Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Tennis Channel Moves to Sinclair's Santa Monica Facility With IP-Based Workflows, New Studio

11/11/2021

Tennis Channel Moves to Sinclair's Santa Monica Facility With IP-Based Workflows, New Studio Devlin Design Group is responsible for the look of the new studio By Kristian Hern ndez, Associate Editor

Thursday, November 11, 2021 - 2:41 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

As the home of 24/7 tennis, Tennis Channel spent an extended time at its headquarters in Culver City, CA. One pandemic later, the network has moved to owner Sinclair Broadcast Group's operations center in Santa Monica, CA, to leverage a full SMPTE 2110 IP backbone and a new studio designed by Devlin Design Group.

This is a state-of-the-art facility, says Bob Whyley, SVP, production/executive producer, Tennis Channel. Where we were [vs.] where we are now is black and white. Our first live show was a month after [the building opened], and we never would've been able to do that in our old building.

COVID-Era Construction: Safety Protocols, New Workflows Serve Up Challenges The project began two years ago. The initial stages progressed without many issues, but then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the Los Angeles metro area and halted construction. Once the project was back online, staffers and third-party vendors had to adhere to stringent safety protocols established not only by the company but also by local and federal agencies.

Tennis Channel's lobby at Sinclair's facility in Santa Monica, CA. (Photo: Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging)

Near the end of the process, in October 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group VP, Engineering and Technical Operations, Bruno Brunelle joined the company to push this ambitious endeavor over the finish line. With him on board, the network worked closely with Diversified to install an Imagine Communications IP-based infrastructure comprising the company's Selenio Network Processors, Versio playout platform, and Magellan SDN Orchestrator. COVID-19 presented its own set of issues, but these new SMPTE 2110 technologies meant a difficult learning curve.

You have to be fearless to go in with the new technologies, says Brunelle. They sometimes don't communicate, so the translation that happens [requires] a lot of support. It was quite a challenge, and we needed to be organized.

The resulting organization prompted development of certain tech redundancies. As the Tennis Channel slowly closed out its former home in Culver City, Brunelle and his tech team created a copy of each of the new products now in the Santa Monica facility to practice with before making the move. This decision also synchronized crews in the old building to the new building during the transition, and, with Sinclair improving workflows throughout the year, the facility now houses other operations besides Tennis Channel.

The Wall of Tennis Stars in Tennis Channel's new facility celebrates the sport's champions. (Photo: Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging)

We had some connection to [Tennis Channel] in order to track the activity in each of the two buildings, he says. We changed a few things [to flatten] the learning curve, but, as we started progressing, we've added another control room and studio for Bally Sports West.

Santa Monica Studios: New Set Features Dynamic Movement The Santa Monica facility is now being used more than 300 days a year, but a packed tournament schedule has made Tennis Channel one of its busiest occupants. To usher in a new era of the network, Whyley; Tennis Channel Executive Director, Creative Services, Chris Hiller; and Sinclair Director, TV Production, Mark Nadeau recruited Devlin Design Group (DDG) to construct a new-look studio. Because the project was greenlighted by Tennis Channel and Sinclair at the onset of the pandemic, weekly discussions about the design happened over Zoom. The resulting concept invoked the kinetic energy and dynamic movement that have become synonymous with tennis.

From left: Martina Navratilova, Steve Weissman, and Jon Wertheim at the new studio's main set. (Photo: Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging)

We had to create not only a very immersive environment for tennis fans but also a flexible environment that blends design with technology, explains Kartik Dakshinamoorthy, VP/scenic design director, Devin Design Group. The contemporary and modern materials are inspired by the sport, including the organic shape of the desk that looks like the arc of a tennis racket and background elements that represent the strings of the racket.

Other tennis-centric elements are a background with a changing dot pattern to emulate the bouncing of a tennis ball, Tennis Channel's branded colors, and white accents exemplifying the white lines on a tennis court.

To encourage large-scale movement, DDG constructed 18-ft.-high ceilings to allow sweeping shots with a jib camera. In addition, the studio features four storytelling backdrops representing the tennis majors: the color of clay for the French Open, green and purple for Wimbledon, etc. DDG wanted the on-air talent to feel comfortable enough in their new home to interact with these elements and use every square foot of the studio by moving around the set.

The studio's LED backgrounds feature elements of the sport, including tennis balls around the network's logo.

We wanted them to have the freedom to walk and talk around [the set], says Diane Fiolek, VP/creative services director, Devlin Design Group. [Tennis Channel was] going through a rebrand that was much more dynamic, so it felt like a whole new channel.

The new studio has become something of a symbiosis: the physical set is inspired by the on-air look, and the graphics package reflects some of these physical elements. Overall, Tennis Channel and Sinclair Broadcast Group are satisfied with the result.

Both the clients and the fans have enjoyed this look, adds Dakshinamoorthy. We're extremely prou
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/11/11/213609/...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

11/07/2025

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks Adjusts Broadcast Booths for Rangers, Devils

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...

11/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Clients' Needs With Scalable Cloud-Based Storage

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...

11/07/2025

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transition to the Cloud

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...

11/07/2025

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff Friday, July 1...

11/07/2025

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimbledon

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...

11/07/2025

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-Serrano 3 Card at MSG

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...

10/07/2025

5G for All? What the DFL's Use of Easy5G, RefCam Could Mean for Events in the Future

5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...

10/07/2025

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-15

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...

10/07/2025

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New Era

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...

10/07/2025

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions In-House

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...

10/07/2025

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First Production

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...

10/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint Venture Targeting Local-Sports-Media Market

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...

09/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Venture as Regional Sports Market Transforms

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...

09/07/2025

SVG Europe Audio - State of Wireless Mics Forum: If We Lose the Spectrum, It's Going Back to the Boring Stuff

SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...

09/07/2025

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...

08/07/2025

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast

SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...

07/07/2025

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distribution

1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Host Broadcaster Aurora on Launching New AR Graphics at the Jakarta E-Prix

Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...

07/07/2025

Formula E: Using New AR Graphics for Storytelling at the Formula E Penultimate, Final E-Prix of the Season

Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...

07/07/2025

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots

SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...

07/07/2025

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's Rock Block' Development

Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Aurora's Matt Beal on Taking Up the Broadcast Reins Alongside the FIA

Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Getting the Production Together With NEP Finland, Cloudbass Graphics

Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...

02/07/2025

World RX of Sweden: Host Broadcaster Aurora Looks Ahead to This Weekend's Second Race of the Season in Hljes

Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport, Sunset+Vine Talk Coverage Plans, Distribution and Maintaining Momentum

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League Launches New Content Series to Support Teams, Players Over Summer of Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...

02/07/2025

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite Puts Fans, Players Front and Center With Title Sequence for ITV

UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...

02/07/2025

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down the Craft

Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...

02/07/2025

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Production Plan

CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...

01/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Expansion in the U.S.

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...

01/07/2025

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus Video Production

The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...

01/07/2025

Cherry On the Cake: Inside the Technical Production of the Tour de France 2025 with EMG / Gravity Media

Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...

01/07/2025

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins Fans

NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...