Cloud-based graphics ecosystem built on Ross Video’s Xpression and Game Creek Video’s GCV Anywhere platform
For the first time in 10 years, NBC Sports regional networks will release new graphics packages that will debut during the 2023-24 NBA and NHL seasons. Inspired by NBC Sports’ Big Ten football packages, the new packages will debut tonight during NBC Sports Philadelphia’s coverage of the Islanders vs. Flyers.
“We believe this package is the best of not only regional sports, but any live sports package,” said Earl Cumburn, senior director of creative services for NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks. “We take regional sports very seriously and our primary goal is to best serve our fans on a level that the national broadcasters simply can’t match, and we think this new package reflects that.”
As part of the transition to a new on-air look, the NBC Sports Regional Networks have also introduced a cloud-based graphics production ecosystem built on Ross Video’s Xpression and Game Creek Video’s GCV Anywhere platforms. This is believed to be the first time the RSN group will use a fully cloud-based graphics system for all of its games.
“By leveraging Xpression and the cloud, the package provides greater operational flexibility and allows operators to be more agile with their designs,” says Maurissa Dorn, production systems architect at NBCU Local. “This is something our graphics team has been very keen on. Because all of our assets are centralized in the cloud, we can quickly change, adapt and customize even the smallest details. This is a big change in terms of usability and we think it improves the overall look.”
Building on the Big Ten: NBC RSNs take inspiration from the mother ship
When Camburn and his team first saw NBC’s new Big Ten football package shortly before its launch for the 2023 college football season, they recognized an opportunity to reinvent the graphics package.
“We always [NBC Sports Group] “NBC Sports, the parent company, has started changing the look of various programming over the last few years, from Sunday Night Football to Premier League and more,” Camburn said. “They recently created a new look for Big Ten football, and when we saw that, we immediately saw it as an opportunity to refresh our own packaging and mimic the NBC Sports look.”
Camburn and senior art director Chris Hein then approached NBC Sports Group senior art director Chad Hudson and his creative team about adopting a Big Ten package for the RSNsโ professional sports coverage.
โWe work with a wide variety of graphics and are pretty aggressive about the amount of graphics we provide to producers, so we knew we had to build it differently,โ Camburn says.[NBC Sports] In fact, they were very excited about this project because they knew if we built it for professional sports, they could give us the files back and use them in their own broadcasts. [our package] We were gearing up for the Olympic Trials earlier this year, which we ourselves haven’t even launched yet.”
Camburn and his team then presented some sample packages and provided a rough build timeline to Jon Slobotkin, SVP of content and live programming for NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks. Coincidentally, Slobotkin and his team were considering moving to a cloud-based graphics workflow that could provide NBC RSNs with more flexibility and agility in the future.
“We decided to take a leap of faith and do a graphics refresh and a workflow refresh at the same time,” says Camburn. “In retrospect, this was quite ambitious, as it meant not only building a new package, but also learning a whole new graphics system. [technology vendors] “To Ross Expression.”
Building the Package: Northern Theory and Academy of Lower Thirds join forces
Camburn knew that creating assets for more than 30 MLB, NBA and NHL teams would be a massive undertaking for NBC Sports Regional Networks’ small team of two art directors and one graphic integrator.
“They’re great, but [our internal staff] โWe probably could have built this completely on our own,โ Camburn says, โso we knew we would need help with both the design and integration.โ
Northern Theory, who worked with NBC Sports on its Big Ten and Sunday Night Football packages, was brought in to help version all of each team’s assets, including color schemes and 3D logos. On the tech side, Camburn brought in the Academy of Lower Thirds to provide Xpression training and help with the overall build. Lisa Pilkington, graphics integrator for NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks, led the effort along with Tina Harding, graphics integrator for NBC Sports Philadelphia, Academy of Lower Thirds owner Marty Dormany, and graphic designer Dave Bachman.
“Throughout my time at the company, we’ve always looked for ways to better connect with our fans, and we know that what fans most strongly associate with is the team logo and colors,” Camburn says. They have an emotional connection there, but hitting that sweet spot isn’t always easy. [graphics package]Thankfully, Ross Xpression is so efficient and dynamic that you can easily tailor the packaging to make your logo and team colors stand out on any occasion. [version]They just jump off the screen and the producers are really happy with them.”
Additionally, the TV Graphics product, scorebug, has been reskinned to match the new look and includes a range of new features.
Graphics in the Cloud: Building an Integrated Workflow for News and Sports
At the time of the redesign, NBCU Local’s news team had just completed a migration to Ross Video’s Overdrive production automation system and Xpression graphics for its studio operations. With that in mind, Dorn was evaluating various vendors to integrate NBCU Local and NBC Sports Regional Networks’ studio and live event operations into a shared workflow.
โWe started looking at how we could achieve more of a shared model,โ Dorn says, โand at that point in time, our studio graphics workflow was using storage as a shared and distributed method, and NBC Universal Local has been working in the virtual control room space for the past few years, but weโre now seeing that accelerate.โ
“When this problem was brought to me, I said, ‘Why not move this to a cloud-based workflow as well?'” she continues. “Not only could we optimize our resource management, but we could maintain a pool of shared graphic enhancements that could be shared across different teams across the country. And from an asset perspective, we could build on the shared storage architecture that we had already started with.”
GCV Anywhere: Providing an on-ramp to the cloud
Dorn and her team worked with Game Creek Video and its GCV Anywhere platform to create a system where all graphic assets were available centrally via the cloud, giving field operators access to assets for their respective markets and teams, perfectly synchronized with the assets used to power the studio operation.
“From an operational and file workflow standpoint, whether I’m in the truck or in the studio, [the operators] “They can have the same experience,” Dorn says, “They log in with their credentials, see everything they need, and have access to all the assets they need. And Earl’s team at headquarters can ensure that all the project files that operators see are up to date because they’re centralized, making it all much easier to manage.”
This new ecosystem is hosted on the public cloud, with Game Creek Video, led by Director of Network Systems James Piccirillo, managing the technical infrastructure behind it.
“One of the big challenges was lining up the keys and fills of the graphics,” Dorn adds. “That was probably the biggest challenge, but Game Creek solved that problem very well. We all know that it’s not always easy to line up time on large networks like the public cloud or the public internet, so we’re grateful that they solved that problem for us.”
Ready for release: New packages debut tonight, cloud workflows go live
NBC regional networks soft-launched a limited version of the package for NFL pregame studio programming earlier this month, but the official launch will come tonight during NBC Sports Philadelphia’s coverage of the Islanders vs. Flyers.
“I think fans would love it if we had this in the NBA and NHL this season,” Camburn said. “I think it would be a big hit.”
“I’m most excited about the fact that this technology will give more broadcasters the confidence to use centralized cloud-based services for their live production workflows,” says Dorn. “For a long time, everyone was very skeptical of this because when you hear the word ‘cloud,’ the first thing that comes to mind is ‘latency.’ But now we can use public cloud resources to deliver a very robust live graphics workflow, and I think this is a huge win for the media and entertainment industry.”