Tennis Channel Splits French Open Production Between Roland Garros, L.A. Broadcast Center Half the usual staff, all primary on-air talent are onsite in Paris By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Friday, October 2, 2020 - 12:01 pm
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Tennis Channel returned to Roland Garros this week for what SVP, Production/Executive Producer Bob Whyley often refers to as our Super Bowl. However, this year's operation looks dramatically different from the broadcaster's past efforts, with a limited crew onsite and extensive use of its Los Angeles broadcast center for remote production. Luckily for Whyley and company, Tennis Channel is well-versed in the art of producing live tennis in the age of coronavirus, having done that consistently since the early days of the pandemic.
Tennis Channel's Ross Schneiderman (left) and Bob Whyley demonstrate COVID protocols - masks and plexiglass dividers - in the control room at Roland Garros.
When you don't turn the lights off, you don't have to start from scratch for something like Roland Garros, Whyley notes. We're starting with momentum [dating back] to March. All of us are a lot more comfortable since we aren't coming off a six-month [hiatus] and doing some big Grand Slam. The people that are working for us here have been working for us for the most part since March. We've built up a trust with each other and are confident in our ability to do live tennis in the middle of COVID. This is just a graduation.
Safety First: A Limited Presence at Roland Garros Typically, Tennis Channel travels 150-160 people to Paris for the French Open but has cut that in half this year. Instead, TC is relying on its L.A. production facilities for all editing/postproduction, commentary for its Interactive Mosaic experience (on DirecTV and Tennis Channel Plus), and simulcasts on parent Sinclair's regional sports networks. The network is also working closely with FFT (French Tennis Federation) on highlights creation and delivery.
Though smaller than usual, the production still has a sizable presence at Roland Garros, with announce booths at Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen and a studio desk inside Chatrier. The primary control room for the linear-TV coverage is also onsite, along with all primary on-air talent.
We still have a very big production here, says Whyley. We have our control room, a strong EVS presence. We do graphics here, and all of our talent is here. Everything's here to do the show the way our viewers would expect. We've just been shrewder on how we are doing the production, to reduce our presence and number [of people] onsite. That's a good thing, because safety is our top priority.
Tennis Channel's crew on the grounds on Day 3 of 2020 Roland Garros
The health and safety of its crew remains the top priority for Tennis Channel, which is following all FFT COVID-19 protocols in Paris, including social distancing, wearing PPE, installation of plexiglass dividers, and consistent sanitization of workstations. Tennis Channel crew were able to obtain special visas through the FFT to circumvent travel delays/restrictions to France since they were all being tested immediately prior to departure and upon arrival in Paris. Tennis Channel has also enlisted used two companies for COVID protocol: Epitome Risk in the U.S. beforehand, Secret Compass in France during the tournament.
Whyley credits new Executive Director, Production Operations, Rob Flores - who joined Tennis Channel in April after more than 15 years at CBS Sports - for leading the effort in setting up the decentralized operations and safety protocols necessary for the network's complex Roland Garros production.
We're doing everything we need to do to be safe, both when we're on campus and when we're off campus, says Whyley. We feel comfortable that we have a good system in place to keep people safe.
In L.A.: TC Leverages Home Base for Decentralized Production Tennis Channel is linked to L.A. via a 10-Gbps fiber pipe, which allows backhaul and high-speed file transfer. The postproduction team, which relies on the Avid Interplay production/media-management system, is located in California, whether at the TC production facility or at home.
TC has also dedicated a control room in L.A. for French Open coverage televised on Sinclair's RSNs and streamed on the Fox Sports Go app each day from 5 to 9 a.m. ET (along with same-day afternoon re-airs) Sept. 27-Oct. 5.
Masks and plexiglass help keep Tennis Channel production staff safe in the control room at Roland Garros.
[The RSNs] are going to be on the air concurrently with us from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and they'll be showing [matches] that we're not showing, Whyley said prior to the start of the tourney. We'll be calling that tennis here [in Paris], but the control room [will be in Los Angeles]. We're excited to introduce the RSNs to Grand Slam tennis. We have been experimenting with that over the last few months, so we've gotten used to that workflow. But this is obviously more big-time since it's a Grand Slam.
First-ball-to-last commentary from five courts at Roland Garros (the other nine TV courts are presented without commentary) is also being handled from L.A. for the Interactive Mosaic coverage on DirecTV and Tennis Channel Plus.
The Gear: PRG Back in Action on the Technical Side Tennis Channel has once again tapped PRG to engineer and maintain its technical infrastructure for the French Open (VER provided facilities for several years before being acquired by PRG in 2019).
They've done a great job once again, says Whyley. When I signed on with VER - now PRG - years ago, it was about two things: equipment and people. Most of the facility companies have very similar equipment and d
