Panasonic AW-HN40H TV Technology: Guide to Sports Production - Page 17

FROM THE RINK TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU Beyond the majors, streaming connects lesser-known hockey leagues to its fan base By Mark R. Smith As one of the four major sports leagues in the United States, the National Hockey League ranks fourth in popularity through the eyes of the sporting public. While it's obviously the major deal north of the bor- der, Canada has roughly one-tenth of the population of its neighbor to the south. Those facts don't usually produce the highest TV ratings. NBC carries the NHL in the United States while Rogers Communications holds the rights in Canada (along with TVA Sports for French language broadcasts), with sportnets for each franchise. At the lower levels-including the minor leagues, college and juniors-hockey isn't a huge draw like college football or basketball, for instance. So, how do the millions of enthusiastic fans in Bentley University uses a Tricaster 8000 for the in-house show. North America get their fix? By buying packages from streaming companies as they support the game the time of installation, the NeuLion feed was encoded at 720p. at its roots, in a way that the economics of a major league Everything the team bought for the HD upgrade is in use, broadcast wouldn't allow. including five Hitachi cameras that are hardwired with triax HD UPDATE IN HERSHEY cabling, plus one wireless. Camera positions include two spots in Section 120 atop the lower level; one in Section 110, behind In the American Hockey League (AHL), the Hershey Bears the goal; one above Section 117 at the Zamboni tunnel; and one have played before a rabid fan base since 1938. The franchise above Section 113, for power play setup. has always drawn well at home, since 2002 in the 10,500-seat A sixth handheld camera is stationed next to the Zamboni Giant Center; and via its web stream. tunnel, where the referees enter the ice at Section 116; there are Aaron Henry, who contracts with the Bears through Great also two Marshall lipstick cameras mounted behind the goals, Save Productions, said an upgrade at the rink three years ago to with a third at the Bears' bench. HD bolstered the fan experience. The Bears took an economical approach to content capture The team worked with Diversified Systems Inc., of Kenilworth, with the ZEPLAY system from Tightrope Media Systems, N.J., on the HD upgrades to the four-sided center ice board, as which Henry called "a hybrid of EVS and the NewTek 3Play," well as cable boxes, including channel insertion from Radiant which is Windows-based and has similar functions. Communications Corp., based in South Plainfield, N.J. Diversified installed a Ross Carbonite switcher, "which led to ON THE JOB LEARNING the creation of an auxiliary bus with different channels: one for John Mitchell, owner of Digital Multimedia Solutions feeds in Giant Center, the other for streaming," Henry said. At in Belmont, Mass., is working in a new facility at Bentley [17] TV TECHNOLOGY