Sports Broadcast Archives — ��ý Video

How Carbonite HyperMax gives sports broadcasters a shared resource pool

Demand Gen — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:58:05 +0000

The production infrastructure behind sports broadcasting is caught between two realities. The demand for more content keeps growing, with more games, platforms, simultaneous productions, and output feeds per event. But the infrastructure model underneath it all remains rooted in fixed, single-purpose hardware that can’t flex between a packed Saturday and a quiet Tuesday.

The result is an industry that either over-provisions for peak demand and accepts the idle capacity, or under-provisions and scrambles when the schedule gets heavy. Neither option is ideal in the face of rapidly changing media rights and disrupted revenue streams due to shifting consumer habits. Production budgets need to cover more output than ever before, creating a gap between capability and demand.

��ý Video built Carbonite HyperMax to end that trade-off. Instead of locking production switching capacity to individual trucks or control rooms, HyperMax enables centralized control and license configuration across equipped frames. This allows content creators to make better use of existing infrastructure.

Production switching capacity that reconfigures for the next game, not the next season

Let’s use a familiar scenario for sports broadcasting crews that can cause capacity and budgeting headaches.

Traditional production switchers are typically configured around the requirements of a specific truck or control room. A four M/E switcher may be appropriate for a regional sports production, while a smaller streaming game may use only part of that capacity. Many systems can be expanded with additional I/O and M/E resources when space remains in the frame, but once that capacity is exhausted, the options become a larger switcher, a second frame, or a significant hardware upgrade.

Compound this decision across the entire studio, and you have a situation where sports broadcasters are forced to overinvest in hardware to cover peak events that are the exception in their schedules rather than the norm.

Carbonite HyperMax works differently.

Built on ��ý Video’s Ultrix routing platform, it’s a hyperconverged production system that combines switching and routing in a single frame. Processing is delivered by modular SDPE blades, each configurable as a MaxME, MaxMini, or MaxScene through software licensing. Each HyperMax instance supports up to eight SDPE blades within its FR12 frame. Larger frames, such as the new Ultrix FR30, can accommodate multiple HyperMax instances, increasing the total available blade capacity. Configurations can change between productions without touching the hardware.

The practical result is a production switcher whose M/E configuration can be adjusted through software licensing within the available frame capacity.

Saturday’s playoff game may require four M/Es, while a simultaneous regular-season stream may require two. With this overlap, HyperMax can configure independent switchers within the available hardware and allocate resources to each production according to its needs. This allows capacity to be redistributed as schedules change, rather than requiring every production environment to be permanently sized for its peak demand. The hyperconverged design also means fewer boxes in the rack: routing, switching, multiviewing, and signal processing are consolidated into a single platform.

In an OB truck where every inch of rack space and every watt of power matters, that consolidation adds up fast.

The Resource Pool extends shared capacity across the entire operation

Single-system flexibility is useful. But the bigger idea—announced at NAB 2026—is the HyperMax Resource Pool.

Nigel Spratling, ��ý Video’s VP of Production Switchers, described the problems that the Resource Pool solves like this:

Carbonite HyperMax Resource Pool

The Resource Pool provides a centralized management of licenses and resources across control rooms and OB trucks. Each production can be configured with the licenses and processing capacity available in equipped frames. When demand drops, those resources become available for whatever’s next on the schedule. ��ý Platform Manager handles the orchestration, allocating capabilities and licenses across the pool based on the production schedule.

“For decades, production systems have been designed to meet the maximum possible demand of each control room. So maybe you had three control rooms, each one sized for its biggest show, even if that level of capacity is only needed occasionally. That means a lot of processing sits idle even when another production could use it.”
Nigel Spratling – VP of Production Switchers

Instead of sizing every production environment for its own peak and leaving capacity stranded when it’s not in use, the operation can plan and manage license allocation across existing frames.

Spratling called it the shift “from fixed, dedicated resources to shared, dynamically allocated capacity.”

HyperMax 1 puts the Resource Pool on the road

��ý Production Services’ new demonstrates how the Resource Pool architecture works in a real-world setting. It’s a 48-foot unit built around a Carbonite HyperMax 4 M/E switcher with Ultrix routers, five Rio Replay panels, four XPression graphics engines, two PIERO AR graphics servers, and support for up to 16 cameras. It’s a fully equipped Tier 1 mobile unit.

What makes it more than a well-equipped truck is its role in the Resource Pool. As Spratling explained at NAB 2026, the OB truck can function as a node in the shared pool, operating as the controller, the controlled, or both from a single TouchDrive panel.

A truck on-site at a venue can draw additional processing from a centralized facility. A centralized hub can access the truck’s resources. Combined with REMI workflows, this creates a hybrid production model that bridges traditional OB and at-home production in a way that fixed-configuration trucks never could.

How the Resource Pool applies across the sports production pyramid

solves a different problem depending on where you sit in the production pyramid, but the underlying principle is the same. Fixed capacity that’s locked to a single production environment can’t help the production happening next door.

For a production hub serving multiple teams, the pain point is multi-game nights. Three simultaneous NBA and NHL games on a Saturday each need their own switching and replay resources. A shared management system lets operators assign the appropriate software licenses to equipped frames based on each production’s requirements.

Resources shift with the schedule rather than sitting locked in control rooms that can’t help each other.

For a national network, the biggest challenge is seasonal scaling. The Resource Pool lets the same infrastructure support regular-season production and playoff demands without temporary buildouts or emergency rentals.
For collegiate athletic departments, the challenge is multi-sport congestion. A shared pool at a centralized campus facility lets simultaneous productions draw the resources they need, without equipping every venue for peak capacity.
For OB companies, the challenge is competing demand across trucks. HyperMax and the Resource Pool let operators manage and reconfigure resources in equipped trucks across the fleet, giving each unit greater flexibility with its installed hardware. The fleet becomes a system rather than a collection of self-contained units.

Live sports production is getting bigger, smarter, and closer to the fan

Watch this TV Tech webinar on demand as panelists from FOX Sports, ��ý Video, AJA, and Appear explore how the sports broadcasting industry can cover more events, deliver content to more platforms, and tell better stories without simply adding more people, trucks, or time.

Watch webinar on-demand

��ý Video is already embedded in sports broadcast production at every tier

HyperMax and the Resource Pool are new. The ��ý Video ecosystem they extend is not. At the top tier, ��ý Video’s graphics and analysis tools run in the industry’s most demanding production environments.

PGA Tour Studios deployed XPression, Tessera, Voyager, and Lucid across its 165,000-square-foot centralized facility in Ponte Vedra Beach. NBC Sports Regional Networks runs a hub-and-spoke XPression and PIERO deployment across San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia with a flexible model that scales between peak and regular programming. Rogers Sportsnet powers its NHL studio broadcasts with XPression Tessera, driving real-time graphics across 22 LED displays including a 50-foot curved floor-to-ceiling wall.

At the collegiate level, Carbonite switchers and XPression graphics are the standard production package across thousands of users producing for ESPN+ and conference networks. ESPN pushes standardized XPression graphics templates from a project server in Bristol to schools across the country. The University of Texas built its new SEC broadcast facility around Ultrix and Ultrix Acuity switching with XPression graphics, covering six-plus venues from four control rooms.

HyperMax itself has sold at twice the rate ��ý Video anticipated since its introduction at NAB 2025. ��ý Production Services now operates ten trucks and produces more than 500 events annually across 30+ platforms in 48 states and internationally, with HyperMax 1 as the flagship unit leading the next generation of that fleet.

Production infrastructure that matches how sports broadcasting actually works

Sports broadcasting runs on variable demand. The infrastructure serving it shouldn’t be fixed. With Carbonite HyperMax, it no longer is.

HyperMax and the Resource Pool help broadcasters manage resources across equipped trucks, hubs, and control rooms, with software licenses assigned to existing frames according to the production schedule.

For sports broadcast organizations evaluating their next switcher purchase, the question is whether that investment locks them into another generation of fixed hardware or moves them toward the shared, software-defined model the industry is heading toward.

Contact ��ý Video to discuss how Carbonite HyperMax and the Resource Pool fit your production environment.

The post How Carbonite HyperMax gives sports broadcasters a shared resource pool appeared first on ��ý Video.

The infrastructure challenge behind every sports broadcast

Demand Gen — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 17:57:47 +0000

Walk into the production compound for a College Football Playoff championship game, and you’ll find a small city of mobile units, hundreds of crew members, and over a dozen distinct broadcasts being produced simultaneously from a shared IP backbone. Each feed has its own editorial voice, its own talent, and its own production chain. It’s one of the most complex live production operations on the planet.

That same week, a university athletic department across the country produces an ESPN+ basketball game with four cameras, two students, and a single switcher in a campus control room.

Both are live sports broadcasts. Both need to work flawlessly. And both run on production infrastructure that operates the same way it has for decades. Switching, routing, and processing capacity is fixed to a specific truck or control room, unable to flex, share, or scale when the next production on the schedule needs something different.

That model held up when the production calendar was predictable and the output was a single linear feed. It’s breaking under the weight of what sports broadcasting has become.

Simultaneity, not complexity, is the real infrastructure problem

The challenge isn’t any single production. A national primetime NFL broadcast is complex, but the industry has decades of experience producing them. The challenge is how many productions need to happen at the same time, on the same day, drawing from the same finite pool of equipment and crew.

On peak nights during NBA, NHL, and MLB season overlap, major OB companies deploy every truck and every crew they have. The constraint isn’t talent or ambition, but rather raw switching and processing resources. Each independent production chain needs its own set of M/E banks, its own replay servers, and its own graphics channels. Fifteen games on the same Tuesday night means fifteen fully independent production environments, regardless of whether each one actually needs the full capacity it’s been allocated.

was supposed to relieve this pressure. Moving switching to centralized hubs instead of deploying trucks to every venue does reduce the logistics of getting equipment in place. ESPN now across seven dedicated facilities. But centralization doesn’t eliminate the bottleneck. It just moves it somewhere else.

A centralized production hub still needs discrete switchers, replay servers, and routing for each control room. When five games happen simultaneously, the hub needs five independently equipped production environments, just like the old model needed five trucks.

More games, more platforms, and more feeds per event are multiplying demand

The production volume the industry carries keeps growing, and the forces behind it are permanent.

Rights fragmentation is the most visible driver. Leagues are splitting their packages across more partners than ever, and each rights holder requires its own branded production with unique studios, talent, graphics, and camera philosophy. , for example, splits games across three national partners instead of two, plus league-owned channels and direct-to-consumer platforms.

More rights holders means more separate production chains competing for the same finite infrastructure on the same game nights.

Output multiplication within a single event compounds the problem. The alternate broadcast is no longer a novelty layered on top of the main telecast. It’s a core design driver for the production compound itself.

A single Thursday Night Football broadcast generates well over 100 distinct feeds across its broadcast streams, each with redundant transmission paths. Coach’s film rooms, betting data feeds, Spanish-language broadcasts, vertical mobile-first formats, social clip packages—every alternate output requires its own switching resources that a traditional two to three M/E production switcher was never designed to provide.

At the collegiate level, the volume is staggering. in the 2024-25 academic year. Schools are producing much of this content themselves with minimal infrastructure—small full-time staffs supplemented by freelancers and students, running ESPN+ broadcasts out of campus control rooms never built for this kind of output. The production is getting done. But the infrastructure underneath it is stretched to its limits.

Live sports production is getting bigger, smarter, and closer to the fan

Watch webinar on-demand

The RSN collapse is forcing a production infrastructure reckoning

The financial foundation that sustained local sports broadcasting for three decades has effectively collapsed. The regional sports network model—built on guaranteed carriage fees from cable bundles—is unwinding as cord-cutting accelerates. FanDuel Sports Network confirmed its networks would . MLB Local Media now produces and distributes games for , with additional teams running independent operations.

Teams moving to these new distribution models are seeing roughly half the revenue they earned under their old RSN deals, with payments now tied to streaming and advertising performance rather than guaranteed rights fees.

still use traditional pay-TV. This revenue compression puts direct pressure on production infrastructure investment. Teams and their broadcast partners need professional quality on dramatically smaller budgets, which means the infrastructure they invest in has to work harder across more situations than ever before.

Fixed production infrastructure sized for peak demand is the industry’s hidden cost problem

Every sports broadcaster, OB company, and athletic conference faces the same infrastructure trade-off. A production switcher in a truck runs at full capacity on game day, then sits idle the rest of the week and goes dark during the off-season. A centralized hub runs five simultaneous productions on a packed Saturday, but only one or two on a weeknight. The equipment costs the same either way.

The traditional answer has been to size for peak. Equip every truck, every control room, and every production environment for the most demanding scenario it might face. A fully equipped HD mobile unit can cost millions to build, with timelines running over a year from design to deployment. University athletics departments are on dedicated broadcast centers just to keep pace with ESPN+ obligations.

That investment is justified by the handful of days each year when the infrastructure runs at capacity. The rest of the time, it’s idle capital that can’t be redirected, shared, or redeployed. An M/E bank sitting unused in a truck parked at the depot can’t help the production happening at the arena across town.

The infrastructure model that serves that mandate can’t be one where every production environment carries its own peak-ready capacity independently, with no way to share what’s not being used.

Frame the game your way

Built��for the pressure of live sports, ��ý��brings cameras, replay, graphics, and automation together��in a powerful system that helps you��capture more angles,��add more insight, and share more live data��to��keep your audience��hooked.

Ready to modernize your sports broadcast?

Software-defined production infrastructure is moving from concept to deployment

The alternative is to use software-configurable production systems that allow operators to adjust license assignments and make better use of the processing capacity installed in each frame. A marquee rivalry game may require a four M/E configuration, while a mid-tier regular-season game may require two and a streaming-only broadcast one. When the rivalry game ends, those resources return to the pool and are available for the next production on the schedule.

This isn’t theoretical anymore. Real deployments are running this way.

handles up to six simultaneous Tier 1 sports productions connected to 29 venues over a fully IP infrastructure.
runs entirely on cloud-based switching.
operates software-defined production rooms alongside traditional REMI control rooms in the same centralized facility.
The EBU and Linux Foundation are developing open interoperability standards to make this work across vendors.

Some degree of resource flexibility within a single switcher is already established in parts of the market. Hyperconverged production platforms take that principle further by combining routing, switching, and processing in unified frames with software-licensed feature sets, allowing systems to be configured for a broader range of productions. The majority of sports OB trucks still run traditional dedicated switchers, and TD familiarity with existing systems creates real inertia. But the architectural direction is clear, and the economics of idle infrastructure are pushing the industry toward it.

��ý Video’s Carbonite HyperMax is a software-defined, hyperconverged production platform that combines production switching and other processing tools while allowing operators to configure licensed capabilities for different productions.

The infrastructure model needs to match how sports broadcasting actually works

Sports broadcasting is defined by variable demand. A packed playoff Saturday looks nothing like a quiet Tuesday in the off-season. A 14-feed MegaCast compound looks nothing like a 4-camera collegiate stream. The production infrastructure serving all of it needs to support flexible configurations rather than being permanently sized for only one level of demand.

The organizations that figure out how to manage and configure��their existing production resources to match demand can operate more efficiently and produce better content. The technology to do that is no longer theoretical. The question is whether sports broadcast operations are ready to move toward it.

The post The infrastructure challenge behind every sports broadcast appeared first on ��ý Video.

What really makes an aerial camera system safe?

Micah Mcburney — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:03:35 +0000

Aerial camera systems are designed to do something extraordinary: move cameras through spaces that traditional camera systems simply can’t reach.

That freedom creates incredible possibilities for a production. It also comes with an important responsibility.

When equipment is moving through a venue and potentially operating above people, what actually makes that system safe?

It’s an easy question to answer with a list of features. Brakes. Emergency stops. Operating boundaries. Monitoring.

But aerial camera safety is bigger than any individual feature.

Safety starts long before the camera takes flight

A safe aerial camera operation begins with how the system itself has been engineered.

Safety-critical functions need to account for what happens when something doesn’t work as expected. That makes considerations such as redundancy, braking and emergency-stop mechanisms, engineering safety factors, overload and overspeed monitoring, and reliable communication between components important parts of the conversation.

Take braking as an example. It’s not enough to simply ask whether a system has brakes. How are those brakes activated? Is there redundancy? Could the failure of another component prevent the braking system from performing its intended function? Are the various components designed to withstand forces that might exceed what the system has originally been designed for in case of an emergency breaking situation?

Those are very different questions from what you might find on a typical product specification sheet.

“Safety isn’t something you add to an aerial camera system at the end of the design process. It has to influence how the system is engineered from the beginning, including how it responds when something doesn’t go according to plan.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

Technology is only part of the equation

Even the most carefully engineered aerial camera system still needs to be operated correctly.

Equipment needs to be inspected and properly maintained. Critical components need defined replacement schedules. Crews need established operating procedures and pre-flight checks.

And, importantly, the people operating the system need to know what they’re doing.

Pilots, camera operators, and technicians each have defined responsibilities. The pilot and camera operator need to work together throughout a production, while the entire crew needs to understand the system, operating environment, and procedures governing its use.

Venue-specific considerations matter too. Restricted areas, rigging constraints, operating boundaries, and other environmental conditions all need to be understood before the system goes into operation.

Safety isn’t just built into the machine. It’s built into how the entire operation works.

Not all safety standards tell you the same thing

Standards add another layer — and this is where things can get confusing.

Different standards and requirements can examine different aspects of aerial camera safety. Some focus more heavily on areas such as accident prevention, inspections, maintenance, and operational practices.

Others go deeper into how the machinery itself has been engineered.

EN 17206, for example, is a European safety standard for machinery used in stages and other production areas within the entertainment industry. Its assessment can extend into areas including mechanical design, structural integrity, braking systems, functional safety, control-system redundancy, fault detection, and electrical design.

spidercam is EN 17206 certified, providing independent validation of the engineering and safety principles built into the system.

That distinction matters.

Seeing that a system meets a particular requirement is useful. Understanding what was actually evaluated to meet that requirement tells you considerably more and gives you a better basis for comparing the safety credentials of different aerial camera systems.

And yes, cost belongs in the conversation

Price matters. Every production has a budget.

A less expensive aerial camera system isn’t automatically an unsafe one, and a higher price isn’t proof of safety.

But when comparing systems, it’s worth understanding why they cost what they cost.

If achieving a lower price means compromising engineering, redundancy, maintenance, training, operational support, or the standards applied to the system, the upfront savings need to be considered against the potential risk (and the resulting liability).

Because the cost of getting something wrong can extend well beyond the equipment itself.

An incident can interrupt a production or damage equipment. It can affect confidence in the technology and the organizations responsible for deploying it. In a serious failure, there is also the potential for harm to the people working or performing around the system.

So the better question isn’t simply:

“Which aerial camera system costs less?”

��’s:

“What am I getting for that investment and what am I trusting this system with?”

“When you’re evaluating an aerial camera system, you’re not just making a decision about equipment. You’re trusting that system around your production, your people and your reputation. The lowest upfront cost doesn’t tell you what that risk is worth.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

What happens when something goes wrong?

No engineered system should be evaluated on the assumption that nothing will ever fail.

A better question is: what has been designed to happen when it does?

That’s why concepts such as redundancy and fault detection matter. If one component fails, does another maintain the safety-critical function? If communication is lost, can the system detect it and respond? If operating parameters move outside defined limits, what happens next?

The same thinking applies operationally.

Is the equipment regularly inspected and maintained? Are critical components replaced according to defined schedules? Does the crew perform pre-flight checks? Are the people controlling the system properly trained? Are there mechanisms in place so the decision to fly does not rely just on a sole individual?

The goal isn’t to pretend risk doesn’t exist. It’s to understand what has been put in place to manage it.

Ask better questions about safety

When evaluating an aerial camera system, don’t stop at asking whether it has safety features.

Ask how safety has been engineered into it.

Ask what happens when something fails.

Ask how the equipment is inspected and maintained.

Ask what training its operators receive.

Ask which standards have been applied and what those standards actually evaluate.

Because aerial camera safety isn’t one feature, certificate, or checklist.

It’s a system.

And when a system is operating around and above people, understanding how it does so safely and reliably matters just as much as understanding the shots it can deliver.

Want to go deeper?

We’re developing a comprehensive guide to aerial camera safety that takes a closer look at the engineering, operational practices, training, maintenance, and standards behind safe aerial camera operation.

Learn more about spidercam and how safety is engineered into every production.

The post What really makes an aerial camera system safe? appeared first on ��ý Video.

A new view from Bell Centre: Bringing fans closer to the action

Micah Mcburney — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:51:15 +0000

Few venues in hockey can match the energy of Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Home to the Montreal Canadiens and host to some of the industry’s biggest live events, the arena is known for creating unforgettable experiences for fans. Whether it’s a packed house for a playoff game or a sold-out concert, Bell Centre has built its reputation on delivering moments that resonate long after the event ends.

Now, with ��ý Video’s spidercam cable camera system, Bell Centre is bringing audiences even closer to the action.

Purpose-built for stadiums, concert venues, studios, and live video productions of all sizes, iSeries delivers the dynamic movement and immersive perspectives that help audiences feel part of the moment.

For Boromy Ung, General Manager, spidercam at ��ý Video, the project has been especially meaningful. As both a hockey fan and a longtime leader in fan engagement technology, he has had a front-row seat to the collaboration that brought iSeries to one of the NHL’s most iconic venues.

The right partner for a new perspective

The opportunity to bring iSeries to Bell Centre came together naturally.

As a longtime ��ý customer, Bell Centre was already familiar with ��ý Video and aware of the company’s expanding camera motion systems portfolio. When ��ý added new cable camera capabilities to its portfolio, conversations quickly began about what might be possible inside one of hockey’s most recognizable venues.

“Bell Centre has been a loyal customer of ��ý for a long time, so they knew us. They also knew that we had acquired a cable camera business and so the conversation quickly evolved into exploring what else we could bring to Bell Centre.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

That existing relationship proved invaluable. Bell Centre trusted ��ý, ��ý trusted Bell Centre, and both organizations shared a collaborative approach to solving challenges. Combined with ��ý Video’s proximity to Montreal, it created the ideal foundation for bringing iSeries to one of hockey’s most iconic venues. For both organizations, the project represented an opportunity to work together on something new while building on years of trust and collaboration.

Bringing fans closer to the action

For Bell Centre, the objective wasn’t simply to add another camera angle. The goal was to capture the energy of the venue in a way that traditional camera positions couldn’t.

Anyone who has attended a Canadiens game understands the atmosphere inside the building. The challenge was finding a way to bring that same feeling to audiences watching from home.

“They wanted people from the outside to experience the same thing. A cable camera solution allows people to get much closer to the action.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

As a dynamic cable camera system, iSeries delivers perspectives that traditional camera positions simply can’t. Sweeping, dynamic movements, and immersive aerial views help capture not only the action on the ice, but also the emotion surrounding it—from fan reactions to the intensity of key moments and the atmosphere that makes Bell Centre one of the most exciting arenas in hockey.

The impact extends beyond television audiences.

Whether fans are watching from home or following the action inside the arena, the additional perspectives help create a connection to the moment.

“The spidercam has really added to the in-game experience. With great moves, pushes and pulls, and the ability to fly up and down, we’ve been able to get more variety of shots for the broadcasters as well as inside the building.”
Paul Gallant – Director of Game Presentation, Montreal Canadiens

Built for the Reality of a Multi-Purpose Venue

Bell Centre isn’t just home to hockey.

Throughout the year, the venue regularly transitions between NHL games, concerts, and major live events. That operational reality became one of the most important considerations during planning.

“Sometimes they need to set up the cable cam again in less than a day because you have an NHL game following a concert the next day.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

While the initial installation can be completed during the off-season, restoring the system after a concert requires speed, efficiency, and careful planning. Every aspect of the deployment was designed to support fast turnaround times while maintaining the same operational standards expected for every event.

The challenge isn’t simply installing the system—it’s ensuring it can be deployed, removed, and returned to consistent and safe operation quickly enough to support the demanding schedule of a modern entertainment venue.

According to Ung, the initial installation can typically be completed in about a week, while returning the system to operation after an event is designed to take no more than half a day, helping Bell Centre maintain the flexibility needed to support its busy calendar.

What fans don’t see

The spectacular shots captured during a game are only one part of the story.

Behind every broadcast is a rigorous process designed to ensure safe and reliable operation.

Ung often compares operating a cable camera system to flying an airplane.

“When you fly an airplane, the captain needs to go through a checklist. Same thing for spidercam. People don’t realize the amount of preparation work that needs to happen before every game.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

Just as a pilot doesn’t skip pre-flight procedures because yesterday’s flight was uneventful, iSeries operators follow a detailed checklist before every production. Visual inspections, software verification, communications checks, and system diagnostics are all completed before the camera ever leaves the ground.

The process is repeated before every event, regardless of how successful the previous production may have been.

Operators inspect cables, verify communications with the winches, review system status information, and confirm everything is functioning as expected before the system is cleared for operation.

Engineering the Experience

Operational procedures are only one part of the equation.

Long before a system is installed or a checklist is completed, safety is built into the engineering process itself.

Installing a cable camera system inside one of Canada’s busiest arenas required extensive coordination between engineering, operations, and venue teams. From site surveys and rigging considerations to flight path design and event-day procedures, every aspect of the deployment was carefully evaluated to ensure the system could deliver dynamic new perspectives while meeting Bell Centre’s operational requirements.

spidercam systems are engineered and manufactured to meet recognized international safety standards, including EN 17206, the European standard for machinery and equipment used in the entertainment industry. Combined with comprehensive site surveys, defined operating zones, geofencing capabilities, preventative maintenance programs, and rigorous pre-event inspections, these standards help ensure safety remains at the forefront of every deployment.

Together, these engineering safeguards and operational procedures allow production teams to focus on delivering the dynamic shots viewers see on screen while maintaining the high standards expected in live production environments.

When innovation becomes part of the production

One of the most rewarding moments for Ung came when broadcasters stopped treating iSeries as something new.

Instead, it simply became part of the show.

“A month ago, nobody even thought of using these shots. Now these shots are used for every game.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

As the Canadiens’ playoff run gained momentum, broadcasters increasingly relied on iSeries perspectives for opening sequences, replay packages, and unique storytelling moments throughout the game.

One example stood out in particular. A local broadcaster began using a dedicated iSeries shot to open its pre-game coverage, capturing a perspective that simply wasn’t possible before.

For Ung, that growing adoption was validation that the project was accomplishing exactly what it set out to do.

The system had evolved from an exciting new capability into an expected part of the production workflow.

That’s when you know a technology is making an impact—not when people notice it’s new, but when they can’t imagine the production without it.

Looking ahead

While cable camera systems have become a familiar sight in major football and soccer venues around the world, Ung believes their role inside arenas is only beginning.

As adoption continues to grow, future possibilities could include deeper integration with tracking technologies, augmented reality workflows, and AI-powered production tools that help broadcasters tell richer stories and create more engaging experiences.

Ultimately, the goal remains the same: helping broadcasters create more compelling productions and bringing fans closer to the moments that matter most.

A rewarding journey

When asked to describe the Bell Centre project in a single word, Ung didn’t hesitate.

Rewarding.

For a lifelong hockey fan with a passion for innovation and broadcast technology, seeing iSeries become part of the Bell Centre experience carried special significance.

“We started this project with a blank sheet of paper. Seeing it all come together during the playoff fever in Montreal was unbelievable. It was a great team project, and seeing everybody use it has been very rewarding.”
Boromy Ung – General Manager, spidercam, ��ý Video

From trusted partnerships and operational excellence to innovative storytelling and fan engagement, the Bell Centre deployment represents more than a successful installation.

It’s a new view of one of hockey’s most iconic venues—and a glimpse into how the fan experience continues to evolve.

The post A new view from Bell Centre: Bringing fans closer to the action appeared first on ��ý Video.

Live sports production is getting bigger, smarter, and closer to the��fan

Demand Gen — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 14:12:49 +0000

In our recent TV Tech��webinar��on��Automation, Highlights, and Real-Time Decisioning in Live Sports Production, the conversation quickly moved beyond technology. The panelists were really talking about a bigger change in how sports are produced, delivered, and experienced.��

Fox��Sports’�� was joined by Abe Apt from AJA Video, Mike Burke from Appear, and from ��ý Video. Together, they explored an industry trying to cover more events, feed more platforms, and tell better stories without simply adding more people, trucks, or time.��

Scaling production without scaling everything else

The first big theme was scale. Live sports production is becoming more distributed out of necessity. For example, Fox Sports’ upcoming will combine a main production base in Los Angeles with remote studio shows from cities across the country.��

“We connect with remote studio shows across the country – Seattle, New York, Dallas, and all over, depending on where the action is. So, it is centralized and distributed all at the same time with a massive, massive scale.”
Michael Davies – Executive Vice President – Fox Sports

Making every fan part of the action

The second theme was immersion. For Fox Sports’ that means more in-car cameras, more heads-up display graphics, more telemetry, and more aerial coverage. Davies described the in-car camera as something that now does more than capture a dramatic angle. It can also help explain the race. “That your in-car cameras now are not only a camera, but they’re also a data source. It’s a place where you can actually watch the race and understand the context of the race.”��

That same idea came up in the graphics discussion. Kevin Dresser discussed how player and ball-tracking data can help production teams build graphics that explain what is happening without getting in the way of the game.��

“Data is king. Most leagues now have systems in place that track players and the ball with incredible accuracy. Our focus is helping the production teams harness all that data to create new contextual graphics and experiences for fans.”
Kevin Dresser – Director of Business Development, Graphics – ��ý Video

Using AI where it actually helps

The third theme was artificial intelligence, but not in the flashy, science-fiction sense. The panelists kept coming back to AI as something that is already working behind the scenes. It helps with tagging, tracking, asset management, graphics, highlights, monitoring, and other tasks that make��a live��production faster and easier to manage.��

“AI right now is mostly under the hood, not necessarily presented on the screen, with some very significant exceptions. You don’t always see it, and you don’t always see what exactly it’s doing. However, you do see what it lets us do,”
Michael Davies – Executive Vice President – Fox Sports

Abe Apt made a similar point and pushed back against the idea that AI is there to replace the production crew. In his view, the most useful applications are practical ones. “I’m very optimistic about AI, as an assistant, not as a magical non-sentient producer, and, as Mike said, the best uses right now are the boring but powerful ones. It’s definitely under the hood; you see the results of it, but it’s not thrown in your face.”

Kevin Dresser spoke about AI as a valuable assistant for graphics operators in live production environments, where teams must create fast-turnaround content while adding rich context to the story.

“AI can help with the preparation of content to allow production teams to dive in, start adding effects and work on the storytelling … If we can automate some of those repetitive tasks it allows operators to be more effective under tight timelines”.
Kevin Dresser – Director of Business Development, Graphics – ��ý Video

Designing for new screens and new habits

The final theme was changing viewing behavior. Sports are still��produced��around a 16:9 canvas, but fans are watching on phones, following alternate telecasts, checking social clips, and expecting more customized experiences. Davies pointed to India as a market that is already far ahead in mobile-first sports viewing. “India is different in that they’re sort of phone-first, mobile-first, so their bet on 9×16 and integration is way ahead of what this industry is doing.”

Apt summed up the challenge neatly. It is not enough to crop a wide shot and hope it works on a phone.��The whole production language has to adapt. “The audience just changed faster than the production grammar. This is the best way I can phrase it. And it happened so fast, too, and made me feel super old. But now I catch myself watching live events vertically.”

Frame the game your way

Ready to modernize your sports broadcast?

A production model in motion

Altogether, the��webinar��showed an industry rising to meet bigger expectations with smarter workflows. IP, AI, data, graphics, specialty cameras, and mobile formats are now working together to make live sports production more flexible, more efficient, and more in tune with how fans want to watch.��

The post Live sports production is getting bigger, smarter, and closer to the��fan appeared first on ��ý Video.

Harnessing the power of real-time data with ��ý graphics

Demand Gen — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:37:52 +0000

Learn how cutting-edge tools from ��ý Video can help you harness the power of data to you captivate your audience, boost engagement, and stay ahead in the fast-paced world of sports broadcasting.

Employing big data and real-time analytics in sports broadcasting is now seen as essential, but can be quite difficult to execute without the proper tools and expertise. This is especially true of live game coverage when timely information is necessary to keep pace with the action.

Viewers want (if not expect and demand) real-time, relevant insights to augment content, and broadcasters must deliver them to enhance viewer engagement. But it can often be hard to integrate data analytics into your broadcast workflow to deliver the right insights at the right time to your audience.

Today’s viewers expect more from their sports coverage

Partnering with the business intelligence firm Morning Consult, the global technology leader IBM recently released a comprehensive study titled “.” This study drew on survey responses from more than 18,000 fans across 10 countries to yield significant findings on data analytics in sports broadcasting.

Although 64% of surveyed fans prefer watching sports on conventional or streaming TV platforms, they often watch or listen to athletic events while using other devices to get further information. Furthermore, they singled out real-time updates as their top priority in sports coverage.

Many of these viewers fully understand that this kind of rapid, relevant information delivery is, frankly, impossible without data analytics. In fact, 63% of survey respondents called data analytics the most positive technological force in the current sports broadcast landscape.

Real-time analytics delivers immediate insights to sports fans

If they want to stay ahead of the game, today’s sports broadcasters must employ advanced solutions that deliver real-time analytics and instant, data-driven insights to viewers at home. By delivering informative content that ranges from static graphics to augmented reality elements, real-time data analytics can improve viewer experience and drive viewer engagement in countless ways. Powered by real-time graphics engines and software automation, this content can reach your audience instantly, maximizing both relevance and impact.

Speed is crucial to the modern consumer of entertainment and news, but it is particularly valuable to the sports viewer. Sports are inherently time-sensitive, so broadcasters must strive for timeliness across all aspects of their coverage. Therefore, they need solutions that can collate data quickly and seamlessly, enhance their storytelling capabilities, and keep viewers engaged and informed as the action unfolds.

How the BBC and ��ý Video elevated the FA Cup Final broadcast

The FA Cup Final proved that great broadcasting isn’t just about technology, it’s about making tools serve the story. By working with ��ý Video, BBC Sport delivered bold, data-rich visuals that fit seamlessly into live production, enhancing the spectacle without adding complexity

Learn More

Leveraging data analytics tools to enhance the viewing experience

By taking raw sports data and presenting it on-screen in a highly digestible way, you can capture and keep viewer attention, enhance engagement with your coverage, and ultimately foster long-term consumer relationships with an ever-expanding audience.

“In recent years,” contends Johnson & Wales, “major sports organizations have turned their attention to the ways in which sports analytics can help build better relationships with their final consumer: the sports fan.”

Fortunately, broadcasters can now employ powerful tools that turn complex data into stories that viewers care about. In our article “4 Ways to Enhance Sports Storytelling Using Technology,” we explored how data analytics helps broadcasters create more engaging content. With our XPression graphics platform, broadcasters can transform live data into visuals that inform, excite, and instantly connect with their audiences.

Harness the power of real-time data analytics with ��ý Video 

��ý Video’s comprehensive suite of technological solutions empowers broadcasters to use big data and real-time analytics to drive dynamic storytelling. While each of these solutions is powerful in its own right, they are most effective when employed together. ��ý systems have a proven ability to deliver timely, relevant content that keeps viewers engaged throughout sports broadcasts of all kinds.

��ý Video’s state-of-the-art data analytics tools

Each of the following ��ý Video systems harnesses real-time data to enhance the sports viewing experience and boost engagement with your target audience. The ability to deliver real-time score updates and drive advanced analysis is crucial to maintaining audience interest throughout the game. With the right combination of ��ý tools, you can do just that.

1. XPression/DataLinq

XPression, is a real-time 3D and motion graphics solution, making it ideal for game coverage and live broadcasts. Designed for real-time rendering, it delivers data-driven graphics that enhance analysis and help tell clearer, more compelling stories. As part of a customizable production workflow, XPression integrates seamlessly with other ��ý Video systems and a variety of other vendors through MOS client plugins, ensuring smooth execution of graphics creation and playout for consistent on-air results.

A key data analytics plugin, DataLinq enhances XPression’s real-time rendering capabilities by feeding it up-to-the-second information, enabling broadcasters to create engaging, data-driven graphics that captivate audiences. DataLinq imports data from popular scoring and stat platforms, such as Stats Perform, to display impactful graphics on both the viewer and on-set screens. DataLinq will also automatically update its graphics in real time to provide the most accurate information possible. Beyond XPression, the DataLinq network connects to many of ��ý Video’s state-of-the-art production tools.

Tell a more compelling story with data-driven graphics backed by XPression

2. PIERO sports graphics analysis

A DataLinq-compatible computer-generated effects and graphics system built for sports coverage, PIERO uses advanced data analytics to help broadcasters break down each play and deliver insightful on-air analysis. It can present team lineups, track speed and distance, set auto-tracking spotlights, and visualize a wide range of data to enhance viewer understanding.

With 3D telestration capabilities, PIERO enables commentators to immediately analyze and clearly explain tactics, player movement, and key moments in real time. Its best-in-class graphics support 20 of the world’s most popular sports, and its touchscreen interface makes it easy for on-air talent to operate during live broadcasts.

PIERO integrates tightly with ��ý Video’s Rio Replay panel and�� Mira server, creating a unified sports storytelling workflow. Together, PIERO, Rio Replay and Mira deliver unmatched speed and efficiency in generating dynamic analysis graphics for live playout—making complex moments clearer and more compelling for every fan.

3. Voyager virtual graphics engine

For high-end customers, Voyager delivers powerful AR and extended reality (XR) capabilities, helping you create virtual visual aids or transport viewers into immersive environments. With DataLinq, you can enrich your Voyager scenes with real-time data, enabling virtual graphics and play breakdowns that update instantly as the action unfolds. Voyager also integrates seamlessly with PIERO, allowing PIERO’s analysis graphics to be rendered directly as virtual elements inside your AR or XR environment. This enables broadcasters to showcase advanced telestration and analysis in a fully immersive, interactive space. Whether adding subtle AR enhancements to your existing set or surrounding on-air talent with a complete virtual world, Voyager brings cutting-edge storytelling tools to every production.

XR Stage at NAB Show powered by Voyager and PIERO graphics

4. Rocket Surgery Creative Services

Through customized creative and professional services, ��ý Video’s Rocket Surgery offers advanced production design features tailored to the unique wants and needs of your broadcast organization. From dazzling animated graphics to innovative virtual sets and augmented reality (AR) elements, it is well-established as an industry leader with a dual focus on maximizing production value and driving viewer engagement. Using DataLinq and other data analytics tools, Rocket Surgery offers many solutions that are specifically advantageous to sports broadcasters. For example, Brushback (specifically designed for baseball) help broadcasters manage and parse data for enhanced control and trigger-driven workflows.

Real-time analytics for real-world success

Working together, the data-driven production solutions from ��ý can help you deliver timely, relevant content that instantly captures a viewer’s attention and keeps them interested and invested throughout a program. Sports broadcasters around the world who want to present timely and relevant information on-screen today simply cannot ignore the potential of real-time analytics. ��ý Video has helped all kinds of organizations leverage the power of real-time data to significantly elevate their sports broadcast operations, dramatically improve viewer engagement, and foster brand-loyal consumer relationships.

Real-time data integration for NBC Sports Regional Networks

With their legacy graphics platform reaching end of life, NBC Sports – Regional Networks looked for a modern solution, and the combination of XPression Graphics and PIERO Sports Analysis helped them enhance their storytelling capabilities.

The integration of XPression DataLinq into their workflow allowed the networks to easily enrich their broadcast graphics with real-time data. With DataLinq, XPression becomes a dynamic, data-driven platform that automatically updates on-air graphics in real time. Once a third-party data source is connected via DataLinq, XPression can automatically populate on-air graphics with up-to-the-second information from a wide range of sources, including official sports data providers, social media, and other platforms.

Keep Reading: NBC Sports – Reg ional Networks: One platform, every screen and studio

NBC Sports San Francisco production control room powered by XPression, PIERO and Voyager graphics systems

Supercharging NHL storytelling

When Rogers Sportsnet embarked on a mission to revolutionize the traditional hockey broadcast, it built two new studio sets in downtown Toronto featuring state-of-the-art technology, enhanced data capabilities, and increased in-broadcast versatility.

Specifically, the XPression Tessera solution has enabled the Sportsnet production team to deliver dynamic, real-time, data-driven content across the large displays in their studio, enabling them to adapt to the rapidly changing storylines of live sports.

Keep Reading: Supercharging NHL Storytelling at Rogers Sportsnet Studios

Rogers Sportsnet Studio, powered by XPression Tessera, brings adaptive, real-time graphics to the fast-paced world of sports broadcasting.

Boost your viewer engagement today

Driven by DataLinq and the power of real-time analytics, ��ý Video’s��XPression, PIERO, Voyager, and the professional services of Rocket Surgery all have a proven ability to enhance viewer engagement.��Contact a ��ý representative today to learn more.

The post Harnessing the power of real-time data with ��ý graphics appeared first on ��ý Video.

Supercharge your sports broadcast with real-time analytics

Demand Gen — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:37:32 +0000

Real-time data analytics is changing the game in sports broadcasting by offering new ways to deliver instant insights, personalized experiences, and compelling stories that keep viewers coming back for more.

You know how important real-time data has become in . Every stat, play, and moment tells a story, and your viewers expect that story to be told as the game unfolds in real time. The challenge? The technical complexity of turning a mountain of player and team data into fast, accurate, and engaging visuals on screen. With the right real-time analytics, you can meet that challenge head-on and deliver broadcasts that truly connect fans to the action

The shifting wants, needs, and expectations of sports fans

IBM recently studied how fans like you watch and engage with sports. The results reveal just how much data is shaping the viewing experience. Their report surveyed more than 18,000 fans across 10 countries to understand how people follow games, highlights, and live updates.

The findings are clear: fans want more than just a broadcast. They want real-time information, smart analysis, and context that deepens your connection to the game.

Here are some key takeaways from the study

While 64% of surveyed fans favor linear or streaming TV for watching sports, many want the added information and analysis that other forms of social media deliver. In fact,

28% of surveyed sports fans use at least two devices while watching sporting events.
24% report using at least 2 devices while listening to sports.
Fans aged 18-44 are more likely to use 3 or more devices.

It’s no surprise that real-time updates ranked as fans’ top priority for sports coverage. Delivering that level of instant, data-driven storytelling takes advanced technology solutions working behind the scenes.

And fans recognize the impact, with 63% of respondents claiming that data analytics is the most positive technological influence shaping the future of sports broadcasting.

Data analytics in sports broadcasting: Crucial but challenging

There is little doubt that big data and real-time analytics are essential if broadcasters want to keep up with the rapid pace of action and breaking news in the sports world. After all, viewers want the exact information they want (no more or no less) at the exact moment they want it (instantaneously).

But this kind of information delivery is far from simple. The strategic, administrative, and technological challenges associated with leveraging real-time data in sports broadcasting are both numerous and significant. Broadcasters must deliver instant, actionable insights to enhance content and drive viewer engagement, but often struggle to integrate and deliver these insights quickly enough to remain relevant during live broadcasts.

How the BBC and ��ý Video elevated the FA Cup Final broadcast

Learn More

Drawing on the power of sports analytics

If you want to share timely, relevant information on-screen, you need to start with sports analytics. Put simply, sports analytics is the use of data to better understand athletes, teams, and gameplay. According to Johnson & Wales University, it’s the “sophisticated analysis of large amounts of information” to uncover trends and insights. While coaches and team owners use analytics to improve results, broadcasters are using it to keep fans more engaged and informed.

Tying sports analytics to media analytics

Sports analytics doesn’t stop at the field—it connects directly to how you reach and retain your audience.

Johnson & Wales notes that major sports organizations now use analytics to build stronger relationships with fans.

“In recent years, major sports organizations have turned their attention to the ways in which sports analytics can help build better relationships with their final consumer: the sports fan,”

First and foremost, the advanced statistics and data visualization capabilities of today’s sports analytics can give fans far deeper insights into the games, teams, and players that they love. This fosters deeper understanding, improves fan experience, and generally leads to greater consumer loyalty. By leveraging the power of media analytics, sports organizations can determine exact fan preferences to better deliver personalized content and targeted marketing campaigns that speak directly to them.

In the end, it all leads to one goal: more engaged viewers and lasting fan relationships.

Engaging sports viewers through data analytics

Integrating advanced systems that provide real-time analytics and instant data-driven insights has become essential for sports broadcasters to stay ahead of the game. Drawing on research findings from IBM’s “Global Sports Attitudes and Behaviors” report, the content hub from�� NAB Show makes some compelling conclusions about the usefulness of sports data analytics.

NAB Show praised data analytics for its powerful ability to…

Provide invaluable insights into game outcomes and player performance to create more compelling content and enhance viewing experience.
Help sports broadcasters analyze viewer preferences and drive viewer engagement.
Automatically deliver highlights, recommendations, and notifications designed to keep viewers returning for more.

In short, real-time data can support automated content generation, ensuring prompt, relevant updates for viewers while consistently refreshing all on-screen content. From in-game replays that highlight points of interest to timely game summaries for sports news broadcasts, the potential of real-time data is unparalleled today.

Tips for using data analytics to drive viewer engagement

While data-driven solutions for viewer engagement will inevitably differ from broadcast organization to broadcast organization and from sport to sport, a few factors of successful media efforts remain largely consistent. Here are just three ways that you can use data analytics to drive viewer engagement:

Emphasize timeliness – Speed is critical. Broadcasters need to deliver information on-screen as soon as possible while ensuring it is accurate, consistent, and relevant. Therefore, they must place a high value on tools that can analyze data quickly and seamlessly to enhance storytelling and keep viewers engaged. Timeliness in the delivery of information during a sports broadcast is key since “Modern audiences want to see real-time data and analytics displayed on-screen as the action is happening.” – ��ý Video
Tie graphics to automated workflows – Bringing data to life by employing automated workflows with tools like PIERO, XPression, and DataLinq to generate powerful graphics. These workflows “ensure consistency and accuracy, allowing producers to use real-time data to enhance the narrative without increasing the burden on operators.”
Tell a compelling story – Last but certainly not least, real-time analytics can help sports broadcasters bring the dramatic narratives of athletic competition to life. Few things in life inspire passion quite like sports, and the stories behind our favorite teams and athletes can deepen that passion considerably. The collection, analysis, and presentation of data have transformed sports storytelling, and the sheer processing power and highly targeted nature of real-time analytics are the keys to this transformation.

Keep Reading: 4 ways to enhance sports storytelling using technology

PIERO Sports Graphics Analysis System enables sports broadcasters to generate compelling data-backed visuals to draw their audience deeper into the game.

The bottom line about data analytics in sports broadcasting

The need for nuanced and relevant real-time data analytics has never been greater in the world of sports broadcasting. While today’s sports viewer prefers to watch programs on traditional or streaming television platforms, they nevertheless demand the wealth of supplemental information that they have come to expect from online media sources. By using real-time data analytics to drive prompt updates, deliver timely recaps, and provide viewers with the information they crave, sports broadcasters can better meet modern expectations, tell more compelling stories, enhance viewer engagement, and foster lasting consumer relationships.

The post Supercharge your sports broadcast with real-time analytics appeared first on ��ý Video.

The ��ý replay stack: Make every moment must-watch

Demand Gen — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:44:40 +0000

Today’s sports fans want more than flat replays. They expect dynamic highlights, multi-angle views, and in-depth graphical analysis. Traditional broadcast approaches can’t keep up, and your audience knows it. Discover how ��ý Video has tailored replay and graphics solutions to meet the needs of sports broadcasters worlwide��

As viewer consumption habits shift, connecting with your audience becomes a growing challenge for sports broadcasters. One effective way to hold fan attention is by delivering compelling highlights and replay packages. When you consider how fans look for clarity on key moments and want to feel more immersed in the action, the role of replay and sports graphics analysis becomes even clearer.

Today’s sports fans demand sophisticated replays and highlights

If your sports coverage fails to deliver impactful game highlights and replays, you risk losing your audience to a competitor that does. This fact is backed up by statistics from a recent study published by the (IABM), which found that 79% of sports fans in the United States and the United Kingdom were more likely to watch a sports broadcast that incorporates relevant replays and other advanced graphics for analysis.

In addition to versatile production capabilities for high-def replay, playback speed, and camera angle options, modern sports broadcasters increasingly rely on graphical analysis to enhance their highlights and replays. Although these playback competencies are now expected of millennials, Gen Z, and younger viewers, they are becoming increasingly popular among sports fans of all ages.

Ordinary replays and game highlights are no longer enough

Among other compelling findings of the aforementioned study, IABM published the following statistics supporting the adoption of enhanced game highlight and playback features:

70% of survey respondents agree that AR graphics and sports analysis tools enhance their game experience.
65% of millennial survey respondents agree that using virtual sets in sports commentary enhances their overall viewing experience.
57% of all study survey respondents agree that they are more likely to watch content for a longer period when virtual elements are used. (Among Gen Z survey respondents, this figure increased to 63%.)
29% of all study survey respondents agree that they will be more likely to watch a particular broadcaster’s coverage in the future if that broadcaster adds graphics and other enhanced production elements to their sports coverage.

These viewer trends are causing sports broadcasters to place far greater value on their game highlights and replays. By adding advanced graphics to replay footage, with easy-to-digest information and extra production value, these broadcasters are staying one step ahead of the competition.

How the BBC and ��ý Video elevated the FA Cup Final broadcast

Learn More

Putting the right tools in the right hands can take your game replays to the next level

Fortunately, today’s sports broadcast production tools can do some amazing things with game highlights and replays. From improving live sports coverage with multiple camera angles to expanding playback capabilities with features such as crystal-clear, slow-motion replay from high-frame-rate cameras, the applications for advanced game highlight and replay functionality are virtually limitless. By adding these features to their production workflows, sports broadcasters can immediately capture and subsequently retain viewership.

Broadcasters can even fully immerse on-air talent and the viewers they serve with virtual elements or environments. And by providing on-air talent with connected devices and/or on-set interactive screens, broadcasters can support real-time analysis with a broad range of visualization tools. By integrating these tools into their game highlight and replay analysis, they can break down plays with clear insights and enhance the viewing experience to keep fans engaged.

The ��ý Video highlight and replay difference

��ý Video specializes in production tools and systems that empower broadcasters to enhance their live game coverage, ensuring that viewers stay connected and engaged throughout the program. The ��ý team has a record of success when it comes to tailoring replay and graphics solutions to meet the unique wants and needs of a wide variety of sports broadcasting organizations.��

What drives ��ý Video’s game highlight and replay capabilities?

��ý sets itself apart from its competitors by stressing game highlights and replay features that drive viewer engagement. To accomplish this, the ��ý team develops its systems to provide…

Informative and eye-catching graphics – From touchscreen-powered tactic board effects with PIERO to AR visualization through Voyager, ��ý Video can help you enhance game replays with any number of highly engaging sports-specific graphics.
Streamlined and automated workflows – ��ý replay and sports analysis tools integrate easily into existing production workflows, allowing operators to move quickly, reduce setup time, and maintain consistent output across every show.
Instant data connectivity – PIERO and Voyager transforms raw sports data into clear, engaging visuals that help viewers understand the story behind every play. With seamless access to live stats and player information, broadcasters can enhance analysis in real time with data-rich graphics.

Key systems for outstanding replays and highlights

The integration of the Mira replay server and the PIERO sports analysis system provides broadcasters with a comprehensive toolset needed to deliver dynamic replays and in-depth game highlights in a fast-paced sports broadcasting environment. When combined with the operator-friendly Rio Replay Panel, Mira quickly delivers incredibly smooth replays, while PIERO enhances live sports analysis by facilitating insightful breakdowns of key plays. For even more advanced analysis, Voyager harnesses the power of the Unreal Engine to generate brand-accurate, photorealistic virtual content that draws fans deeper into the action. Each of these platforms keeps viewers engaged in different but critical ways.

Rio Replay and Mira

An intuitive, user-friendly replay system combines the Rio Replay panel, web-based software, and the Mira server to deliver an ideal solution for sports coverage.

Rio Replay and Mira offer the functionality that sports broadcasters need to produce “silky-smooth” slow-motion replays and “game-breaking” highlights designed to captivate audiences and keep them fully engaged. These best-in-class systems offer…

Refined replays that users can precisely control through the highly ergonomic and operator-friendly Rio Replay control surface.
Versatile scalability by allowing users to network many Mira replay servers into a single interconnected system.

��ý Video's all new Rio Replay control panel

PIERO

To take your storytelling capabilities to the next level, the ��ý Video team recommends pairing the Mira server with the PIERO sports graphics analysis tool. This state-of-the-art system combines video-based effects with replays. It also supports AR graphics through integration with our Voyager graphics engine. Furthermore, it employs image recognition and optical tracking to overlay informational and educational graphics on all types of sports content to bring new angles and possibilities to the game, both in the studio and on the screen. PIERO offers…

Extensive customization by covering more than 20 major sports and providing an abundance of both preset and personalized effects for studio broadcasts and live productions.
User-friendliness with its highly intuitive and interactive remote touchscreen interface.

Combining our PIERO sports analysis graphics system with the Rio and Mira replay system creates a seamlessly integrated live sports storytelling solution. No other solution comes close to matching ��ý Video’s replay stack’s speed and efficiency in generating captivating sports analysis graphics for live playout.

Supercharge your sports analysis with an award-winning graphics tool built for high-performance teams.

Voyager

��ý Video’s PIERO system works with the Voyager virtual graphics engine to deliver real-time sports visuals in AR and virtual studio environments. The Voyager plugin displays PIERO tools like player movement, tactics, and heatmaps with lifelike quality. Broadcasters can easily control and show these graphics during live production. This integration also lets teams place PIERO visuals inside Unreal Engine virtual sets and interact with them in real time.

Success Story: NBC Sports – Regional Networks

The NBC Sports Regional Networks, part of NBCU Local, is a group of regional sports networks in major U.S. markets that provide live sports coverage of NBA, NHL, and MLB teams, totaling hundreds of games and thousands of hours of programming annually.

To further elevate programming, the PIERO sports analysis toolset, along with the Voyager virtual graphics engine and Lucid Studio, is being used across several sites to unlock new storytelling opportunities and deeply engage fans. PIERO’s rich toolset of customizable effects for a wide range of sports not only helps inform viewers about the action on the field, court, or ice, but also adds entertainment value to networks’ programming. Additionally, the user-friendly Voyager and Lucid virtual production solution enables more immersive storytelling.

Voyager virtual graphics engine powers virtual set at NBC Sports – Boston

Game highlights and replays that are better than reality 

Few things clarify a controversial call better than a replay from the right angle. Broadcasters can make complex plays even easier to understand by enhancing the footage or adding immersive visual elements. You can step through each frame with crisp detail, place your analysis inside a 3D stadium, or overlay players with meaningful stats that add context. There are countless ways to use highlights and replays to bring the true story of every moment to life.

Transform your highlights and replays to drive viewer engagement

��ý Video’s Rio Panel and Mira Server, combined with��the PIERO system and Voyager work together to enhance game highlights and replays in countless ways. For more information about what these systems can do for your sports broadcast operations,��contact a ��ý team member today.

The post The ��ý replay stack: Make every moment must-watch appeared first on ��ý Video.

Using advanced replays and analysis to keep today’s sports fans locked in

Demand Gen — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:43:11 +0000

Today’s sports fans want more than flat replays. They expect dynamic highlights, multi-angle views, and in-depth graphical analysis. Traditional broadcast approaches can’t keep up and your audience knows it.��Discover how enhanced replay and highlight capabilities are reshaping sports broadcasts for the next generation.

With countless online, cable, and streaming options, today’s media landscape offers sports fans more choice and higher viewing expectations than ever before. In this environment, traditional sports broadcasters face a clear challenge: adapt to new viewing habits or risk falling behind.

This shift is especially clear in the realm of game highlights and replays. Viewers once satisfied with basic replays now expect much more.

The growing importance of game highlights and replays��

As reported by the��(IABM), a new study shows that exceptional game highlights and replays are becoming increasingly important in sports. After polling thousands of sports content consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom, this study found that 79% of respondents said that they were more likely to watch a sports broadcast if��relevant 3D��telestration��and other��advanced��graphics��are��used��for replay and analysis.��

This preference for enhanced game highlights and replays is particularly prevalent among younger sports fans, who are looking for viewing experiences that can mirror, augment, or replace their preferred method of sports content consumption on their cell phones and other digital devices. In fact, the IABM reports a sharp decline in full-game viewership as new generations are gravitating toward “catch-up options” such as highlights to stay��up to date with their favorite athletes and teams. “Only 58% of Gen Z watch sports live from start to finish, emphasizing the need for shorter, more condensed content,” reports the IABM. “And many participants concluded that even though live is their preferred method of consuming sports, they are watching full matches and games less often.”

Ordinary replays and game highlights are no longer enough

In light of the changing viewing habits and expectations of today’s sports fan, the IABM points to the creation of more compelling and immersive visuals as an important��strategy to capture and retain viewers. It presents the following statistics from its comprehensive international study:��

29% of survey respondents agree they will be more likely to watch a particular broadcaster’s coverage in the future if that broadcaster adds graphics and other enhanced production elements to its sports coverage.��
70% of survey respondents agree that 3D, AR graphics, and sports analysis tools enhance their game experience.��
65% of millennial survey respondents agree that using virtual sets in sports commentary enhances their overall viewing experience.��
57% of all study survey respondents agree that they are more likely to watch content for a longer��period��when virtual elements are used. (Among Gen Z survey respondents, this figure increased to 63%.)��

A definitive guide to the modern sports viewer

Stay ahead with ��ý Video’s Definitive Guide to the Modern Sports Viewer—your go-to resource for the latest trends in fan engagement, production innovation, and sports viewership shifts.

Improved highlight and replay capabilities bring fans closer to the game

By enhancing your highlight and replay capabilities as a sports broadcaster, you can��also��give your home viewers all the visual evidence they need to make the right call and feel more invested in the game.

“In or out?” “Fair or foul?” “First or second?” With high-quality highlights and replays, broadcasters can give their audience the accurate answers to these and many other critical questions by literally showing them the results. Because seeing is believing, the average viewer will appreciate the immediate, “firsthand” nature of a good replay. This viewer appreciation leads to greater satisfaction, which significantly boosts engagement and, in turn, improves retention and loyalty.

Keeping pace with the competition demands investment in technology

In sports broadcasting, maintaining viewer engagement��relies��on delivering impactful replays and game highlights. Without the ability to break down key moments in a compelling way, broadcasters risk losing their audience to��digital��platforms that offer more engaging sports analysis and highlight content.

Rather than splitting their attention between two or more screens to get the in-depth information and captivating experiences that they crave, modern viewers appreciate getting multifaceted input and immersive coverage from their primary media source. After all, most sports fans who can’t make it to an event in person still prefer to watch live coverage of that event using traditional or streaming TV. By providing enhanced game highlights and replays of this coverage, broadcasters can communicate more clearly, immerse viewers in the action, and significantly improve their ability to tell detailed, nuanced sports stories.

Leveraging technology to improve game highlights and replays

The ability of technology to improve replays was on full display at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. A computer engineer who formerly directed Azure and O365 operations for Microsoft,,��singled out automated multi-angle replays as the top technological advancement for Olympic coverage. “AI technology��enables the automatic generation of multi-angle replays, providing fans with a dynamic viewing experience,” Israel writes. “By analyzing the game in real-time, AI can switch between different camera angles to highlight the most exciting moments, ensuring that no key play goes unnoticed.”��

This push toward smarter, more efficient replay aligns closely with advances we’re delivering through our PIERO sports analysis tool. In the latest release, PIERO uses AI to automatically understand camera position, orientation, and zoom, and to fully automate player tracking. The result is the same goal highlighted in Paris: giving operators more time to focus on storytelling while ensuring audiences receive richer, more dynamic multi-angle insights.

Using state-of-the art analysis and augmented reality to enhance replays and highlights

Multi-angle viewing is only one of many advantages of using technology to augment your game highlight and replay capabilities. As they look toward the future of game highlights and replays, most sports broadcasters are keeping a particularly close eye on technological advancements in two key areas:��

State-of-the-art analysis: It’s hard to compare a simple single-angle replay with enhanced sports analysis that adds tactical breakdowns, data-driven graphics, and clearer visual context. For real-time analysis and commentary in the studio, you can employ telestration technology, such as PIERO, which allows on-air talent to control graphics elements and make live adjustments using a tablet or��touchscreen monitor.
Augmented reality: Advanced graphical sports analysis, supported by AR elements, can elevate game highlights and replays. Today’s most sophisticated sports broadcast graphics systems can use optical camera head tracking to visualize game data directly on the field or even on a studio floor. Beyond strategically placing important content for easy viewer consumption, AR tools like Voyager can place on-air talent and, by extension, the viewers at home directly in the action.

PIERO sports graphics analysis system combined with Voyager virtual graphics engine for advanced insights

The right tools allows on-air talent to shine

Although the technology behind enhanced game highlights and replays can be quite dazzling, even the most highly refined and visually captivating replay tactics will inevitably fall flat without the critical human element. In other words, reporters and commentators still reign supreme when it comes to sports reporting and analysis.

The key to driving viewer engagement in sports broadcasting is the ability to deliver high-quality game highlights and replays that leverage the on-air talent’s expertise. By incorporating easy to use advanced replay and analysis systems, broadcasters can offer insightful breakdowns of key moments, keeping fans engaged and enhancing the viewing experience. This approach allows broadcasters to continuously connect with viewers, even outside live games, by offering in-depth, expert-driven examination.

The key to better game highlights and replays

While different sports broadcasters are bound to demand different things from their game highlights and replays, certain features and qualities are��‘must-haves’. Broadcasters generally want a high degree of precision and a tremendous amount of flexibility in their replay capabilities. Extremely clear, smooth, slow-motion video is also highly desirable.

To accomplish all your game highlight and replay goals, you will likely need to connect multiple systems and/or devices together, either to use them in tandem or switch between them as necessary. By embracing the tools that work best for your broadcast, you can position your productions for optimum viewer engagement.

The post Using advanced replays and analysis to keep today’s sports fans locked in appeared first on ��ý Video.

��ý Video robotic camera systems elevate sports broadcasting to new heights ��

Demand Gen — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 18:33:25 +0000

In sports, there are no retakes. No second chances. Just fast-paced action, real-time decisions, and a global audience that expects nothing less than perfection.

Modern sports fans are consuming content across more screens, in more formats, and at a higher frequency than ever before. From live replays and highlight reels to social-ready clips and multi-angle breakdowns, the demand for broadcast-quality content is growing exponentially.

And the numbers back it up, as taken from our recent report on the modern sports viewer:

64% of sports fans still watch on TV, but 31% now stream games on smartphones or tablets.

47% of fans aged 18–34 want real-time overlays and stat graphics.

17% of viewers watch multiple sporting events simultaneously.

Nearly a third of fans engage with social media while watching live.

Sports fans expect their content to be available on multiple platforms and video formats. They like to see detailed graphics and hear unique commentary to add extra context and intrigue to the events. And, they want to make these events a social and interactive affair.

This isn’t just a shift—it’s a transformation. For broadcasters, the challenge is clear: How do you deliver immersive, high-speed coverage across platforms without compromising consistency or blowing up your production budget?

One answer is changing the game: robotic camera systems.��

Why robotic camera systems are essential for sports broadcasting

Even more than studio productions, sports broadcasts must be able to adapt to the unpredictable. The play can shift in a heartbeat. The action can move from the sideline to the scoreboard in seconds. And viewers expect to see it all, captured perfectly, from every angle.

Traditional manual camera setups struggle to keep pace. Human operators are limited by sightlines, reaction time, and fatigue.

In contrast, robotic systems deliver:

Cinematic motion paths for repeatable highlights and replay angles.

Real-time talent tracking to follow players, coaches, or commentators automatically.

Consistent framing, even across long shooting days or changing crews.

Fewer operators, lowering overhead while boosting flexibility.

For sports broadcasters balancing lean crews with high expectations, robotics provide an unmatched combination of precision, scalability, creativity and control.

Robotics in focus guide

Your essential guide to navigating Robotic Camera Systems for Sports Broadcasts

How to build your ideal robotic sports broadcast system

At ��ý Video, we understand that no two studios or venues are alike. To accommodate this, our approach to robotics camera systems and operations platforms is modular and step-driven. This allows you to tailor your system based on your space, format, and production requirements.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1. Select your robotic cameras��

Every venue and broadcast format presents different challenges. ��ý provides a range of motion platforms to cover them all:

Artimo: A free-roaming robotic pedestal that glides across virtually any floor, ideal for sweeping motion shots in ��studio sets.
spidercam: A cable-suspended system that provides overhead coverage across stadiums or indoor spaces. Perfect for game-openers, halftime packages, or aerial play breakdowns.
BlackBird: A fixed robotic pedestal for high-stability shots, great for pre-game analysis desks, studio setups, or press conferences.
Furio: A rail-based dolly system offering smooth, repeatable tracking shots along the sidelines, in commentary booths, or for dynamic pre and post-game segments.

Our team works with broadcasters to help them select the most suitable robotics platform for their production needs, space, and resource availability.

Furio rail-based dolly system

“The ��ý Video team has done an excellent job in implementing and supporting these innovative solutions, helping us to improve our business without generating additional expenses.”��
Júlio Abreu – Operations Director, RecordTV Rio��

Step 2. Choose your pan/tilt heads ��

With your base system in place, the next decision is around camera payload and movement control. ��ý Video offers several pan/tilt head options, designed to meet diverse studio requirements:

- X300/X350: Lightweight heads suited for mobile rigs or compact studios.

- 520PT: Ideal for mid-range setups with teleprompters or lightweight graphics units.

- 600 Series: Designed for heavy-duty studio setups with full camera packages.

- 700PT: Handles payloads up to 200 lbs—ideal for sports cameras with prompters, monitors, or specialty lenses.

All PT heads can be wall, ceiling, tripod, or pedestal-mounted, giving your team maximum configuration flexibility.

Step 3. Set up your control system��

Control is where the power of robotics really comes to life, helping you maximize production quality without having to scale your team or studio costs. ��ý Video offers a range of options based on the complexity of your setup:

SmartShell: A full-featured command center that allows a single operator to manage multiple robotic systems in real-time. Includes customizable presets, touchscreen interfaces, and joystick integration.
DashBoard PT Plug-ins: A lightweight, modular control interface perfect for teams integrating robotic PT heads into existing workflows.
Vision[Ai]ry (optional): AI-powered tracking that locks onto players and on-air talent and follows them automatically, even during erratic or high-speed movement—ideal for coaches, sideline hosts, or analyst desks.

By offering a wide range of robotic camera products—and integrating them in a modular fashion—��ý Video is able to offer highly tailored solutions for sports broadcasting teams of all sizes. This, combined with on-site training and ongoing support, ensures that teams receive the most customized and purpose-built solutions possible for their production goals and audience demands.

SmartShell Command Center at Sky Germany

“What worked really well was engaging with the team to provide us with on-site training, so we had enough hands-on time with the tech to come up with solutions that are unique to our space.”��
Gin Rai – Head of Esports, Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies��

Robotic camera systems in the wild: Sky Germany

Sky Germany’s recent studio transformation is a textbook example of robotics in action for sports.��In preparation for a major international football tournament, the broadcaster overhauled its sports production environment with robotic systems. The goal was to deliver more immersive content with fewer resources without compromising visual quality or flexibility.

Their solution included:

Ceiling-mounted rail systems that preserved valuable floor space while enabling sweeping motion shots
Robotic pedestals and pan-tilt heads for fluid transitions and consistent framing
Cable-suspended systems that added a new storytelling dimension with aerial views

The result was a production workflow that enabled operators to control dynamic, pre-programmed shots in real-time, delivering studio sweeps, replays, and close-ups that rivalled cinematic productions.

spidercam cable-based robotic camera system at Sky Germany

“��ý Video helped us create and deliver new possibilities in our studio setup. That’s why we always choose best-in-class partners.”
Alessandro Reitano – SVP Sports Production, Sky Germany��

Give sports fans what they crave with ��ý Video robotics

Robotics aren’t just about efficiency. They’re about winning every frame. From dynamic game coverage to polished studio analysis, robotic camera systems let sports broadcasters deliver professional-grade content without compromise.

Whether you’re building a new set or looking to scale your live production, ��ý offers the modular tools and support to help you achieve your goals.

Want to see what’s possible? Download the and discover how ��ý Video can help you elevate every play, every shot, every time

The post ��ý Video robotic camera systems elevate sports broadcasting to new heights �� appeared first on ��ý Video.

Sports Broadcast Archives — ������ý Video

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PIERO

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Harness the power of real-time data analytics with ��ý Video 

��ý Video’s state-of-the-art data analytics tools

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Game highlights and replays that are better than reality 

��ý Video robotic camera systems elevate sports broadcasting to new heights ��

Step 2. Choose your pan/tilt heads ��

Give sports fans what they crave with ��ý Video robotics