NFL Playoffs 2023: CBS Sports To Expand AFC Coverage, Bring Back Trolly Cam, Pylon Cams, Live Drone

NFL Playoffs 2023: CBS Sports To Expand AFC Coverage, Bring Back Trolly Cam, Pylon Cams, Live Drone Postseason slate opens with Miami-Buffalo, possible neutral-site AFC Title Game By Brandon Costa

Friday, January 13, 2023 - 1:51 pm

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Fresh off its most-watched regular season of NFL coverage in seven years (average 18.487 million viewers), CBS Sports charges into the playoffs this weekend with a big game on the AFC side of the bracket. The broadcaster is in Buffalo for the second-seeded Bills' matchup with the seventh-seeded Miami Dolphins (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS).

CBS Sports is planning to deploy more than 60 cameras for its coverage of the AFC Wild Card game between the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills on Sunday. CBS Sports will also carry an AFC Division Round Game next weekend and the AFC Championship Game on January 29. (Photo: CBS Sports)

It's the lone game of the weekend for the team at CBS, which is focused on filling up Highmark Stadium with more than 60 cameras - including a Skycam and multiple Pylon Cams - as well as its signature enhancements, such as the Sports Emmy-winning RomoVision.

I think we've done a really good job over the last couple of years of building up our weekly regular-season game to the point where it resembled very significantly what a Wild Card game used to look like, says Jason Cohen, VP, remote technical operations, CBS Sports. When we now go from Week 18 to the Wild Card, it's almost an extension of the regular season. We add facilities, cameras, technology enhancements, replay servers, and so on to the Wild Card, and then we keep on building up through the Divisional [Round] and on the [AFC] Championship [Game]. Every round escalates a little bit more, yes, but now the leap from the regular season to the Wild Card is by no means great.

It allows us to add to the show without completely disrupting a lot of the muscle memories that build throughout the season, he continues. Technology additions become just a little extra for situational value. It's not a landmark shift where they have to rethink how they're producing the show.

MORE: CBS Sports Execs Focus on Bringing A' Game Resources to More Events

Each week, the show will grow in size during this NFL Playoff season. One notable addition on the broadcaster's to-be-determined Divisional Round game next week is the return of Trolly Cam, the point-to-point cabled aerial camera system provided by Flycam. Trolly Cam's run extends a few rows back over the seats on the near sideline and can zip along at speeds of up to 65 mph. The system offers a unique look that debuted in CBS Sports' NFL Playoff coverage in 2021.

CBS Sports' Trolly Cam, a point-to-point cabled aerial camera provided by FlyCam, returns for its third season of NFL Playoff coverage. The system will make its first appearance in the Divisional Round. (Photo: CBS Sports)

There are plans for drone coverage at CBS's games. Depending on the venue, it could be ENG-based or live with help from the team at Beverly Hills Aerials.

Also starting with the Division Round next week, CBS will deploy Fujinon's new HZK25-1000mm lens. The native-PL-mount lens was introduced in the U.S. last month and has since worked some of its first events, including a regular-season NFL game on CBS, a Monday Night Football game, and the CFP National Championship for ESPN.

We will play with different possible capacities for that lens to be a part of our broadcast, says Cohen, whether it's shooting field-level or much of what ESPN did in a high-end-zone capacity. We want to integrate that lens since it is some of the latest and greatest lens technology.

For the playoffs, Aerial Video Systems (AVS) is providing two RF cameras (one a shallow-depth-of-field rig using a Sony FX9) this weekend in Buffalo (that total grows to five by AFC Championship), video returns, talent monitors, and comms. Multiple vendors are providing Pylon Cams: Broadcast Sports International (BSI), C360 (recently acquired by Cosm), and 3G Wireless.

Developed with Genius Sports and its Second Spectrum technology, RomoVision, the graphics-based instant-replay enhancement used by analyst Tony Romo continues its run after winning the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award at last year's Sports Emmys.

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Game resources will be beefed up through the month, with more super-slo-mos, EVS machines, and even Sony servers (4K zoom and extraction) to support the four Sony 4800's slated to be deployed at the AFC Championship Game.

NEP Supershooter CBS (A, B, C, and D units) - the A-game truck during the regular season - will be onsite in Buffalo and travel to each game that CBS will produce this playoff season. CES Power is providing the generators to support each compound throughout the month; it has provided the network's redundant power for the entire 2022 campaign.

CBS will expand its compound for the AFC Championship Game with F&F Productions GTX 20 A and B units joining the party to support onsite pre/postgame and halftime studio shows. Game Creek Video's Office 1 truck will also be added to serve as the primary QC facility.

Coordination of the CBS compounds is overseen by VP, Remote Operations, Tom McShane, who is in charge of Operations and Planning with Director, Remote Operations Planning, Kristen Florian. Broadcast Operations, meanwhile, is led by VP, Broadcast Operations, Scott Davis, who works with Alyssa Blake, George Dimotheris, and Chris Rahner.

CBS Sports' top NFL game each week is produced by Jim Rikhoff and directed by Mike Arnold. CBS Sports won the Sports Emmy last year fo

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