NESN (New England Sports Network), the official network of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins, has chosen Ross Video for a major production technology upgrade. The facility-wide deployment of Ross production, automation and asset management solutions includes:
- Two Acuity Production Switchers and OverDrive Automated Production Control Systems
- Four XPression Dual Channel Character Generators with Streamline Asset Management System
- Four CamBot Robotic Pedestals, and openGear Terminal Equipment
- Three XPression engines will also be part of the upgrade as NESN is also deploying a complete Ross Virtual studio system
Founded in 1984, NESN was recently ranked by Forbes.com as the ninth most valuable sports business brand in the world.
“We chose Ross because of their ability to provide a bundled system for the entire studio production workflow — from camera robotics to production switchers and graphics,” NESN vice president of engineering Dave Desrochers said. “Ross also supports our future technical plans and provides us the best flexibility moving forward; that coupled with a competitive price made the choice easy.”
The Ross system will immediately be put to use on a wide range of programming formats. NESN produces three daily sports newscasts that re-airs up to eight hours per day on a virtual set, plus multiple pre- and postgame shows 225-plus days per year. NESN’s productions will originate from two studios at the network’s television center plus remote studios at Fenway Park and TD Garden.
“NESN is excited to partner with Ross as the first regional sports network to produce all pregame, postgame and live sports newscasts using an automation solution,” NESN vice president of programming and production/executive producer Joseph Maar said. “Millions of viewers throughout New England and across the country on NESN National will watch coverage using Ross gear.”
“We consider ourselves a leader in the sports television business, so we’re excited that Ross brings the latest in broadcast technology to our productions,” NESN senior director of network and technical operations Neal Scarbrough said. “But perhaps more importantly, this allows us to position our staff as best in class and to be even better prepared for the future of television.”
The Ross Creative Services team is working closely with NESN to recreate both the NESN news and Boston Bruins studio graphics packages using XPression and Streamline. The rebuild focus is to help NESN move to an automated MOS-based template package from the previous manual operator-driven package.
“We’re simply thrilled that NESN has chosen Ross for a complete production technology upgrade,” Ross Video director of sales key accounts Pete Ross said. “Ross is a leader in providing solutions for both in-venue and mobile-based sports productions. We’ve invested in building a team that knows sports and can help customers build workflows that keep them current with today’s business challenges and on-air trends.”
Training and commissioning is underway on all systems, and the expected launch in January 2016.
About NESN
NESN has consistently been one of the top-rated regional sports networks in the country with award-winning Red Sox and Bruins coverage. The network is delivered to over 4 million homes throughout the six-state New England region and an additional 5 million homes nationally as NESN National on digital and sports tiers in nearly 100 DMAs. Forbes Magazine recently ranked NESN as the 9th Most Valuable Sports Business Brand in the world. NESN.com is the most visited regional sports network website in the country with over 10 million monthly unique visitors. NESN also produces a number of distinctive programs under its umbrella Original NESN Entertainment (ONE). NESN’s social responsibility program, NESN Connects, is proud to support and connect its employees with charitable organizations in their communities. NESN is owned by Fenway Sports Group (owners of the Boston Red Sox) and Delaware North (owners of the Boston Bruins).
About Ross Video
Passionate about live production, Ross Video designs, manufactures and delivers dependable technology and services that power exceptional live video productions seen by billions of viewers around the world every day. Ross Video’s goal is to make it easy for customers to create compelling news, weather and sports broadcasts, engaging material for sports stadium screens, legislative assemblies, entertainment shows and rock concerts, and inspiring content for houses of worship.
Relentlessly innovating, Ross Video delivers the world’s widest range of products and services for augmented reality and virtual sets, mobile live-event solutions, real-time motion graphics, robotic camera systems, social-media management, production switchers, routers, infrastructure products, video servers, newsroom systems, terminal equipment and more.
Ross products and services are designed to offer the best system integration and unmatched customer choice by both working together seamlessly and integrating tightly with third-party solutions.
Ross Video has offices around the world, and provides outstanding, free-for-life telephone support staffed by technical experts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—even for products bought on eBay. Ross employees are authorized to rent helicopters when necessary.
Ross Video: The production technology experts. Find out more at rossvideo.com.
