MLB Network takes viewers out to the ball game
Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
The network will broadcast 26 games in 720p HD during the 2009 season.
The MLB Network facility in Secaucus, NJ, features
several new HD studios, including Studio 3, where
its “MLB Tonight” highlights show will originate.
Photos by Andy Washnik/Corpricom.
Major League Baseball (MLB) delivered the first pitch of its new MLB Network channel on Jan. 1 from a renovated facility once used by MSNBC in Secaucus, NJ. The MLB Network is available in 50 million homes. The 24/7 sports channel will broadcast 26 games live in the 720p HD format during the 2009 season. It will also feature a variety of original programming, produced in-house by the MLB Network staff and by MLB Productions, which develops original programming aside from actual games.
After considering several other options for its new home, the MLB Network set up shop in Secaucus with a multilayered, file-based infrastructure that builds on the facility's circa 1996 state-of-the-art digital production environment. The large 140,000sq-ft space is also securely tied into all 30 MLB ballparks around the country and will conduct two-way file transfers, some in real time, on a daily basis during the season.
Systems integrator The Systems Group was tapped to design, integrate and manage the massive facility rebuild under the guidance of broadcast operations consultant CBT Systems. They were careful to ensure that the facility meets the needs of the new MLB Network as well as its sister MLB Productions.
The completely revamped facility features 29 edit rooms (14 Apple Final Cut Pro workstations with surround-sound capability and 15 Thomson Grass Valley Aurora news editing systems), multiple Grass Valley K2 HD video servers, and two large studios, one of which contains a half-sized baseball infield complete with a mound, dugouts and scoreboards. New production space for MLB Productions includes the recommissioning of 15 additional Final Cut Pro edit suites and the addition of two Fairlight-based audio sweetening rooms.
The impressive and completely flexible Studio 42 (numbered for Jackie Robinson) includes a half-scale baseball field, where talent can perform interviews and MLB players can demonstrate their hitting and fielding skills. There’s also a bleacher area in the outfield, where a studio audience will sit.
Most systems initially went online in December for testing and rehearsal before the network went live in HD. The original plan, initiated two years ago, was to create a hybrid SD/HD plant with live games shot in the 16:9 aspect ratio. That plan has morphed into a 720p HD infrastructure that's now managed by an NVISION 576 × 1040 router, Miranda Kaleido-X multiviewer, a Grass Valley storage area network (SAN), Evertz modular equipment, an Omneon Spectrum server and a Pro-Bel Morpheus automation system.
Darrell Wenhardt, president of CBT Systems, said having to retrofit the new HD equipment into existing spaces made the installation more challenging than if they had started from scratch, but would not have been possible to achieve from the ground up. Everyone involved with the frenetic six-month build agrees. However, the fact that the facility was originally built for television production made the latest install more realistic given the time constraints.
IT-centric design
Interestingly, no production people were involved in the early stages of the design process, but several IT engineers were tasked with putting together a production platform that could support television, Internet and mobile TV services. The system design incorporates a 1.5Gb/s infrastructure that includes some 3Gb/s capable equipment. However, there are no plans to produce content in 1080p/60 HD anytime soon.
The result is a flexible file-based system that treats video as data that can be routed to any part of the building. Baseband video also has its place internally, for set monitoring and transmission, whereby files are distributed as ASI streams. This marriage of the two technologies is what makes the new facility shine.
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