Rockstar Energy Open Builds Third Portland Show Around AI-Powered Vertical Feed, Remote Operators

Three days of skateboarding competitions, live music, and other programming will be streamed in native 9:16 format

The live production behind the Rockstar Energy Open, this week returning to Portland, OR's Tom McCall Waterfront Park for a third year, takes a different angle from the traditional live sports broadcast - literally. PLATFRM and Transition Productions are producing live, native, AI-generated 9:16 coverage streaming on TikTok and Instagram Live.

This allows users to watch live programs in the native aspect ratio that they enjoy on these platforms, allowing better engagement for these followers, says Kemp Curley, managing director, PLATFRM; executive producer, Rockstar Energy Open; CEO/owner, Transition Productions.

Men's street champion Lazer Crawford will defend his title in the 2026 Rockstar Energy Open.The Rockstar Energy Open brings together the next generation of skateboarding phenoms, veteran competitors, and the music shaping today's youth culture for a free, three-day event built in partnership with Rockstar Energy. The festival features men's and women's street and park competitions, live music, art, food, and community programming.

Vertically Minded: Behind the AI-Powered Livestream

Established in 2024, ThePlatfrm.com is a media destination aimed at elevating and preserving the core of skateboarding and snowboarding through meaningful, authentic, and innovative storytelling.

In March, Curley and the PLATFRM team used Grabyo's AI-tracking technology to produce a native 9:16 stream on TikTok for the PHXAM skateboarding event. The stream, which he says was the first AI-tracked 9:16 livestreamed event on TikTok and Instagram, saw a tenfold surge in viewership compared with PLATFRM's 16:9 productions on the same platforms.

Paige Heyn practicing for last year's street competition.Instead of simply cropping a 16:9 program feed, the team streams a native 9:16 show generated by Grabyo's AI tracking, which was trained on the company's previous skateboarding live productions.

AI tracking has learned how to track skateboarding based on our previous live shows, Curley says. We have tools to toggle between the aspect ratios if we have a scene that the 9:16 tracking is having issues with, like cutting to a studio show in the announce booth, but otherwise it's very reliable.

As at last year's competition, music will be a part of the 2026 Rockstar Energy Open.It is one piece of a multipronged strategy for this year's event, which is streaming and broadcasting live to more than 11 destinations across North America, Europe, and South America, as well as to skateboarding's most popular YouTube channels. The production team uses four encoders and a clipping service to push real-time highlights to social media.

We have been developing new ways to reach our audience across streaming services and social media, notes Curley. We are excited and proud to continue to develop new ways to deliver skateboarding to the fans around the world.

Here, There, Everywhere: Operation Spans Two Continents

In Portland, 14 cameras and Ross Production Services' new 43-ft. HyperMax-1 mobile unit are onsite, but the operators handling replay, switching, and graphics are spread across two continents, from Denver to Germany.

It gives us a technical advantage to have our technicians prep and set up shows during hours when we are not live, says Curley. And it allows us to utilize world-class technicians anywhere in the world, as well as [offering] obvious cost savings and onsite benefits with fewer people on location.

Cory Juneau in the 2025 Rockstar Energy Open (Photo: Eakin Howard/Getty Images)Interfacing comms and controlling onsite equipment remotely does not require much bandwidth, he notes. The production team uses internet-based SRT streams that let remote operators view the monitor walls as if they were in the truck themselves.

Onsite in Portland: Drones, Follow Cams, New Truck

The brand-new HyperMax-1 mobile unit is outfitted with Ross Video production gear, Sony cameras, Canon lenses, and a Calrec Argo S audio console.

The camera complement is headlined by a drone package built on the latest generation of DJI's Mavic 4 Pro series, with pilot Aaron Jesse at the controls. The 14-camera arsenal also includes two wireless RF follow cams from CP Communications.

We want the RF experience to deliver a rawer POV angle that is appropriate for skateboarding, says Curley. Traditional shoulder-mount RF cameras are not how skateboarding in its native environment is filmed, so we want to explore how to make it feel more dynamic and immersive.

Taking place Aug. 14-16 in Portland, OR, the 2026 Rockstar Energy Open features men's and women's street and park competitions, with a field that includes Keegan Palmer, Chris Joslin, Sky Brown, Tom Schaar, Cory Juneau, Paige Heyn, and defending men's street champion Lazer Crawford, plus qualifiers from the event's Video Qualifying Series. The event also offers two nights of live music, featuring headliners Basement and Hot Mulligan and openers PUP and Angel Du$t.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/13/rockstar-energy-open-builds-thi...
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