SVG Sit-Down: Grass Valley's Robert Erickson Plots New Course for Company's Venue Efforts Priorities are streamlined workflows amid a more complex control room By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Thursday, February 27, 2020 - 12:44 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In-venue production is on the cusp of a new era. Highly debated topics like HDR and IP are causing in-venue production teams to reconsider habits that are deeply rooted in the past. Many have launched the difficult effort to make their control room compatible with the new practices.
One of the most active technology vendors in the sports-video-production industry, Grass Valley has appointed Robert Erickson to lead its initiatives as the new strategic account manager for sports and venues. Since joining the company in 2008, he has served in a variety of roles, including advanced technology director. Overall, Erickson has more than 21 years of experience in the broadcast and IT markets and is committed to designing solutions based on new and emerging technologies for production facilities.
At Grass Valley since 2008, Erickson will now lead the company's efforts in the sports-venue side of the business.
SVG had the chance to speak with Erickson about his new role with the company, what he's seeing in in-venue production, how the company's recent acquisition by Black Dragon fits into the equation, how Grass Valley's line of products can better serve the community, potential applications coming down the pipeline, and more.
What industry trends are currently happening in the venue space?
We're seeing that the customer experience is driving more-complex facility designs with more-complex graphics packages. These complexities are pushing the quality of the in-venue production higher. That current trend, which is fantastic for the people working inside of the venue, is also driving operations and is significantly changing the details of their roles. In the past, sports-video professionals had to worry about creating only one video feed for the entire facility, but now they have to create multiple feeds: some for the suites, some for multiple banners, some for the main board, and some for other things. It has become a very complicated environment.
What are some solutions that Grass Valley is developing to better serve these needs?
As a vendor, we need to ask how we can develop workflows that allow the staff to create improved content that better engages the fan. We also need to ask how we can create tools that will allow users to pull graphics, switchers, replays, and things of that nature into one simplified, easy-to-use interface. The discussion went from I'm going to buy this switcher or this graphics package because it's the most powerful in the world to How do I obtain a holistic solution that takes all of the equipment and puts it into a user-friendly interface that people can learn while still delivering very high-quality and flexible content?
One of our biggest goals is to streamline these workflows. We're creating software just for stadiums and venue spaces, and we'll be showing some of it at NAB this year.
Is the company interested in playing a role in building an entertainment district that surrounds a venue?
That's something we absolutely want to be involved and actively engaged in. I think one of the most important parts about Grass Valley is that we are an engineering company at our core. It is our job to listen to what our customers want to be able to do and deliver solutions.
We've got 500 engineers working at our company, so a lot of the job of myself and our sales teams is to work with the customers and say, Hey, we get you and understand that you want to bring your fans in earlier and you want them to stay later. What can we do to help create the solutions that you think you need? At the root of it all, that's what we have to be doing.
How does the recent Black Dragon acquisition impact business in Grass Valley's venue sector?
Black Dragon's experience leading companies through digital transition will accelerate the next step in Grass Valley's evolution, enabling us to bring more innovative products to market faster in all of the verticals we serve, including venues.
While the development of new solutions will be accelerated, there will be no reduced focus on existing platforms, which customers have counted on for years for their reliability, dependability, and high performance.
What specific technologies do you foresee happening to in-venue production in the next 12-24 months?
You're going to see a lot with the push of 5G and a lot of higher-quality Wi-Fi being installed into stadiums since what was considered a traditional second-screen experience could very much become a [primary] player now. They're adding more bandwidth for [cellular] capacity and the ability to interact in real time at the facility. For example, we are involved in real-time polling at this one stadium, where they will put up a graphic and ask a trivia question. It's about users texting this service, and then, in real time, we can pull that data and put it back on the screen.
With the addition of LED science and its role on videoboards, the need for higher-quality video, in terms of HDR and UHD, has become very popular. We'll need to help with giving them cameras and image processors in their facility that can capture higher-quality video with better dynamic range, colors, and so forth. It's really important to us because that comes back to being able to deliver a better experience for the fans.
North America Stories
20/04/2024
As part of a push to improve the accessibility of its content, PBS Kids has announced that it has integrated American Sign Language (ASL) interpretations into m...
20/04/2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. Online security solution provider McAfee has released new research exploring the impact artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of deepfakes ...
20/04/2024
The Federal Communications Commission has announced the agenda for an Open Meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024 that will include votes on Net Neutrality Rules a...
20/04/2024
Virtual reality and its close relatives, such as extended reality, have been completely accepted into the workflow of high-end productions. Stepping into an LED...
20/04/2024
Video Games Round Out the Entertainment Package
Andy Marken April 19, 2024
0 Comments
By this, I take it you think everybody is who they say they are...
20/04/2024
With the Bears picking first, NBCUniversal Local's properties in Chicago plan extensive coverage of the NFL draft next week....
20/04/2024
Fox Sports said it hired two veteran advertising sales executives, with Jen Durda and Kathy Lydon both named VP....
20/04/2024
Daytime fans got a sneak peek at nominations for the 51st annual Daytime Emmys, with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announcing the...
20/04/2024
DAZN is launching its Run It Up, its first multi-sports original vodcast, or video podcast, and a set of micro-podcasts ahead of the Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia fig...
20/04/2024
David Zaslav, CEO of troubled Warner Bros. Discovery, got a 27% increase in total compensation for 2023....
20/04/2024
New copper-catalyzed C-H activation strategy from Scripps Research Two-mode reactions inspired by human detox enzymes offer powerful new tools for drug discover...
19/04/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 18: (L-R) John Early and Theda Hammel attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Stress Positions premiere at Library Center Theatre on ...
19/04/2024
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
19/04/2024
Pictured: Midnight Family
By Stephanie Ornelas
A great way to get to know a city as culturally unique and rich as Mexico City is to listen to the stories tol...
19/04/2024
St. Louis, MO - April 18, 2024 - Studio Network Solutions (SNS) announced today that MOD won three prestigious industry awards at NAB Show 2024 held this week i...
19/04/2024
MELBOURNE, Fla., April 19, 2024 - The Board of Directors of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.16 per common share, payab...
19/04/2024
PARIS Intel has announced that its plans for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will include using artificial intelligence technology powered by Intel ...
19/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Technologists working on all aspects of the 8K media production chain offered an optimistic update at the 2024 NAB Show on the state of 8K in video pr...
19/04/2024
OpenDrives New Software-Defined Platform Atlas Wins 2024 NAB Show Product of the...
19/04/2024
Grass Valley Showcases Next-Generation T3 Series 4K/HD Digital Recording and Pla...
19/04/2024
NiTRo's M-CUBE Studio Levels Up Esports Productions with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton April 19, 2024
0 Comments
Esports' rapid rise to popularity can...
19/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 19
Brie Clayton April 19, 2024
0 Comments
Major update adds new DaVinci Neural Engine AI tools, new color ...
19/04/2024
Sony Pictures Entertainment is reportedly in talks with Apollo Global Management to make a bid to acquire Paramount which itself is currently discussing a merge...
19/04/2024
CBS Stations has launched CBS News California Investigates , with Julie Watts named regional CBS California correspondent. She will uncover and raise awarenes...
19/04/2024
MediaCo Holding, which owns radio stations WQHT (Hot 97) and WBLS in New York, said it acquired Estrella Media's Spanish-language video, audio and digital c...
19/04/2024
Netflix has ordered season five of fantasy drama The Witcher, which will be the final season. Production has recently begun on season four, and the two remainin...
19/04/2024
DirecTV Stream said it added eight more The CW affiliates to its lineup on Thursday....
19/04/2024
CBS has renewed Elsbeth for the 2024-2025 season. The drama, with Carrie Preston in the lead role, debuted February 29....
19/04/2024
With the Bears picking first, NBCUniversal Local's properties in Chicago plan extensive coverage of the NFL draft next week....
19/04/2024
PHILADELPHIA As government subsidies for broadband services come to an end, Comcast has launched NOW, a new product portfolio of lower-cost Internet, mobile and...
19/04/2024
DirecTV Stream has added more local CW stations for its streaming customers in Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Hartford-New Haven Conn., Phoenix, San ...
19/04/2024
NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES MediaCo Holding Inc. has announced that it has acquired all of Estrella Media's network, content, digital, and commercial operations....
19/04/2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. Adobe has announced that the all-new Adobe Express mobile app is available to all users, bringing features powered by Adobe Firefly generative ...
19/04/2024
LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix reported another blockbuster quarter by adding 9.33 million new subscribers in Q1, 2024 as global paid memberships hit 269.6 million, ...
19/04/2024
The Current State of the Industry and the Future Impact of AI
Hillary Lewis April 18, 2024
0 Comments
The Entertainment Industry: How did we get here ...
19/04/2024
After Effects Tutorial Text Blur Reveal
Andy Ford April 18, 2024
0 Comments
Here's a way to do a quick blur reveal for your text layer. Start by...
19/04/2024
Hollyland Mars M1 Enhanced Wireless Transmitter / Receiver
Colin Smith April 18, 2024
0 Comments
This tutorial shows the new wireless transmitter rece...
19/04/2024
Resolve Fusion: Writing Expressions with Lua
Simon Ubsdell April 18, 2024
0 Comments
The answer to the very frequently-asked question: what is the pro...
19/04/2024
B+C and Next TV have announced the winners of Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show. The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts at the convention...
19/04/2024
Cate Blanchett narrates the Netflix series Our Living World, which premieres April 17. The four-part series looks at the extraordinary creatures around the glob...
19/04/2024
Apple TV Plus has a spinoff of For All Mankind in the works. It is called Star City and details the cosmonauts, engineers and intelligence officers working behi...
19/04/2024
Jacquie Walker, longtime anchor at WIVB Buffalo, will step down from the anchor desk. She has spent over 40 years at WIVB and her last day as an anchor is May 2...
19/04/2024
Bob Hearts Abishola will premiere in broadcast syndication this fall on such station groups as Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Hearst Television, Tegna, E.W. Scr...
19/04/2024
Live With Kelly and Mark remains TV's top entertainment talk show as Kelly Ripa and her co-host and husband Mark Consuelo celebrate their one-year anniversa...
19/04/2024
Sean McLaughlin has been named VP of news for Graham Media Group. He had been senior VP of local news at E.W. Scripps. He will will be responsible for developi...
19/04/2024
Netflix has shared the first trailer from One Hundred Years of Solitude, a series based on the esteemed novel by Gabriel Garc a M rquez. The streamer is on boar...
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 in Review: West Hall - SportsTech Buzz From AWS, Appear, Ateme, The Swi...
19/04/2024
NAB 2024 Draws 61,000+ Attendees With More Than Half Attending the Show for the ...
SVG Sit-Down: Grass Valley's Robert Erickson Plots New Course for Company's Venue Efforts Priorities are streamlined workflows amid a more complex control room By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
