World Series 2023: Drones Are Set To Fly for Fox Sports' Coverage We want to provide [viewers] the experience of sitting in the front row.' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, October 27, 2023 - 9:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2023 World Series is set to start tonight on Fox Sports, and, with 52 cameras overall - including a custom drone fleet from Beverly Hills Aerials, three Dirt Cams, 13 super-slow-motion cameras, and an Ump Cam - the Fox Sports team is ready to cover the matchup between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks from literally all the angles.
Beverly Hills Aerials will deploy three small drones for World Series coverage, which begins tonight.
We're just all excited to get to tonight after a great season that started off on Fox and FS1, which showed our commitment to baseball, says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations, Fox Sports. With a team led week in and week out by [Director, Field Ops,] Francisco Contreras; [Operations Manager] Nicole Perrin; [Technical Producer] Tom Lynch; and [Remote Production Operations] Nick Utley; joined by [MLB Network, Director, International Broadcast Operations,] Judy Acone; [freelancer] Pam Chvotkin; and many others during our postseason and jewel events. Alongside the team is our remote studio group, led by [Senior Manager, Remote Studio Operations,] Anil Letherwala. It's a great team that gels well and has their finger on the pulse of baseball. They make things happen.
Among the production highlights are a custom three-drone fleet - Gimbal Bee, Hummer Lite, and Hummingbird - from Beverly Hills Aerials.
That's the big piece for us, says Cheney. Chief Pilot Michael Izquierdo is running the drones for us. We'll use them in dead-play situations like pitching changes. We're planning those shots now.
Smaller than a soccer ball, the drones won't be a visual distraction for fans in the stands. They are also all custom-designed by BHA, providing an extra sense of safety because the BHA team understands how to get the most out of the drones: for example, a gimbal mount on the Gimbal Bee allows a smaller drone to fly faster without causing the camera to tilt toward the ground. In addition, the BHA is able to address issues without waiting for a third party to deliver parts.
It gives us the ability to keep moving at a good pace and still have the camera level, says Cheney. We will have only one drone flying at a time, and they will be operated from centerfield at both stadiums.
Fox Sports will deploy 52 cameras for the 2023 World Series.
The Ump Cam will be making its World Series debut. According to Cheney, the camera is a big benefit to production, allowing the viewer to see how fast the pitches are coming as well as the movement.
RF wireless has been phenomenal in getting that to happen and work, he adds. It has been a multi-year process to get to this point, and there is no tool to [show] how hard it is to call balls and strikes or a line drive hit down the third-base line and the challenge of calling it fair or foul. It's spectacular to see the speed of the game.
All the coverage, both studio shows and games, will be produced in 1080p HDR.
We're trying to provide a unique visual difference and differentiator, Cheney explains. We believe 1080p HDR benefits the game. The closer we get to providing to people at home images that are close to what they would see with their own eyes if they were there in person is the goal. We want to provide people the experience of sitting in the front row.
With respect to audio, more than 100 microphones will be placed around the stadium and field, including in the bases.
This offseason, MLB instituted a new 18-in. base, and that meant we had to rebuild the microphone system, Cheney explains. [CP Communications President] Michael Mason and his team and our group went through the time to make those work better for us. [Fox Sports Senior Audio Engineer] Joe Carpenter and his team find all the right places to put the mics.
Alongside the technology firsts will be another more-general World Series first: the first time both stadiums have a roof. At least for this year, late nights due to rain delays or games rescheduled due to rain will not be an issue.
With two indoor stadiums, says Cheney, we know the game is going to go off on time. Going to bed and getting up at a certain hour is always good. It benefits everybody and allows everybody to run at peak performance.
Fox Sports digital and social platforms will be tied into the Fox Sports production. The @MLBonFox X, formerly Twitter, account will again stream the top of the first inning of each game live. The social-media service will also carry live streams of batting practice and warmups as well as celebration cameras from the field and locker room. Fox Sports' original digital franchise Flippin' Bats With Ben Verlander will return with analysis and conversations from both host cities. And Fox Deportes will be onsite with announcers.
We run as one big family out here, says Cheney, with digital onsite here during the ALCS and being joined onsite by Deportes, who are running their operations HRP-style.
Fox Sports World Series Leadership Team Technical Lead: Tom Lynch
Technical Producers: Sid Drexler, Taihe Miller, Brady Polansky, and Michael Vaughan
Operations Lead: Judy Acone
Operations Team: Anil Leatherwala, Nick Utley, Hunter Acone, Monica Chislov, Pam Chvotkin, Eric Guyton, Nicole Perrin, Itzel Rocha, and Hannah Seaman
Key vendors: Power - CES Power; RF audio and video - CP Communications; networking - Beagle Networks; transmission services - AT&T, Lumen, Intelsat, PSSI, Peak Uplink, American Satellite; mobile facilities - Game Creek Video and NEP.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
World Series 2023: Drones Are Set To Fly for Fox Sports' Coverage We want to provide [viewers] the experience of sitting in the front row.' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
