
Show and go: How FreeSports' Rugby League Back Chat is staying on air during the COVID-19 lockdown By Will Strauss, Editor
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 - 17:09
Print This Story
OXyFire Media Creative's Jay Rozanski explains how technology from Telestream and Blackmagic Design is helping him to remotely produce from home a rugby league programme that is, in normal times, a studio-based chatshow.
Rugby League Back Chat is a 30 x 60-minutes series produced by PHA Broadcast for FreeSports, part of Premier Sports.
The topical quick turnaround chatshow covers the Super League and Australia's National Rugby League, discussing all aspects of the game in a fashion that, according to the producers, pulls no punches.
Of course, when the COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing rules came into effect in the UK in March, the show could no longer be produced from a studio with multiple guests sat side-by-side. So a different approach was required to keep the commission on the air.
It was never going to be broadcast quality sound or pictures. But we wanted to get a show on air to discuss what was going on and how it was affecting rugby league.
Back Chat is directed and edited by Jay Rozanski of oXyFire Media Creative, the Sheffield-based live streaming and video production company.
Like many television production companies, not just those working in sport, he took advantage of internet and IP-based technology and mobile phones in order to produce the show remotely.
As a result, the first episode of Back Chat after lockdown saw presenter Matt Shaw front the show from his kitchen while interviewing various rugby league contributors including Leigh Centurions owner Derek Beaumont and Leeds Rhinos player Luke Gale from their homes.
The workflow for the post-produced show that made that possible saw mobile phone video calls fed into a Telestream Wirecast on an Apple iMac via the Rendezvous plugin.
Rugby Leage Back Chat in its pre-COVID-19 format, with guests sitting closely together in a studio set-up
Two Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini Monitors and two Hyperdeck Studios were also part of the workflow, with the interviews edited in Adobe Premiere. All the remote sources were recorded in isolation before being cut together and played out as live'.
A Blackmagic Design SmartView 4K was used for monitoring the feeds while an XR18 Digital Mixer from Behringer sweetened the sound.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has been making shows remotely using the internet for contribution and distribution that connectivity has been one of the big challenges in keeping Back Chat in production.
It was never going to be broadcast quality sound or pictures, acknowledges Rozanski speaking to SVG Europe from his home in the North of England from where the programme is being produced.
But we wanted to get a show on air to discuss what was going on and how it was affecting rugby league.
Wirecast was chosen for the job because it is a system that Rozanski is familiar with, giving them some control in order to make it feel like a Back Chat show.
With contributors in different places, unreliable internet connections and interviews being recorded one-to-one, however, the big challenge creatively was not being able to have a conversation or debate [as they would in the studio], he adds.
The Speedify mobile VPN was used to bond wifi and mobile signals in order to maintain the integrity of the feeds. For future episodes, however, Rozanski will use a Quicklink Skype TX to route calls into his portable production system, potentially allowing for more debate.
We want to also show something positive and give viewers and fans something to look forward to. You can't talk about [the impact of the coronavirus] endlessly.
From a directing perspective, he says it was different but similar to what would happen on an ordinary show. Presenters and guests were still briefed but they were done so remotely.
The additional things we had to do mainly involved checking contributors hardware, he notes, adding that despite the challenges, he is very grateful to the show's sponsor TotalRL.com, who have been supportive in helping us to move forward.
The hope is to keep the show on air this way until the end of lockdown and the resumption of the rugby league season.
There is only a finite timeframe for this, however, concludes Rozanski. If the lockdown goes on too long, the show will have to take a break.
There is no value in going over COVID-19 again and again, he says.
We want to also show something positive and give viewers and fans something to look forward to. You can't talk about [the impact of the coronavirus] endlessly. It's not good for people's mental health.
Rugby League Back Chat airs on Thursdays at 5pm on the FreeSports channel
Most recent headlines
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
19/12/2025
L3Harris technology for the SDA Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program will provide in...
19/12/2025
Partnership brings Nielsen ONE measurement activation directly into XR's adv...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Berklee Announces Spring 2026 Signature Series This season's highlights include the Gospel Extravaganza, the 40th International Folk Festival, special gue...
19/12/2025
Performing arts centres across the globe have doubled down on live production infrastructure in recent years. For venues like the Queensland Performing Arts Cen...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Ricardo Coke-Thomas Named Chair of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The distinguished theater educator, director, and performer will join the Conser...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador Arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
As the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to give your WO Automation for Radio system a quick tune up. At the top of your year end checklist is on...
19/12/2025
19 Dec 2025
VEON's Mobilink Microfinance Bank Launches Islamic Banking Oper...
19/12/2025
Wrapping up a year of connection and clarity!
19 Dec Written By Suzanne Costello
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank our incredib...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Last Samurai Standing' Renewed for Season 2 - A Global Se...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
19/12/2025
Nanoparticle vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola and other deadly filoviruses Scripps Research scientists turn nanoparticles into virus showcases to ...
18/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Kurt Sutton, Director of Broadcast Operations, Clemson ...
18/12/2025
Follow the Money Episode 2: Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and St...
18/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Google Cloud's Anshul Kapoor on the Future of Generative Prod...
18/12/2025
The 2025 SVG Summit Draws Record Crowd for 20th-Annual Sports-Production Industr...
18/12/2025
SBS's sports schedule sizzles in January with Dakar Rally, Kooyong Classic a...