ESPN Southstreet Seaport Studios Hits Its Stride After Year One, Producing 200 Hours of Programming Weekly Facility lives up to expectations as a content factory' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 10:24 am
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ESPN opened the doors on its South Street Seaport Studios a little more than a year ago. It was very much a work in progress: new shows were launched from the studio every couple of months, construction was still wrapping up, and even the production teams were getting used to the new environment. Today, the facility is a beehive of activity with more than 200 hours of programming a week originating from its three studios.
ESPN's South Street Seaport Studios is home to 200 hours of programming a week, including First Take.
Last year, we were talking about this place becoming a content factory, and it absolutely has, says Chris Calcinari, SVP, remote operations, ESPN. It has exceeded everybody's expectations as there are shows happening in here from morning until night. And, if you look at our morning and afternoon lineup, almost every show originates from here at this point, so it really has lived up to our content-factory expectations.
Studio One, at 3,900 sq. ft. the largest of the three studios onsite, exemplifies the factory approach. The studio is home to Get Up, High Noon, Always Late With Katie Nolan, and the occasional Sportscenter, as well as commercial shoots. Tweaks are under way this week, including a downsized, sleeker desk for Get Up.
It also makes it easier to move around, says Terry Brady, director, remote production, ESPN. We are still adding improvements, but this is a place where people like to come because they like the environment and producing from here.
With three studios busy all day, there is also the opportunity for ESPN talent to be a guest on another show.
It's a fluid environment where they can pop in and out of each other's shows, says Calcinari. Last week, for example, Around the Horn host Tony Reali was talking NBA with commentator Stephen A. Smith on First Take, and there are plenty of other examples every week.
Reali's show has undergone the largest transformation since moving to Seaport Studios. Around the Horn, shot in Studio Two, is a game show of sorts where sports columnists located remotely across the country win and lose points based on Reali's perception of how good or bad a point was made. The show now takes full advantage of optical tracking technology from Mo-sys and AR graphics creation from Vizrt to immerse Reali and his four guests in a virtual-studio environment.
When we started this project, we looked at the editorial flow of the show, and we did not want the technology to take it in a different direction or have technology lead the discussion, explains Michael Foss, senior director, remote production operations, ESPN. We wanted it to complement the editorial approach of the show.
Use of AR not only gives the show the ability to have different looks visually but also offers economic benefits.
You don't need a hard, scenic environment, and the design is flexible, says Foss. Programmers and animators can, in theory, do different shows from the studio for the long term.
The show also is an example of how fiber connectivity between the studio, the locations where the guests are located, and the control room, which is in Washington, DC.
The technical area at the ESPN South Street Seaport Studios is used primarily for camera shading and lighting control.
Video and audio from the remote sites go to Washington, and the guests are composited with the animated background, says Foss. Those signals are then sent here and integrated into the wall monitor and simultaneously into the computer processing that allows the AR to happen. The scoring is also integrated here and sent back to Washington, where it is cut. This would have been impossible a couple of years ago.
Foss adds that the thing that makes the team most proud is the ability to use the technology in a way that allows Reali to interact with the guests in a dynamic way: It stays true to the overall intention and editorial mission of the show.
Studio Three, originally envisioned as a podcast studio, has also taken on more duties since it opened.
We literally create content here all day long, notes Calcinari.
Helping in that process is a studio that measures only 12 x 20 sq. ft. but can offer five different show looks, thanks to sliding set walls and robotic cameras controlled remotely (for example, Smith's radio show is produced out of a control room in Los Angeles). Also, changeover from one show to the next takes only six minutes, with the help of a lighting system that can be reconfigured at the push of a button.
It is very simple and automated, notes Brady. You hit a button, and it changes the light levels or scene settings.
A Simply Live Vibox system is on location along with a Wheatstone radio board that, in theory, can be controlled by any other Wheatstone console in an ESPN facility, provided it is on the WheatNet network. The Vibox can also be controlled from remote control rooms.
New Season, New Opportunities
With spring finally arriving in Downtown Manhattan, the production team will also be able to take full advantage of multiple outside drop locations around the Seaport and even at the Fulton Street Market. Bexel came in to rewire the drop locations with broadcast-quality service panels. ESPN has two Crash Carts, motorized units that can support audio, video, communications, and internet at outdoor locations around the Seaport.
Our intent is to be outside a lot more, says Brady.
About 70 people work at the facility, with two eight-hour studio shifts. The technical facilities onsite are minimal as control rooms in Charl
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ESPN Southstreet Seaport Studios Hits Its Stride After Year One, Producing 200 Hours of Programming Weekly Facility lives up to expectations as a content factory' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
