacing what would have traditionally been nine mobile units, notes ESPN Director, Remote Operations, Dennis Cleary. We've been working on this plan for a long time, and there is just no way we would have been able to cover all these courts in a traditional [production model]. SimplyLive has been used at other [Grand Slams], and it was used with Fletcher Tr-ACE at Wimbledon but not really to this extent. We feel that we have taken it to the next level [and] are integrating it with our overall [show] and adding elements like electronic line calling and media management.
With all 16 courts now accessible, ESPN can present true first ball to last ball live coverage across its linear networks and the streaming platforms (a total of 130 TV hours and 1,300 more streaming on the ESPN app via ESPN3 and ESPN+. Moreover, ESPN was able to provide the USTA with live coverage of last week's qualifying rounds for the first time, deploying the Tr-ACE/ViBox system on five courts.
In addition, ESPN, which serves as the US Open host broadcaster, has been able to provide any rightsholder with a live feed of a player from its country - regardless of the court and including qualifying rounds.
On the Outer Courts: LiDAR Drives Fletcher Tr-ACE System
Four Fletcher robotic systems with Sony HDC-P1 cameras have been deployed on each of the nine outer courts: two standard robos (traditional high play-by-play and reverse-slash positions) and two Tr-ACE automated robos (to the left and right of the net).
The LiDAR inside the puck (center) tracks every moving object on the court and provides the two Tr-ACE cameras with necessary data to automatically follow the action on the court.
From the beginning, one of ESPN's big focuses was increasing the camera quality of what was being done on the outer courts, says Fletcher Sports Program Manager Ed Andrzejewski. So we built everything around the Sony P1's to increase the camera quality to match the main [TV courts]. When they send a feed to the rightsholder in Australia and the player they are interested is on one of those outer courts, they wanted the basic quality to be the same as in the bigger stadiums. I think we've been able to accomplish that.
Between the two Tr-ACE cameras is the puck, which powers the Tr-ACE system at each court via a custom-designed LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) image-recognition and -tracking system. The LiDAR tracks every moving object on the court (the ball, players, ball kids, judges) and provides the two Tr-ACE cameras with necessary data to automatically follow the action on the court. The LiDAR can also sense fine details on each player (such as skin tone or clothing color), allowing the cameras to tell the difference between a player and other moving objects.
A Room of Its Own: Nine Mobile Units in a Single Room
ESPN has erected a dedicated production room for the Tr-ACE/ViBox operation across from its NTC Broadcast Center. Inside this room are nine workstations featuring one Fletcher Tr-ACE camera operator and one ViBox director/producer each.
ESPN has deployed nine workstations featuring one Fletcher Tr-ACE camera operator and one ViBox director/producer each for outer court coverage at the US Open.
The Tr-ACE operator monitors the camera coverage and can take control of any of the four cameras at any point during the match. Meanwhile, the ViBox operator cuts cameras and rolls replays. An SMT touchpad at the workstation is used only during prematch coverage. All other graphics elements, including the scorebug and lower-thirds, are fully automated, and informational elements are triggered by preconfigured settings in SMT's data feed (for example, 10 total aces or 10 unforced errors).
The camera op and director are constantly communicating, Andrzejewski explains. ESPN put a lot of trust in us with this, so we brought out the best people we could and have some of the best [robo operators] in the business here. There was a lot of onsite learning, but we were able to give everyone lots of time on the system during setup and qualifying.
The coverage does not feature commentary, so all nine courts are being submixed out of a single audio room using a single Calrec audio console and operator.
ESPN has erected a dedicated production room for the Tr-ACE/ViBox operation at the US Open.
Also inside the automated production room are a video area to shade all 36 cameras, an SMT position to manage the automated graphics systems deployed at each workstation, an electronic line-calling position (which was not available for the systems at Wimbledon), and a media-management area, which was used during qualifying to record all five courts (this operation moved to the NTC Broadcast Center once draw play began on Monday).
Since the automated-production systems had to be up an
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Live From the US Open: New Automated Production Helps ESPN Go Live From All Courts Fletcher Tr-ACE robotic camera, SimplyLive ViBox systems drive outer-court coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
