How the Proliferation of Official Video Replay Has Affected RSN Productions As MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS institute replay systems, RSN responsibilities have increased By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 - 1:56 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
For regional sports networks, maintaining a quality relationship with the leagues and teams for which they hold the rights is essential. Besides serving its primary local TV audience and fans on digital platforms, RSNs are called on by their league partners to serve a variety of needs. As Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, and now MLS, have adopted official-video-review systems, RSNs have taken on the added load of delivering camera angles from their productions for replays.
[Official review] has had a significant impact on what the RSNs do - in a good way, said Jon Slobotkin, SVP, content and live programming, NBC Sports Regional Networks, at SVG's RSN Summit in June. All the leagues have done a really good job from a technology standpoint by introducing methods to make it easier from a production standpoint to turn their decisions around quickly.
NBA Replay Comes of Age With a Helping Hand From RSNs
The NBA launched its state-of-the-art NBA Replay Center in Secaucus, NJ, for the 2014-15 season and has continued to cultivate its official-review workflow.
We think [official review] is going great, said David Denenberg, SVP, global media distribution and business affairs, NBA Entertainment. It's a work in progress, but we reduced the time from headset on to headset off to 30 seconds this past season. That is [partially thanks] to the RSNs, who have been great.
MLS's Larry Tiscornia (right) speaks at the RSN Summit as NBC Sports Regional Networks' Jon Slobotkin looks on.
We built a system where we have seven camera feeds coming into [the Replay Center in] Secaucus, NJ, he continued. But sometimes that's not enough, and we need a different angle, and the RSN has it. The cooperation between the leagues and the RSN has allowed that to happen. There have been times when a play has been decided from one angle that [the RSN] has captured with one of their own cameras.
Denenberg added that the NBA makes, SVP, Replay and Referee Operations, Joe Borgia available for live pre/postgame interviews at the Replay Center to NBA TV and other outlets. He believes this could be valuable content for RSNs to use in the future.
The NBA has also allowed RSNs to take a live feed of officials reviewing a replay and integrate it into the telecast, creating a new level of transparency for fans.
Credit to the NBA for being completely transparent with the way their replay process works. They allow viewers at home to see exactly what the referees are looking at, so there is no confusion as to how the decisions are being determined, says Slobotkin. And to the credit of NBA, NHL, and MLB, they have been excellent in taking feedback regarding how the process works in reality. There has never been a shortage of attention to try to make that better. I think it's moved light-years ahead in the last few years.
MLS Hops Aboard the Video-Review Bandwagon
At long last, video review has arrived in soccer. An official-video-review system was used at the FIFA Confederations Cup earlier this summer (although some controversy brought into question FIFA's stated plans to institute it for the 2018 World Cup). The MLS became the first domestic league to use video review on every game when it launched its Hawk-Eye-based Video Assistant Referee (VAR) following the MLS All-Star Game on Aug. 5.
It's been a long haul, but finally the governing bodies agreed to pursue , said MLS VP, Broadcasting, Larry Tiscornia at the RSN Summit prior to the launch of the VAR system. From the [national and regional] networks, the No. 1 concern is how will it affect the length of the game? One thing about MLS is, there is a clock and it doesn't stop, so we fit nice into a two-hour window. Will Video Assistant Referee extend us past that programming window?
From left: NBA Entertainment's David Denenberg, MLB's Bernadette McDonald, NBC Sports Regional Networks' Jon Slobotkin
The MLS is focused on not slowing the pace of the game -and thereby extending beyond the two-hour programming window - as a result of VAR. The system, which serves as the fifth referee, alerts the head referee to potential clear and obvious errors in four match-changing events: goals, penalty kicks, direct red cards, and cases of mistaken identity. Only the head referee can initiate a video review, making the video-review signal (TV-box sign). If video evidence is inconclusive, the original on-field decision stands. The final decision always rests with the head referee.
There is so much we are doing behind the scenes, and it doesn't work without the cooperation of the local and national productions, said Tiscornia. So, over the last few months, we have been working with the local and national broadcasters [regarding] what the expectations are onsite. We are going into each venue and patching in their cameras. Hawk-Eye does all the replays with another official there. It's going to be a game-changer for us.
MLB Replay Continues To Evolve
Since MLB launched the manager-challenge system for its video-review process in 2014, it has become a key element in not only how the game is managed but how fans watch. New rules this season include a 30-second window for managers to challenge and a two-minute guideline for replay officials to make a call on a review.
For replay, there are a lot of different pieces. It's a phenomenal setup in New York, and it's an elaborate process, said Bernadette McDonald, SVP, broadcast operations, MLB. I think pace of game is always a concern. This year, the managers have to indicate quicker when t
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...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
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...
How the Proliferation of Official Video Replay Has Affected RSN Productions As MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS institute replay systems, RSN responsibilities have increased By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
