In September, after 35 years at ESPN, 15-time Emmy Award winner Jed Drake joined SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology) as EVP of emerging technologies. He had overseen some of ESPN's most innovative sports-production and technology efforts, including virtual-graphics projects like the 1st & Ten line and K-Zone for NFL and MLB coverage, respectively. Now Drake is on the other end of these technologies, helping develop new data-driving graphics tools for broadcasters seeking to tell a better story. In addition, his arrival coincided with SMT's acquisition of its largest competitor, Sportvision, which expanded the SMT technology portfolio and strengthened an R&D department focused on live data integration, virtual graphics, and player tracking.
SVG sat down with Drake to discuss why he opted to join the SMT team and how he believes he can benefit the company, the impact of the Sportvision deal, the exponential growth of player-tracking and data-visualization technology, and how he sees the industry in the coming years.
Jed Drake
Why did you decide to join SMT?
During my years at ESPN, in addition to overseeing production, I also had a particular interest in bringing technology to our coverage as a storytelling tool. Whether the 1st & Ten line or the K-Zone or the Virtual Three project, this technology has been woven into my history with broadcast. So the opportunity to continue to explore that with an industry leader like SMT provided a unique opportunity. I've known [SMT founder/CEO] Gerard J. Hall for over 20 years, so the opportunity to work with him and his staff directly was something I just couldn't pass up. And then you factor in the Sportvision acquisition, and it becomes even more of a rare and unique opportunity.
How do you see the SMT-Sportvision entity pushing things forward in the next year?
The speed at which our industry is evolving is continuing to increase. SMT has been developing a number of very important systems that I think will ultimately have a pronounced effect on broadcast and other areas of sport as well. The addition of Sportvision into that dynamic is fascinating because, even though many of the projects [under development at SMT and Sportvision] are similar, they are approached differently in terms of the core technology base. In this sense, the core technology components of each company are very complementary. I think that's important because it isn't as though you're just doubling down on existing technology; you're actually bringing together complementary technology bases, and the clients will benefit.
The fact is that some of the things that might not have been achievable by these two independent companies now become eminently possible by bringing SMT and Sportvision together. You're going to see the benefits in the near future, and, in the end, clients are going to benefit because two extremely smart groups of people who have really good ideas are being put together. For NFL football, SMT has been servicing the NFL Network, NBC Sports, and CBS Sports, while Sportvision has been servicing Fox Sports and ESPN. We can now combine all these technologies to take the best of the best and optimize the technology and service offering for each sport.
How do you believe your decades of live-production experience with ESPN will benefit SMT?
One of the reasons I think [my joining] SMT intrigued Gerard was that I come at it from the perspective of storytelling first and foremost. That's what I've always espoused as one of the key components in creating great coverage. Admittedly, I'm not an engineer, so I can come at this entire discussion from a position that is, in many respects, identical to the client's goals and needs. I think that brings an interesting nuance to the entire formula for SMT. I believe we are going to come up with things that people might not have even known they needed.
We are going to help all of our clients come up with better ways to tell stories. We now generate more data than most clients know what to do with. It's what you do with that information that becomes relevant. You have to work really hard to separate information that is trivial from information that is insightful and actionable, and I think that's one of the key things we are keenly focused on.
What can we expect from SMT in the near term in terms of new developments and technologies?
I think it's fair to say that the NFL Next-Gen Stats [platform] is going to take a significant leap forward in the near future. The proliferation of real-time player and object tracking is ongoing, and we are right at the core of that for NFL Next-Gen Stats.
SMT's system for the World Cup of Hockey was very successful, so we're looking forward to building on that.
We are also very excited about making standard NFL virtual insertion features like the virtual first down line available, live and in real-time, on the Skycam. The technology to deliver that capability to our NFL broadcast clients if very complex and sophisticated. SMT's high-end image processing algorithms eliminate the need for electronic sensors to be installed on broadcast cameras. This gives broadcasters much more production freedom. Virtual insertion features can be made available on any camera, not just a subset of cameras that have been pre-configured and instrumented. This opens up a whole new dynamic, and not just for football but for a variety of sports.
SMT has also been involved in a project at a major university and has been working with their football team for over a year. I can't give you any more specifics on that right now, but suffice to say that, even though player tracking for broadcast is part of this project, it is only a very small part. The other side of this is something that is outside of where SMT has been in the past, and it'
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...
In September, after 35 years at ESPN, 15-time Emmy Award winner Jed Drake joined SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology) as EVP of emerging technologies. He had overseen some of ESPN's most innovative sports-production and technology efforts, including virtual-graphics projects like the 1st & Ten line and K-Zone for NFL and MLB coverage, respectively. Now Drake is on the other end of these technologies, helping develop new data-driving graphics tools for broadcasters seeking to tell a better story. In addition, his arrival coincided with SMT's acquisition of its largest competitor, Sportvision, which expanded the SMT technology portfolio and strengthened an R&D department focused on live data integration, virtual graphics, and player tracking. 
