Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Wimbledon 2024: All-New ESPN Broadcast Center Adds Flexibility and Focus to Coverage

11/07/2024

Wimbledon 2024: All-new ESPN broadcast centre adds flexibility and focus to coverage By Jo Ruddock

Thursday, July 11, 2024 - 16:55

Print This Story

It's been a year of change for ESPN at Wimbledon. Not only is it settling into a completely overhauled broadcast centre, complete with eye-catching new studios, but it's also working with a new vendor and adopting new broadcast video formats and a new production workflow.

Following an 18-month project, the roll out of a state-of-the-art new broadcast facility spread across two floors marks a transition to IP technology for ESPN. Following an extensive RFP, this year is also the first year of a new deal with EMG / Gravity Media.

We just went into a multi-year deal with EMG / Gravity, so this is their first time supplying our kit for the show, explains Larry Wilson, senior manager operations, ESPN. We were very comfortable with Gravity's technical solutions, as well as their pricing and the relationship that we've had with them on other slams, they also handle Roland-Garros, Australia and the US Open.

Going to RFP gave the team the opportunity to start from scratch and assess all the technologies and equipment that they wanted to deploy in the expansive new centre, which boasts expanded studio space, two new 1080p HDR control rooms, shared replay, graphics, and video areas, edit rooms and a whole host of technology innovations.

Sam Olsen, senior technical specialist, ESPN, adds: That was good to be able to specify an IP solution and switches with specific options and configurations that we wanted, the same with the audio consoles. We went all VIA in the EVS world and deployed a Riedel Bolero network across the site. And we continue the spirit with Gravity and with good partners, and we'll develop technology as it presents itself in the market.

Scale was one of the key reasons behind the decision to go down the IP route.

Olsen continues: The number of feeds that we take from hosts, coupled with the size of the system we have on site even as a rights holder, it made sense to go IP. We've got that scalability to continue to deliver whatever production asks for. The other thing is space. We've been able to put the engineers in a dedicated master control room and have a dedicated equipment room. But to fit everything into that, if that was done in an entirely baseband world, I don't think we would get everything into that room. So IP solutions just make sense.

As domestic rights holder for the US, ESPN is taking content from host broadcaster Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS) so a lot of production could be done simply by putting the world feed on air, however ESPN opts to significantly enhance its coverage and IP is also enabling this.

Wilson explains: We have 25 additional unilateral cameras, we have our own graphics, we have our own edits, we have a massive 19 VIA servers that are downstairs doing ingest and replay, two control rooms, all that to customise that content from WBS for an American audience.

Olsen adds: On top of that, we've got the news operation for doing anything outside of tennis coverage on our linear networks, if we need to service SportsCenter or any other news and incident analysis that can be done as well, so we're supporting international as well.

We're already thinking about next year and how we can continue to deliver efficiencies and from the point of view of looking at potentially IP CCUs and so on, which will allow us to free up some of the baseband nodes so we can handle more third parties, more graphics and more on screen enhancements.

ESPN's coverage is also benefiting from a new 900sqft studio space (Studio 3), which is enabling the production team to be more flexible in their broadcasts, while also showing viewers the beauty of Wimbledon thanks to a 34ftx6ft window overlooking Court 18.

Wilson says: The studio changes the way that production thinks about how they want to handle the broadcasts. They can shoot four different sets within that one set. They've got their touchscreen, they've got their mega wall video display, they've got their four-person desk, and they've got a sit down position.

In addition, studio 12 has been enlarged by combining two studios and moving a corridor wall back, providing a more relaxed space for interviews. This has become our up close and personal type of operation, but it still has a lineage to what we're doing in the major studio, says Jamie Reynolds, executive producer, tennis. We're modernising and bringing the whole presentation up.

Despite the high-spec new space, the ESPN team is partially remote, with some graphics being handled from Connecticut.

Wilson explains: It's what we call our remco model where we have the hardware here, but we've essentially set up machine control to go down to Connecticut. Libero [Vizrt's enhanced graphic telestration system] is operated the same way. We're also delving into cloud-based edit as well. We have edits on site here and we're also doing edits in Connecticut, Florida, with producers in Bristol [Connecticut] and Chicago.

We're making calculated moves. We do have on site facilities for editing and cloud based for the graphics as well.

Reynolds adds: What we don't necessarily want to have happen is to become so electronically savvy that we make it more attractive to do this from Bristol, Connecticut, rather than being on site. There are pitfalls with both. Yes, it can be economically smarter, fiscally more responsible, to do things from a remote site, but you lose the intimacy, the connective tissue, you lose the ability to say, if you believe you're the steward of the sport, with what we do with the majors, if we're there our presence helps establish the community and we can be reactive.

For
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/wimbledon-2024-all-new-espn-b...
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 ...

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...

04/06/2026

Sony's New PTZ Cameras Deliver 4K 60p; New STARVIS Sensor Meets Low-Light Demands

Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...

04/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Alex Albert, Texas A&M University

This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...

04/06/2026

USGA Brings AI Recaps, 3D Range Tracking, and Predictive Shot Tracing to U.S. Womens Open

For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...

04/06/2026

Panasonic PT-RQ45 Projectors Power Lille Video Mapping Festival Opera House Installation

Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Groups Deployment of Akamai Adaptive Media Player 2

Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...

04/06/2026

Telestream to Exhibit at InfoComm 2026 with Live Production and Media Workflow Demonstrations

Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...

04/06/2026

Sony Announces RIALTO 65 Image Sensor Block for VENICE 2, Targeting 2027 Release

Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...

04/06/2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America to Exhibit 4K and Remote Production Solutions at InfoComm 2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...

04/06/2026

Bell Media to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Across TSN, RDS, and Streaming Platforms

Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...

04/06/2026

MASV Case Study: How MASV Reduced Miami HEAT's Road Game Video Transfer Times by 85%

The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...

04/06/2026

MASV Outlines Seven-Step Sports Analytics Workflow, Highlights File Transfer as Key Bottleneck

MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...

04/06/2026

NESN Appoints Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering

NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...

04/06/2026

Sports Broadcaster, Executive, and Author David J. Halberstam Dies

David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer. Over his l...

04/06/2026

Grass Valleys Ben Dolinky on Offering Teachable Technology to College Students Across the Country

Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...

04/06/2026

Prime Video Caps First NBA Season With Sports Emmy Win, Carries In-House Production Into WNBA Campaign

California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...

04/06/2026

TikTok and Sundance Collab Launch Micro-Series Storytelling Program

New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...

04/06/2026

Celemony announce Tonalic ARA support for Cubase & Nuendo

Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...

04/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Microphone Update

Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...

04/06/2026

Positive Grid launch Reactor amp range

Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...

04/06/2026

Is Your Job Making You Work this June?

Is Your Job Making You Work this June? 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...

04/06/2026

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...

04/06/2026

TiVo: TV Viewing Hits Post-Pandemic Peak

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Group to Deploy Next Gene...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...

04/06/2026

American Underground Opens at American Tobacco Campus, Completing a 16-Year Full-Circle Story

American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...

04/06/2026

Nielsen: Thunder Rolls as NBA's Most-Watched Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

AI Drives Lenovo's 2026 FIFA World Cup Broadcast Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Conference Looks Beyond Traditional TV for 3.0 Success

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Awards Highest Technical Honor to Julia Kenyon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Lumine Group to Acquire Synamedias Video Network Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

BFOA Launches 5th Annual Giving Day

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Hemisphere Media Group Brings WAPA+ Fast Channel to Prime Video

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

APTS to Hold June 4 'Protect My Public Media Day'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI

NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...

04/06/2026

Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade

Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...

04/06/2026

Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients

Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...

04/06/2026

St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume

St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...

04/06/2026

'All the Truth in My Lies' Coming to Netflix on August 28

Back to All News All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28 Entertainment 04 June 2026 GlobalSpain Link copied to clipboard Download the imag...

04/06/2026

Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at the Enders TMT Leaders Live 2026 Conference

Back to All News Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...

04/06/2026

Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition' Game, Exclusively on Netflix Games June 11

Back to All News Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...

04/06/2026

Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn

Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News LinkedIn Corporate Communications Share LinkedIn Facebook ...

04/06/2026

Culture and family at the centre of new RT travel series

BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...

04/06/2026

Forecast: Fun Ahead - 18 Games Join in June to Stream on GeForce NOW

June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming. GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...

03/06/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Inflight Connectivity on Viva Airlines

SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...

03/06/2026

CFP, ESPN, and TNT Sports Announce 2026-27 College Football Playoff Broadcast Schedule

The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...

03/06/2026

RED Digital Cinema to Host Panels and Demos at Cine Gear Expo 2026

RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations. P...

03/06/2026

Roku Launches Soccer Zone for FIFA World Cup 2026

Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...