MLB Returns: NBC Sports Regional Networks Seeks Balance Between World Feed and Serving In-Market Fans Teamwork and collaboration throughout the RSN ecosystem are essential By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, July 24, 2020 - 11:20 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In an effort to reduce production crew and facilities onsite for safety this MLB season, regional sports networks have been tasked with producing a neutral world feed for all MLB teams home games to be distributed to the away-team RSNs and national broadcasters. SVG is delving into how each RSN group is handling this new production model as part of its MLB Returns series to open the 2020 season.
Like all other RSNs this baseball season, NBC Sports Regional Networks (NBCSRN) is looking to find the right balance between delivering a world feed for MLB's broadcast partners and serving hometown fans in the teams' respective markets.
The trick of a world feed is protecting that world feed at all costs to make sure you're not putting the people that don't have their hands on the controls at a disadvantage, but still delivering to your audience the show that they expect, says Jon Slobotkin, SVP, content and live programming, NBCSRN. And that can be incredibly tricky.
NBC Sports Chicago's truck will produce the world feed for White Sox home games at Guaranteed Rate Field. Photo: Greg Bowman, NBC Sports Chicago
To achieve both goals - the world feed and the in-market telecast - Slobotkin believes, the entire RSN ecosystem will have to work together and collaborate as a unit.
For me, he explains, the most important piece to making these telecasts a success is [maintaining] the delicate balance of the RSN production ecosystem. One of the hallmarks of an RSN production is immersing your fans in a world dedicated to their team. While that is absolutely still what we intend to do, the method by which we do it now depends on an outside entity: another network. Thankfully, there has been a genuine spirit of cooperation between all the RSN [groups] over the past several months that I think has paved the way for us all to succeed.
NBCSRN Teams Lean on Trucks, Announcers at the Ballpark For the most part, NBCSRN is producing world feeds for its teams' home games using the usual mobile units at the ballpark. Announcers are also located primarily at the ballpark, calling the action from socially distanced booth positions for both home and away games.
Slobotkin says NBCSRN crews have expanded outside of the primary mobile unit to ensure social distancing. In some cases, mobile-unit vendors NEP and Game Creek have provided B units, and other RSNs have deployed personnel in ancillary areas around the ballpark (depending on layout and configuration).
In addition to producing home games from the truck at the ballpark, during the course of the 30-game road season, NBC's RSNs will also experiment with integrating feeds in its control rooms.
We want to test that from a health and safety standpoint, to see how we can [use] nontraditional areas in our own facilities to serve as production locations, says Slobotkin. At this time of exploration, we are trying to find new and different ways to do everything.
Getting Creative With Cameras NBC Sports Chicago's team reporter location at Guaranteed Rate Field. Photo: Greg Bowman, NBC Sports Chicago
With no crowds in the stands, the RSNs are deploying cameras in locations not usually available, creating new angles for viewers watching at home. In addition, since several low-angle cameras have been converted from manned to robotic positions to ensure player safety, production teams suddenly find themselves with extra broadcast cameras to deploy in these new locations.
Replacing some of the traditional low cameras with robotics has given us the opportunity to deploy those big cameras in other places, says Slobotkin. We are actually enhancing the world feed with some different angles that we haven't had before. So that has been exciting, and it has given our directors a chance to see some things from different points of view. It has been an opportunity that we've embraced and have taken advantage of, and we've been very happy with some of the different angles we've seen so far.
Bringing in the Fan Element With Video Clips and Social Media While fans won't be in attendance at the ballpark, NBC has made integrating its fanbases into MLB telecasts a top priority this season, with two major initiatives out of the gate.
First will be a series of fan videos prerecorded via Zoom and other video-conferencing platforms that showcase fan excitement and will have such themes as Welcome back, baseball and Thank you to our first responders and frontline workers.
We've asked fans to join us in groups to record videos of them reacting to exciting moments, says Slobotkin. There will be opportunities to use those clips not only as bumpers and to dress up the telecast but also for replay sequences and pump-up sequences. All of our RSNs have been working feverishly to connect with our fans to create those pieces. We're going with some prerecorded elements first, but we have intention to bring in live opportunities that will mimic in a live environment what we're doing in prerecord.
Second, NBCSRN production teams will integrate more social-media content into telecasts than ever before, in an effort to better incorporate fans' voices in the telecast during big moments.
We're excited to bring the fans into the game, says Slobotkin. Even though they can't physically be there, we want to make sure they feel like they're part of the experience.
Beyond the Telecast: Ramping Up Digital Content, New Studios Galore Says Slobotkin, When live games stopped, our content did not.
Since the pandemic
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
MLB Returns: NBC Sports Regional Networks Seeks Balance Between World Feed and Serving In-Market Fans Teamwork and collaboration throughout the RSN ecosystem are essential By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
