From Championships to Altcasts, National Sports Networks' Biggest Shows Are Only Growing

From Championships to Altcasts, National Sports Networks' Biggest Shows Are Only Growing CBS Sports, ESPN, FOX Sports, and MLB Network reflect on their favorite productions of 2024 By SVG Staff

Monday, January 6, 2025 - 2:39 pm

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From the Super Bowl and the Olympics to SpongeBob and The Simpsons, the 2024 year in sports broadcasting was one of massive championship productions getting larger and experimentation around the live event becoming more mature. But what does it all say about where the industry is headed in 2025?

In a panel discussion at the SVG Summit, leaders from national networks dove into some of the key accomplishments in 2024, reflected on the technologies and workflows that made a lasting impact, and offered their opinions of the evolving sports media space.

This conversation features:

Jason Cohen, CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network, SVP, Remote Technical Operations

Jason Hedgcock, MLB Network, Senior Director, Remote Technical Operations

Tina Thornton, ESPN, EVP, Creative Studio and Marketing

This panel discussion was hosted at the 2024 SVG Summit on Dec. 17 and was moderated by Mike Davies, EVP, Technical and Field Operations for Fox Sports and SVG Chairman.

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

At a company as busy as ESPN, picking the most innovative or impactful broadcast of the year is a daunting task, however, the network ended 2024 with a bang with a pair of animated alternate broadcasts in The Simpsons Funday Football and Dunk the Halls. Tina Thornton, EVP, Creative Studio and Marketing for ESPN reflected on why this flavor of alternate broadcast is so intriguing for the the future of the live sports industry:

Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas was a massive party and clearly one of the major highlights of the 2024 sports calendar in the United States. For CBS Sports, it was a huge achievement and, in many ways, a reemergence for CBS Sports who last broadcast a Super Bowl during the COVID lockdowns. Jason Cohen, SVP, Remote Technical Operations for CBS Sports explains why the 2024 Super Bowl was such an important event for the busy CBS staff:

The 2024 Major League Baseball season was full of highlights from a special game celebrating the Megro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Alabama to a star-studded, bi-coastal clash in the World Series. From a broadcast perspective, however, one of the more critical moments came right at the start of the season when the league hosted the first two games of the regular season (between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers) in Seoul, South Korea. Jason Hedgcock, Senior Director, Remote Technical Operations at MLB Network shared how the workflows used to broadcast those games around the world are changing how his network plans for future events:

Watch the full discussion now on SVG PLAY:

SVG PLAY is your home for all Sports Video Group live-event and long-form video content. SVG members and sponsors have simple access to all SVG event panels, case studies, keynotes, and more - all in one place. To visit SVG PLAY, CLICK HERE.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/01/06/from-championships-to-altcasts-...
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