CBS L.A. Runs Two Hot Control Rooms, Dual Broadcasts for Rams-Chargers Preseason Game

KCBS takes the Chargers side, KCAL takes the Rams - with feeds out to 18 partner stations across three countries

When Los Angeles's Rams and Chargers met at SoFi Stadium last night, CBS Los Angeles had the unique opportunity to do something the station had never done before: produce two complete, entirely separate live broadcasts of the same game. KCBS-TV produced the Chargers broadcast, KCAL-TV the Rams show - each with its own pre/postgame and halftime - out of the same building.

CBS L.A. is fortunate to have two fully operational control rooms, allowing us to broadcast separate live programs on KCBS and KCAL, said Tim Wieland, regional president/GM, CBS Los Angeles and CBS Colorado, prior to Thursday's game. In the past, for example, we have broadcast a sports special on KCAL while broadcasting a local newscast on KCBS, but we have never produced two simultaneous broadcasts of the same live sporting event.

Two independent mobile units were onsite at SoFi Stadium. CBS L.A. control rooms handled all pre/postgame and halftime shows. One control room (KCBS) produced the Chargers broadcast with multi-camera feeds from the venue; the other control room (KCAL) produced the Rams broadcast from the broadcaster's state-of-the-art AR/VR studio at the CBS Broadcast Center in Studio City.

Both control rooms were piloted by largely in-house crews - full-time engineers as well as photographers, directors, producers, lighting director, stagehands, and production techs from CBS L.A. - along with very limited freelance staff.

This is an all hands-on deck' event for CBS L.A., said Wieland. A production like this is a true team sport: everyone has to work together at the highest level for it to succeed.

CBS L.A. relied on multiple inbound feeds from the two teams and multiple outbound feeds to protect distribution. Beyond producing the broadcasts, the crew was also responsible for sending them to the Chargers' and Rams' partner stations, giving CBS L.A. a dual role as both broadcaster and distributor. In total, the feeds reached 18 partner stations and the NFL across multiple states, Mexico, and Australia.

We have years of experience working with NFL teams, producing single broadcasts for preseason games, which has given us deep experience managing multiple inbound and outbound feeds and building backup for each, said Wieland. We have expanded that model into the larger distribution system we're using here, that you will see in Thursday's game.

CBS Director, Broadcast Operations and Engineering, Julio Collazo led the engineering side; Director, News Operations, Matt Groeteke, the overall production. Technical Operations Supervisor Fernando Burress was the architect of the transmission model.

Over the past year, said Wieland, we've tackled a series of increasingly complex productions: red-carpet shows, field-anchor specials, remote football programs, a political debate. That work showed us we're capable of big things, and this is one of the biggest yet. I couldn't be prouder of the CBS L.A. team.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/28/cbs-l-a-runs-two-hot-control-ro...
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