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鈥檙e 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鈥檛 just built into the machine. It鈥檚 built into how the entire operation works.

Standards add another layer 鈥� 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.

Guests听don’t听think about accessibility technology. They simply expect to receive the same information as everyone else.

Whether announcing a lineup change before kickoff, introducing a keynote speaker, or communicating important safety information, organizations need confidence that every message reaches every audience member.

Reliable communication means knowing that:

• Important announcements are visible to everyone.
• Emergency messages can be communicated quickly and clearly.
• Accessibility is consistently available across every event.
• Staff can focus on delivering exceptional experiences instead of worrying about communication gaps.

When accessibility becomes a dependable part of everyday operations, organizations gain confidence that听they’re听serving every guest,听not just meeting听minimum听requirements.

Historically, providing live captioning often came with significant operational challenges.

Organizations听frequently听relied on scheduled human stenographers, coordinated multiple vendors, managed specialized workflows, and incurred substantial costs to ensure captions were available. Even with careful planning, unexpected scheduling conflicts or last-minute event changes could introduce unnecessary stress.

These barriers sometimes led organizations to reserve live captioning only for select events rather than making it a consistent part of every guest experience.

Fortunately, accessible communication no longer听has to听be difficult to implement.

Modern captioning solutions have made it possible to simplify deployment, reduce operational complexity, and integrate accessibility into everyday event workflows. Instead of treating captioning as a special project, organizations can make it part of how they communicate every day.

Whether supporting game-day announcements, conference presentations, public meetings, or emergency messaging,听CapGo听gives organizations the confidence that every guest can access the information that matters most.

Because the future of accessibility听isn’t听just about meeting听requirements,听it’s听about creating experiences where everyone can听participate, engage, and feel included.

Learn how CapGo helps organizations deliver accessible communication with confidence by downloading the .

That existing relationship proved invaluable. Bell Centre trusted 天美传媒, 天美传媒 trusted Bell Centre, and both organizations shared a collaborative approach to solving challenges. Combined with 天美传媒 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.

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.

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鈥攊t’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.

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.

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.

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鈥攏ot when people notice it’s new, but when they can’t imagine the production without it.

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.

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鈥攁nd a glimpse into how the fan experience continues to evolve.

That point matters for any venue team. Before choosing equipment, determine the venue’s needs and desired production outcomes.

The renovation used a hybrid design, keeping some baseband systems where they were still useful.听This reality-based approach reduced risk and gave the venue the scale needed for big events.听

This idea came up throughout the discussion. A modern venue needs good infrastructure, but it also needs skilled operators, engineers, creative teams, and partners who know how to use it.听

Ted also summed up the partnership side of the project.听

鈥溙烀来� is an amazing partner to us. We value听them greatly.鈥�听

The full conversation goes deeper into the renovation, the Super Bowl workflow, the fan experience, and the lessons other venues can apply to their own projects.听

听to hear directly from the 49ers, 天美传媒 Video, and Diversified about how Levi鈥檚 Stadium created a more flexible production environment for the future of live events.听

Major sports events don’t give you second chances. Whether it’s a championship game, an international series, or the first event in a newly renovated stadium, everything has to work perfectly. Every graphic has to fire. Every display has to sync. Every data feed has to connect. And every promotional takeover needs to start on cue. The production has to be flawless from the first whistle to the final buzzer.

Most venues are built and staffed for their regular-season workload. When marquee events arrive, they face gaps in their talent bench and production technology that their existing infrastructure wasn’t designed to fill. Hiring permanent staff for occasional peak moments doesn’t make financial sense, but the event still has to be flawless.

That takes a resourcing conflict鈥攐ne that can be remedied with the right partnership.

天美传媒 Video’s approach to these high-stakes moments is built on a foundational principle鈥攇reat technology is only half the equation.

天美传媒 Video’s ability to support tentpole events and venue launches stems from an integrated services ecosystem. This doesn鈥檛 just include equipment, but the creative, technical, and operational expertise to deploy it effectively.

Here鈥檚 how it all comes together.

The 天美传媒 Sports & Entertainment group, combined with 天美传媒 Production Services provides equipment, operators, and on-site support for events of all scales. For marquee sporting events, this means supplementing venue infrastructure with additional graphics channels, display capacity, and鈥攃ritically鈥攖he redundancy that major events demand.

The team brings equipment that integrates seamlessly with existing 天美传媒 Video installations, or that can operate independently when venues lack permanent infrastructure. More importantly, we bring operators who’ve executed on the biggest stages鈥攊ncluding the Super Bowl, international series matches, and all-star games鈥攁nd understand what “can’t fail” actually requires.

Given the scale of these events鈥攁nd the consequences of a high profile failure鈥攖he 天美传媒 team doesn鈥檛 mess around.

天美传媒 Video’s production services flex to match the specific needs of each engagement. These two engagement models cover the majority of high-profile sporting event scenarios.

When a major event lands on the calendar, venues typically face three interconnected gaps that put pressure on their ability to scale to meet the moment.

Recent on the state of sports broadcast operations flag production personnel shortages as a top area of concern. The broader industry is experiencing a generational shift that鈥檚 causing a shortage of skilled labor that can handle these major events. Seasoned broadcast engineers are retiring, and there aren’t enough trained replacements coming up behind them.

The talent that does exist is in high demand. Younger technical professionals often have IT and cloud backgrounds but lack the specific expertise of live in-stadium production鈥攖he muscle memory of operating under pressure, the instinct for troubleshooting in real time, the experience of executing when there’s no opportunity for a second take.

This means venues can’t simply “hire more people” for big events. The specialized talent pool is limited, and the best operators are often already committed to other high-profile productions.

Your regular-season production infrastructure may handle typical game loads well, but tentpole events often require more. We鈥檙e talking about additional graphics channels, expanded display capacity, specialized equipment for broadcast integration, and鈥攃ritically鈥攔edundant systems that can take over instantly if something fails.

Purchasing equipment for occasional use rarely makes financial sense. Rental can address part of the gap, but equipment alone isn’t enough. You need people who know how to operate it, integrate it with your existing systems, and troubleshoot it under pressure.

Even with adequate staffing and equipment, executing a flawless tentpole event requires specialists who’ve done it before at this level. Workflow design, data integration, show timing, real-time troubleshooting鈥攖hese skills come from experience on major events, not from reading manuals.

As Kevin Cottam, VP of Global Sports and Entertainment at 天美传媒 Video, puts it:

For major sporting events that cannot fail, the entire approach to reliability changes.

During a regular game, you operate your primary systems and have basic contingencies in place. If something fails, you troubleshoot and recover. The lower stakes allow for some margin of error, even if you鈥檇 rather not see these hiccups happen.

For major events, that margin disappears. The standard becomes鈥攏othing fails, period. And achieving that standard requires a fundamentally different level of preparation.

天美传媒 Video鈥檚 philosophy on this comes down to redundancy.

Based on how leading venues approach major events, two distinct scenarios typically call for scaling up with external production-as-a-service partners.

We鈥檝e highlighted this so far. These are championship games, international series, All-Star events, or league showcases鈥攎oments where the stakes are highest, and the demands exceed regular-season norms.

In this scenario, your venue may already have solid production infrastructure. The gap lies in your ability to flex that infrastructure to accommodate the event’s elevated scale. To do that, you need additional equipment, specialized operators, redundancy, and proven workflows that have been tested under similar pressure.

That can come from production-as-a-service partners who help you temporarily extend your technology infrastructure and talent bench for the big game.

These engagements are typically event-specific. Partners arrive with equipment and expertise, integrate with your existing systems, execute the event, and tear down afterward. The relationship might span a few days or a few weeks, depending on complexity and rehearsal requirements.

Keep Reading:

The gap between regular-season operations and tentpole events isn’t shrinking. If anything, it’s widening. Fan expectations continue to rise, and sports venues are increasingly battling . Broadcast integration is growing more complex as a result of more sophisticated streaming technology. And sponsor demands for premium execution are set to double over the next decade. The pressure on major events to deliver flawless experiences increases every year.

Building permanent infrastructure for peak moments rarely makes sense. The economics don’t work for most venues. But accessing proven people, proven technology, and proven workflows when you need them through dedicated and reliable partners is a model that scales.

The venues that consistently deliver on the biggest stages have figured this out. They know when to bring in specialized support, how to structure the engagement, and what to look for in a partner.

天美传媒’ integrated ecosystem unlocks sponsorship capabilities that fragmented systems simply can’t deliver. Here’s what becomes possible.

With听DashBoard, 天美传媒 Video’s unified venue control software, operators can trigger synchronized activations across every display in the bowl and concourse with a single command. A sponsor’s brand dominates every screen simultaneously, putting them on the main video board, the ribbon displays, the concourse screens, even the IPTV feeds to premium suites.

This kind of coordination is impossible when LED, audio, lighting, and graphics run on separate platforms. With Dashboard, it’s a single button press.

At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the production team uses DashBoard to create what they call a “sports bar” configuration before kickoff鈥攕howing action from multiple games around the league on the massive Halo board. This creative use of unified control encourages fans to arrive earlier, increases concession sales during the pre-game window, and creates entirely new sponsorship opportunities that didn’t exist before.

The most valuable moments in any game are the emotional peaks鈥攖he touchdown, the goal, the walk-off home run. 天美传媒 Video technology enables venues to turn these moments into premium sponsor inventory.

When the home team scores, a single trigger can fire synchronized graphics across every display, shift the lighting to sponsor colors, play a custom audio sting, and queue instant replays鈥攁ll in perfect sync, all within seconds of the play. The sponsor owns the celebration, and fans associate that brand with the best moment of the game.

Modern sports broadcasts are rich with real-time data on everything from player speeds and distances covered to shot probabilities and historical comparisons. 天美传媒 Video’s data integration capabilities allow venues to turn this information into sponsor inventory.

XPression graphics with Datalinq integration can automatically populate on-air graphics with real-time data from official sports providers, creating “brought to you by” moments that feel native to the game story.

“We can take all their stats very quickly and say, ‘This guy ran so far this game,’ and it’s brought to you by Gatorade,” Kevin explains. “There are a lot of different ways our system can be used to bring in more sponsorship opportunities.”

This creates new inventory without adding physical signage. Every data point becomes a potential sponsor surface, adding an element of storytelling to the game itself.

天美传媒 Video鈥檚 ability to enable premium sponsorship activations stems from an integrated ecosystem where every component is designed to work together. Here’s how the pieces fit.

XPression Tessera drives pixel-accurate content to LED displays of virtually any size or resolution, creating limitless virtual canvases for high-impact branded content.

At SoFi Stadium, XPression Tessera engines work in synchronized harmony to power the LED cabinets on top of the roof. Every pixel on this massive surface becomes potential sponsor inventory, and Tessera ensures that content renders in real time with broadcast-quality precision.

PIERO provides real-time sports analysis graphics鈥攍ike down-and-distance lines, player tracking overlays, tactical analysis鈥攖hat double as sponsorship inventory. Virtual graphics create new advertising surfaces without physical signage, and the integration with 天美传媒 Video’s broader ecosystem means these elements can be triggered and coordinated alongside every other venue system.

The core value proposition remains the same regardless of scale. Production technology isn’t a cost center鈥攊t’s a revenue platform. 天美传媒 Video helps venues move from commodity inventory (placements) to premium inventory (moments). The result is higher sponsorship rates, stronger renewals, and faster payback on technology investments.

To understand where sponsorship revenue is heading, it helps to understand where it’s been.

The old model was built on placements. Static signage meant one sponsor, one sign, all game. When LED displays arrived, venues could rotate multiple sponsors on ribbon boards and scoreboards鈥攕elling time-based inventory to different brands at different points in the game. This was an improvement, but it was still fundamentally about impressions, or how many eyeballs see the logo, and for how long.

The new model is built on moments. The most valuable sponsorship inventory today isn’t a placement鈥攊t’s an experience. Consider the difference between these two offerings:

• Placement: A sponsor’s logo rotates on the ribbon board six times per quarter.
• Moment: When the home team scores a touchdown, every display in the stadium flashes your sponsor’s brand colors, their logo dominates the center-hung board, and the lighting shifts to match鈥攁ll in perfect sync, creating a full-venue celebration that 60,000 fans experience together.

Which one do you think sticks in the minds of attendees more? Which one commands a higher price?

The Dallas Cowboys have built one of the most s in professional sports鈥攔eportedly generating over $200 million annually, the highest in the NFL鈥攊n part because their production capabilities enable exactly these kinds of moments. Every big replay on their massive center-hung screen is framed with sponsor branding. Every dramatic moment becomes an activation opportunity.

The difference between placement pricing and moment pricing can be substantial. Context and impact drive value. As Kevin puts it:

Walk into the control room of a 天美传媒 Video-powered venue, and you’ll find a carefully orchestrated operation.

In the front row, the Technical Director works the production switcher鈥攖he central hub for everything happening in the show. Beside them sits the director and producer, calling the shots. Behind them, replay operators cut highlights and manage live replay during the event. CG operators update stats and manage graphics, connected to live data feeds that automatically populate on-screen information. And uniquely in venue production, dedicated operators manage LED ribbons and sponsorship content, running through sold activations at precisely the right moments.

This broadcast room setup isn鈥檛 particularly unique. But what makes a 天美传媒 Video-powered stadium different is how all of these elements connect.

Sports venues today face a fundamental challenge鈥攖he at-home viewing experience keeps getting better, while the in-venue experience often struggles to keep pace. Today, 85% of sports fans say they prefer watching games on TV rather than in person, with choosing to watch events outside of the stadium.

Fans at home enjoy 4K picture quality, instant replays from every angle, and real-time stats at their fingertips. To compete, venues have invested heavily in LED displays, video boards, and ribbon screens. But hardware alone isn’t closing the gap.

The real issue isn’t a lack of technology, but a lack of coordination. Most venues operate with fragmented production systems where LED displays, audio, lighting, and control rooms function as separate production silos. The result is a production environment that can’t deliver the synchronized, show-like moments that make live attendance feel worth it.

天美传媒 Video addresses this challenge with a fundamentally different approach to in-stadium production鈥�Unified Venue Control. Rather than treating the production control room and LED content management as separate operations, 天美传媒 Video brings them together into one cohesive system.

天美传媒 Video’s unified approach to in-stadium experiences is built on a portfolio of tightly integrated technologies, each designed to work seamlessly with the others. Together, they give production teams the tools to create synchronized spectacle at scale.

Here are the individual components that make up this unified system.

At the heart of 天美传媒 Video鈥檚 LED content management capability is听XPression Tessera, a platform that drives pixel-accurate content to LED displays of virtually any size or resolution.

Tessera creates limitless virtual canvases with both pre-rendered and real-time 3D graphics, enabling venues to deliver stunning visuals across massive, unconventional display configurations. The system was built specifically to solve the challenge of coordinating pixel-accurate content across these massive, uniquely shaped canvases.

The technology powers some of the most iconic installations in professional sports. At SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, for example, XPression Tessera outputs work in perfect synchronization to drive content to the venue’s famous 120-yard infinity board.

And when the Colorado Rockies undertook a complete production technology upgrade at Coors Field鈥� for their 25th anniversary, they chose 天美传媒 Video to power the first HDR sports venue in professional baseball. The result is a groundbreaking visual experience anchored by Coors Field’s iconic Rocky Mountain-shaped video board鈥攄elivering image quality and play-by-play detail that rivals what fans see on their TVs at home.

DashBoard is 天美传媒 Video’s control software. It’s the operational hub that ties everything together. Custom panels streamline game-day operations, allowing operators to trigger complex, venue-wide effects with a single button press.

This is the technology that powers the careful AV choreography behind team entrance hype sequences, synchronized venue takeovers when the home team scores, and sponsor activations tied to specific moments in the game.

DashBoard makes all of this possible by providing unified control over LED ribbons, IPTV systems, routers, lighting, and more, all from a single intuitive interface. The platform supports customizable user interfaces for different operator positions, so each member of the production team sees exactly what they need.

For venues that want to bring broadcast-quality analysis to in-stadium displays,听PIERO delivers real-time sports analysis and virtual graphics. This includes down-and-distance lines, player-tracking overlays, tactical analysis, and more.

PIERO gives production teams the tools to enhance the viewing experience with the same visual storytelling fans expect from TV broadcasts.

天美传媒 Video’s听Carbonite and听Acuity production switchers provide broadcast-grade switching for live production, integrating seamlessly with XPression and DashBoard. These systems serve as the central hub for everything happening in the control room, giving technical directors precise control over the live show.

Walk into the control room of a 天美传媒 Video-powered venue, and you’ll find a carefully orchestrated operation.

In the front row, the Technical Director works the production switcher鈥攖he central hub for everything happening in the show. Beside them sits the director and producer, calling the shots. Behind them, replay operators cut highlights and manage live replay during the event. CG operators update stats and manage graphics, connected to live data feeds that automatically populate on-screen information. And uniquely in venue production, dedicated operators manage LED ribbons and sponsorship content, running through sold activations at precisely the right moments.

This broadcast room setup isn鈥檛 particularly unique. But what makes a 天美传媒 Video-powered stadium different is how all of these elements connect.

In a traditional setup, the production control room may output a 16×9 feed that gets passed to a separate LED system. The two operate independently, requiring manual coordination to keep everything in sync. With 天美传媒 Video鈥檚 unified architecture, both systems are integrated. Data flows evenly, triggers fire simultaneously, and operators can coordinate venue-wide effects without jumping between disconnected platforms.

Picture a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. In a fragmented system, the replay has to be cued manually, the lighting effect triggered separately, the audio sting fired from another console, and the LED ribbons updated independently. The delays are small, but they add up鈥攁nd the moment loses its edge.

With 天美传媒 Video鈥檚 unified control, that same moment can be orchestrated with a single trigger. Celebratory graphics fire across every display in the venue, the lighting shifts to team colors, the audio sting hits precisely on cue, and the replay appears on the main board鈥攁ll in perfect sync, all instant.

That’s the difference between a good production and an unforgettable one.

The common thread that runs through every 天美传媒 Video stadium deployment is integration.鈥�听

Rather than piecing together components from multiple vendors鈥攅ach with their own protocols, documentation, and support channels鈥斕烀来� Video delivers a unified ecosystem where every element is designed to work together.听

For听sports venue听operators, this translates to fewer compatibility headaches, faster troubleshooting, and a single point of accountability when issues arise. That integration isn’t accidental. It’s the product of years of development driven by real-world venue challenges.鈥�听

That unified system is unmatched in the market, and powers the biggest productions and stadiums in the world. But we鈥檙e not standing still.鈥�听

天美传媒 Video is actively expanding into concert-like show control with media server integration, positioning venues for the next generation of immersive experiences.听

For venues looking to create unforgettable fan experiences鈥攖he kind that justify the price of admission and keep fans coming back鈥斕烀来� Video offers a unified control, broadcast-grade quality, and a partnership model built on end-to-end support.听

Want to learn more about our in-stadium technology and support?听Contact us today.听