Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Indy 500: NBC Sports Is Back in Full Force at The Speedway, Adds Peacock-Exclusive Pre-Race Show

26/05/2023

Indy 500: NBC Sports Is Back in Full Force at The Speedway, Adds Peacock-Exclusive Pre-Race Show 120+ cameras will cover the 107th edition of the iconic race By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Friday, May 26, 2023 - 11:58 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

NBC Sports is pulling out all the stops at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) for its coverage of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. More than 120 cameras will be deployed to cover the race itself on NBC, and an exclusive two-hour pre-race show will stream on Peacock at 9 a.m. and a 1 -hour pre-race show simulcast on NBC at 11 a.m.

The race itself is obviously one of a kind, says NBC Sports producer Rene Hatelid, who will be at the front bench for the third consecutive year. But it's all the pomp and circumstance leading up to the start that makes this different from any other race of the year. The bagpipers walking out, the jet flyovers - the entire scene is just amazing. We want our pictures to make everybody watching wish they were there in person. We've been planning with the track as far back as November of last year to make sure we have everything covered for all the pre-race ceremonies. It's going to be a very special day.

Pre-Race Coverage: Peacock Spreads Its Wings in Lead-Up to the Green Flag In all, NBC Sports Group will deliver seven hours of live race-day programming from IMS as part of more than 60 hours of total IndyCar coverage during May. NBC and Peacock have been covering all practice, qualifying, and warm-up sessions since May 16, and Peacock will provide exclusive coverage of Carb Day, the Indy 500 Parade, and Victory Celebration during race weekend. It all culminates this Sunday with The Greatest Spectacle in Racing in front of 300,000 fans in the stands and millions more watching at home on NBC and Peacock.

The additional 9:00-11:00 a.m. programming on Peacock will allow NBC Sports to showcase the Peacock Pit Box (which is outfitted with two robotic cameras and a mini jib), the Snake Pit, and the overall build-up of excitement leading into the event. Host Mike Tirico and studio analyst and former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick will be on hand at the Peacock Pit Box, and motorsports analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. and NASCAR analyst Steve Letarte will be reporting from Snake Pit and throughout IMS.

We pride ourselves on moving all our [on-air talent] around throughout the event and finding interesting new locations to go live from, says Hatelid. If you were to show up at any point in time, we want to make sure we're exactly where the action is at that moment. We'll have Danica and Mike bringing in a rolling group of guests in the Pit Box and Junior and Steve moving all around. We're just making sure we are where the action is happening.

120+ Cameras: In-Car Cams, Drones, Specialty Jibs, and More In terms of cameras, the Indy 500 is always among the biggest - if not the biggest - live production on the annual sports calendar. This year's complement of 120+ cameras scattered across IMS includes 60 in-car cameras across 15 cars, both a heavy lift and a small drone from Beverly Hills Aerial, two Steadicams, an 80-ft. StradaCrane jib, a TechnoCrane, two standard jibs, eight roving RF handhelds, eight super-slo-mo cameras (including an ultra-high-speed start/finish line-cam from Fletcher), and 10 panning robos from IMS Productions (IMSP).

The two drones were a big hit last year, notes Hatelid. We're excited to have them back again. Nearly half the field has onboard cameras this year, which is pretty impressive. But it all comes down to the way that our director Sean Owens uses them, and the pictures he's able to create are amazing.

As it does every year, NBC Sports is working closely with IMS Productions, sharing production resources and facilities. IMSP trucks HD-5, B1, C1, Ops 1, Net Ops, and TX- 4 will be in the compound. NBC also has Lyon 18 serving its pre-race coverage and in-race EVS and Spotter needs. Two BSI units provide RF support in the compound, along with BSI Blue in the infield. Four office trailers are on hand for production support, and all power is provided by Cat Entertainment Services' 500-kW twin-pack generators as well as a 100-kW tow pack.

The Speedway has also been an amazing partner, says NBC Sports Tech Manager Matt Hogencamp, [and] the most vital partner with NBC for this event is IMSP.

He describes IMSP President Kevin Sublette; Director, Broadcast Operations, Ken Ferguson, and Technical Managers Wright Hugus and Alex Milton as the dream team. They do IndyCar week in and week out at an amazing level. Their sense of teamwork and dedication to a quality production is unmatched. Their engineering team, lead by [Director, Engineering,] Jason King and [Supervising Engineer/EIC] Steve Dixon, is the definition of professionalism.

In the booth, play-by-play caller Leigh Diffey and analyst Townsend Bell will be calling their fifth consecutive Indy 500 and commentator James Hinchcliffe his second. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee, Dave Burns, and Dillon Welch will serve as pit reporters, and Tirico, Patrick, Earnhardt Jr., and Letarte will contribute to the broadcast throughout the race.

Everyone put their heart and soul into these past couple of weeks leading up to the race, says Hatelid. The team that we have put together is hands down the best in the business in my opinion. It's an honor and a privilege to work with them. I know how much they care, and we all look forward to what happens on Sunday because it truly is The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/05/26/indy-500-nbc-sports-is-back-in-...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

12/06/2026

Research: Mixed Picture for FIFA World Cup Broadcast Revenues

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Viant Launches Enhanced Publisher Solutions for CTV, Programmatic

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software

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

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 From Set to Screen

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

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 Partners with Simplestream and Xperi to Support...

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

Jigsaw24 Signs Deal to Resell Leostream Remote Desktop Ac...

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

Study: 2026 Election Cycle to Hit Record $11.6 Billion Ad Spend

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

NAB Elects Leadership at June Board of Directors Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

FCC Believes World Cup Communication Will Score Highly

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Broadcasters Back NO FAKES Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Scripps Unveils Coverage Plans For America's 250th Anniversary

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP

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

New animated series The Grumpy Onion available in English and as Gaeilge on RT KIDSjr, RT2 and RT

Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...

12/06/2026

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...

12/06/2026

June 11, 2026

A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...

11/06/2026

HBSs Johannes Franken on Digital Innovations, the Role of the Influencer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...

11/06/2026

Nielsen: Soccer Fandom in North America Tops 136 Million, Up 10.9% in Five Years

Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...

11/06/2026

Telemundo Announces All-Day Opening Day Coverage for FIFA World Cup 2026 on June 11

Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...

11/06/2026

Fubo Announces Distribution Agreement With NBCUniversal

FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...

11/06/2026

DAZN Announces In-App Features for FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage in Spain, Italy, and Japan

DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...

11/06/2026

Roblox Report: Sports Engagement on Platform Drives Real-World Fandom and Purchases

Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...

11/06/2026

Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, Megan Thee Stallion, and EJAE Release Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem DNA'

FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...

11/06/2026

ESPN Announces Extensive English- and Spanish-Language World Cup 2026 Coverage

ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...

11/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Teddy Batkin, Rochester Institute of Technology

The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering In...

11/06/2026

DAZN and DSPORTS Announce Distribution Agreement Across Five Latin American Countries

DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...

11/06/2026

Resource Actors Throughout the Years at Sundance Institute's Directors Lab

Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards) By Lucy Spicer It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...

11/06/2026

Introducing a New Standard for Podcast Plays and Upgraded Creator Analytics Experience

As podcast formats evolve in the streaming era, podcasting needs updated, transp...

11/06/2026

RADAR Italia Unveils 6 New Artists and a New Approach for 2026

As Spotify's global RADAR program enters its sixth year in Italy, a new class of artists is stepping into the spotlight. Today, we're announcing the six...

11/06/2026

5 Audiobooks that Amplify and Celebrate Queer Voices

Pride Month is a time for celebration, reflection, and amplifying the diverse stories and perspectives from the LGBTQIA+ community that enrich our world. To hel...

11/06/2026

VSL introduce Synchron Solo Violin 1 & Cello (sordino)

First in new line of muted string libraries VSL have just announced the launch of two new string libraries that represent the first two instalments in a new...

11/06/2026

Novation reveal the Launchkey 61 MK4 White

New colour option for 61-key Launchkey MK4 At Superbooth 2025, Novation introduced the Launchkey Mini 37 White and Launchkey 49 White, bringing an additiona...

11/06/2026

Arturia announce the MiniLab 37

Larger, but still compact! Arturia's popular compact MIDI controller keyboard is now available in a, well, slightly less compact version! The new MiniLa...

11/06/2026

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield Rohde & Schwarz unveils next generation SIGINT/EW and CUAS solutions on uncrewed system...

11/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the future battlefield

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the ...

11/06/2026

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026 LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...

11/06/2026

Ungrounded LLM Fabricates Every Detail for Nearly 1 in 5 Movie and TV Titles Tested, New Gracenote Report Finds

Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics, LayerJot Partner on AI-Powered PTZ at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Chyron Unveils PAINT 10.4

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift for Revit and Archicad Integration Beta

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift fo...

11/06/2026

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 11, 2026 0 Comments DP Judd Overton and team bring Wes A...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics and LayerJot demo Visual Reasoning at InfoComm...

PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...

11/06/2026

Lightware launches GPIO Button to deliver simplified hard...

Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...

11/06/2026

NABs LeGeyt Urges Congress to Limit NFL's Antitrust Exemption

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Fubo Inks New Distribution Agreement with NBCUniversal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...