Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SEC on CBS Embraces New Workflows; F&F GTX-19 Is at Center of Production Efforts

24/09/2020

SEC on CBS Embraces New Workflows; F&F GTX-19 Is at Center of Production Efforts Golf, NFL coverage gives the team a leg up on the college football season By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 1:43 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

SEC on CBS has become a tradition for college-football fans, and it returns this week, with LSU hosting Mississippi State. CBS production, operations, and technical teams have overcome numerous challenges to get the network to this place.

CBS Sports' Steve Karasik says the work put in regarding COVID-19 earlier this summer will make a difference for the team working on SEC coverage.

The past few months have been challenging and a huge grind, says Steve Karasik, VP, remote production, CBS Sports, but it has been helpful as it gives us a sense about how to approach these productions. We got a jump-start in June with our golf coverage, and the first two weeks of the NFL and three weeks of college football have gone well.

The number-one priority since June has been the health and safety of the crew. To that end, CBS Sports has had some production and technical personnel working offsite. For SEC on CBS, that will mean one of the tape associate directors will be located at Freedom Studios in Clifton, NJ, and will be tied into the F&F Productions GTX19 production truck that will be onsite at the games. The truck features a Grass Valley Kayenne Elite K-Frame X switcher, Sony HDC-4300L cameras, Fujinon lenses, Evertz router, and Calrec Apollo audio console. The F&F Productions unit also has some safeguards: positions are distanced 6 ft. apart with plexiglass dividers.

One of our broadcast associates for graphics will be remote, Karasik adds, and the operator who keeps track of all the stats is also remote. We will have two Hawk-Eye replay operators working remotely from their homes. Comms and monitoring will be managed remotely.

One challenge with covering football on a weekly basis is that, every week, the broadcast booth is a different size. The good news this week: there is plenty of room in the LSU booth for announcers Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson to have many of the support staff onsite.

People will be more distanced than they are used to, and the stage manager will be virtually connected, cueing up cards for Nessler to read, says Karasik. That worked well all summer for [announcer] Jim Nantz with golf and has worked for the first two weeks of NFL and the three weeks of college football. The operations team, led by Coordinating Producer Craig Silver and Lead Director Steve Milton, is getting a sense of each booth; some of them are smaller and can't fit the entire support team.

Fingerworks has built a touchscreen spotting system tied into the stats program, allowing the spotter to be socially distanced and control a monitor that the announce team can use to see which player made the tackle, block, or catch.

We won't need that this week, says Karasik, but, in the future, it will definitely be in play.

F&F's GTX-19 production unit has been configured to allow social distancing, and plexiglass has also been added.

The SkyCam and Pylon Cams will be deployed for the game production, which overall will be robust.

One of the questions facing everyone with respect to new remote-production workflows was, Would the viewer at home notice the difference?

One of the people working at the studio asked me last week which game was being done with the crew remoted, Karasik notes. The fact that they couldn't tell which was being remoted and which had a producer and director onsite is a good sign that we've done our job well. The top priority is to keep the viewing experience the same at home and to cover football the way we have always done at CBS.

One notable aspect of this season is that the SEC requested that TV partners make game selections prior to the start of the season, when possible, to assist the conference and schools with planning and logistics. For any games not chosen before the start of the season, the normal 12- or six-day selection process will be followed. On Oct. 3, fans will see Texas A&M at Alabama. Also selected in advance of the season: Georgia at Alabama on Oct. 17, LSU at Auburn on Oct. 31, Florida vs. Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov. 7, and Alabama at LSU on Nov. 14. CBS will also televise the SEC Football Championship Game on Dec. 19.

I can't express my appreciation enough for what our technical team has done to pull off not just college football but sports in general, Karasik says. The group - led by [EVP, Operations and Engineering,] Patty Power, [VP, Remote Technical Operations,] Jason Cohen, and [VP, Remote Engineering and Planning,] Mike Francis - has literally worked every day and night to figure out not just the technology part of this but the health and safety part, which is our biggest priority.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/09/24/sec-on-cbs-embraces-new-workflo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

17/04/2026

World Fencing League Announces DAZN as Global Streaming Partner Ahead of April 25 Debut

The World Fencing League (WFL) has announced DAZN as its primary global streamin...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: ARRI Releases ALEXA 35 SUP 6.0 and LPS-1 SUP 1.3 Software Updates

ARRI Releases ALEXA 35 SUP 6.0 and LPS-1 SUP 1.3 Software Updates ARRI has announced software updates for its ALEXA 35 Live camera and Live Production System L...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Sennheiser Announces Spectera Studio System Planner for Spectera Wireless Ecosystem

Sennheiser has announced Spectera Studio, an offline system planner for its Spec...

17/04/2026

Deltatre and DFB Announce DFB.TV+ Streaming Service, Launching May 22

Deltatre and the German Football Association (DFB) have announced DFB.TV+, a DFB-owned direct-to-consumer streaming service developed and operated by Deltatre. ...

17/04/2026

IMG announces senior leadership roles for next phase of growth

Global sports marketing agency IMG has announced new senior leadership roles, designed to strengthen how it supports rightsholders and partners in the midst of ...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: NAGRAVISION and Harmonic Launch Watermarking-as-a-Service for Live Event Streaming

NAGRAVISION and Harmonic have announced a watermarking-as-a-service solution for...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: NETGEAR and EVS Announce Technology Partnership for AV-over-IP Live Production

NETGEAR and EVS Broadcast Equipment have announced a global technology partnersh...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Americas Broadcasters Launch NEXTGEN TV Converter Box Program

America's broadcasters are launching the NEXTGEN TV Converter Box Program, a new initiative designed to provide millions of American viewers with a low-cost...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Quantum to Showcase Tape-Anchored Storage Workflows, Responds to Industry Supply Chain and Power Disruption

Quantum Corp. will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1726), presenting what it ca...

17/04/2026

SVG Marks 20th Anniversary with Plan to Set Course for the Future

Leadership and Staff Announce '20/20 Vision' Playbook...

17/04/2026

TNT Sports Acquires U.S. Broadcast Rights to FIA World Endurance Championship

TNT Sports has announced a multi-year agreement for U.S. media rights to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Three events will air on truTV - the 24 Hou...

17/04/2026

Scripps Sports and PBR Announce Multi-Year Broadcast Partnership for Premier Womens Rodeo

Scripps Sports has announced a multi-year broadcast partnership with PBR (Profes...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Adder Technology Releases AIM 6 IP KVM Matrix Management Software

Adder Technology, a specialist in connectivity solutions and high performance IP KVM, today announced the latest release of AIM, its IP KVM matrix management so...

17/04/2026

Victory+ and Dallas Cowboys Announce Multi-Year Content Streaming Partnership

Victory , a free sports streaming platform from A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), has announced a multi-year content distribution partnership with the Dallas Cowb...

17/04/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 11: Philadelphia Phillies Arianna Krizek - Baseball at the Bank

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...

17/04/2026

Quickplay Deploys Gray Medias New Streaming Platform - Powered by Google Cloud AI - Across 113 Markets

Quickplay has announced the full-scale deployment of Gray Media's streaming ...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Clear-Com's New FreeSpeak Cell Addresses Spectrum Congestion

Clear-Com has introduced the FreeSpeak Cell cellular-based wireless intercom system that uses LTE and 5G infrastructure to support large-scale production commun...

17/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Opens Tomorrow, Bringing Industry Together in Vegas

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off Saturday, April 18, with the show floor and exhibits opening April 19-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show features more ...

17/04/2026

Ratings Roundup: CBS Tees Up Best Masters Since 2015; NBA Sees Big Regular Season Increases

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

17/04/2026

Nuvo Flight mic kit from AEA

Versatile ribbon mic kit revealed The latest arrival to the AEA line-up brings together three contrasting models from their Nuvo range, delivering a versati...

17/04/2026

MPG Awards 2026: Winners announced

Revealed following sold-out MPG Awards ceremony Following another sold-out MPG Awards ceremony at The Troxy in London, the MPG have released a full list of ...

17/04/2026

Maintaining America's Undersea Edge: L3Harris Secures Towed Array Production Through 2029

L3Harris towed array systems provide U.S. Navy submarines with extended acoustic...

17/04/2026

Microsoft Previews 2026 NAB Show Trends, Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: LTN

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

Vizrt To Feature Newly Introduced AI Keyer At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

Cobalt Digital and SineSix Media Partner to Transform Acc...

Cobalt Digital and SineSix Media Partner to Transform Accessibility Compliance into a More Engaging Viewer Experience at NAB Show 2026 Collaboration integrates...

17/04/2026

Appear appoints Mike Burk as Vice President of Business D...

Strengthening Appear's North America team with a new Vice President of Business Development Appear ASA (Appear, OSE: APR), a global leader in live producti...

17/04/2026

Wowza Launches Video Intelligence Framework to Turn Live...

New framework helps broadcasters, streaming platforms, and sports organizations apply AI to live video for monetization, metadata, highlights, and downstream wo...

17/04/2026

VisualOn and Cires21 Release Joint Research at NAB 2026 S...

New whitepaper gives broadcasters and OTT operators independent, codec-by-codec evidence that the VisualOn Optimizer transforms viewer quality of experience. V...

17/04/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive 100G

Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive 100G Brie Clayton April 17, 2026 0 Comments World's first immersive cinema camera f...

17/04/2026

NAB 2026: Vubiquity and Eluvio Showcase Streaming Solution that Significantly Reduces Distribution Costs and Time to Market

NAB 2026: Vubiquity and Eluvio Showcase Streaming Solution that Significantly Re...

17/04/2026

What Makes a Good Marathon Running Playlist?

What Makes a Good Marathon Running Playlist? We asked Xander Dawson, an eighth-semester saxophone major at Boston Conservatory running the Boston Marathon thi...

17/04/2026

Wowza Launches Video Intelligence Framework

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

PTZOptics and Moondream to Demo Visual Reasoning for Live...

At NAB Show 2026, PTZOptics (Booth N1902) will showcase a live sports streaming demo created in collaboration with Moondream, offering a new look at how Visual ...

17/04/2026

Eindhoven University of Technology relies on Lightware T...

The Eindhoven University of Technology is a research university in the Netherlands spanning 25 buildings, specialising in engineering, science and technology. D...

17/04/2026

Documentary Editor - US, Remote

Documentary Editor - US, Remote Brie Clayton April 17, 2026 0 Comments Documentary Editor April 13, 2026Freelance Video Cameraman - Los......

17/04/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF 100G

Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF 100G Brie Clayton April 17, 2026 0 Comments Revolutionary digital film camera brings cinem...

17/04/2026

IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Hit Nearly $300 Billion in 2025

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

PSSI Global Acquires Beagle Networks

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

FCC Commissioner Gomez to Speak at LPTV Day at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

swXtch.io Introduces the swXtch AI Router for Live Media Workflows

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

Bittree Returns to NAB Show with Diverse Patching Solutions

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

Weigel Broadcasting Taps OpenAP for Advanced Advertising Tools

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/04/2026

Dubformer and Adapt Power Goalcast Expansion into Global...

Dubformer, the AI-powered dubbing platform, and Adapt, a global leader in AI-driven localization and dubbing solutions, have enabled Goalcast, the inspirational...