From the US to the UK: Sky Sports' Jena Mihalovic talks locker rooms, challenges and change International Womens Day 2021 focus By Heather McLean, Editor
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 09:38
Print This Story
Jena Mihalovic, Sky Sports' operational delivery lead, started out as a camera operator in the US
In the sunshine state of Florida, football is a way of life says Jena Mihalovic, Sky Sports' operational delivery lead. Mihalovic started out as a camera operator in the States, and she says of working in American football-obsessed Florida that, we covered high school football like it was Premier League .
On a typical Friday night, I was one of 13 camera operators that would go out and cover multiple games, picking up highlights or even going up in the helicopter to shoot as many games as we could for the live evening highlight show.
I've been punched in the face by the father of a convicted murderer, pushed down a flight of stairs by a slumlord, spat on while shooting on the sidelines; I think some of it comes with the job, but I am not na ve and understand they took me for an easier target over my male colleagues in the same moment
From there I moved back to NYC working as a freelance [camera operator] for multiple channels, and I covered mostly sports during that time. NYC had a plethora of major sports teams to cover, so I was lucky to be involved in so many huge sporting events: Stanley Cup finals, World Series, Super Bowls, US Opens and NBA finals.
After a few years, I took a new opportunity to become a field producer for a new 24/7 sports station which led me into remote operations, leaving camera work, she continues. Eventually, I wound up as an operations production manager for the NFL Network before coming to Sky.
In the line of duty
While Mihalovic's time in the US working as a camera operator had its exhilarating moments, there were challenges that she faced in her line of duty. She explains: Being the only woman in a locker room wasn't always fun. There was one time in particular where the team was celebrating a big win - the kind with drinks everywhere and you see the crew in raincoats and plastic bags - and one of the players poured a bottle of champagne down the back of my pants while I was shooting a live segment.
I've been punched in the face by the father of a convicted murderer, pushed down a flight of stairs by a slumlord, spat on while shooting on the sidelines; I think some of it comes with the job, but I am not na ve and understand they took me for an easier target over my male colleagues in the same moment.
However, she adds: I believe my past experiences have been a huge help in handling the role, which led to my current role [at Sky Sports]. I had worked across multiple organisations, and they all did things a little differently, but I was familiar with getting up to speed in a short amount of time, and I relished creating order from chaos.
Jena Mihalovic [right] outside the Yankee Stadium in the 2000's with her colleague, Alison Orford. Alison is an incredible editor who would also field produce, we worked together at WNBC and then at SportsNet NY
Career evolution
Mihalovic's first job in broadcasting came through an internship she carried out at school. She says: I was very fortunate that my high school had a TV programme. There was a newscast every week, and to make money for our kits we used to record the school's football games and sell videos at year end. My first venture into sports broadcasting was shooting those games and editing highlight reels. My teacher, Mr Giuffre, helped get me an internship at a local cable station, and from there, I got my first job in TV, as a photographer for News 12 Long Island. I was incredibly lucky as my best friend was also hired for the same role, and we were the first two females hired as camera operators at the station. It was awesome; honestly, I used to think, You are going to pay me to do this?
My station was considered part of the NYC market which is the number one market in the US, Mihalovic continues. I was always in awe of the national network guys, and they were generally all guys. It became the norm to be the only woman behind the scenes covering events. I started covering a bit of sports features while mostly covering breaking news. It was an incredible to experience what most people only saw on television every day.
She studied Communication Arts for a bachelor's degree while working at the local TV news station. Later in her career, she completed a Masters Degree in Media Studies, eventually ending up in the UK at Sky.
Jena Mihalovic working at the Yankee Stadium for the World Series 2003
Mihalovic was hired as a technical manager for Sky Production Services (SPS) and was offered a secondment with Sky Sports to launch a new channel, Sky Sports Racing. She comments: I was looking for other opportunities within Sky when this was offered. I was nervous but excited to face a new challenge.
She goes on: The hardest thing for me has been managing time, so many priorities and not enough minutes in the day. On the most challenging thing about working in live sport today, she adds: Beside operating in COVID, I would say the technology is changing so rapidly. It seemed like a lifetime ago that we transitioned from tape to non-linear editing, and look where we are now. It's incredibly exciting as well as challenging.
Bringing remote production to the scale we have; it has levelled the playing field. People that previously wouldn't have had the chance to work on Premier League could now take part in some of our biggest events
As to what she enjoys, she says: It is always different. We are constantly looking to make things better. So one day, it can be setting up Sky Crowds, and the next, it is bringing remote produc
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...
From the US to the UK: Sky Sports' Jena Mihalovic talks locker rooms, challenges and change International Womens Day 2021 focus By Heather McLean, Editor 
