Original article published in TV Tech

Opening CarMax Park gave us the opportunity to build a new live production workflow around Grass Valley’s LDX 110 camera system. 

Opening a brand-new, state-of-the-art production facility at CarMax Park presented many challenges and opportunities. Among them was the all-important decision of selecting the camera system. Taking the leap from our previous workflow in The Diamond, our goal was clear: support productions of home games, live events, LED programming, and multiplatform content with a consistent, high-quality production standard that truly sets us apart. 
 
Knowing that the cameras would be in use throughout the day, reliability, image quality and flexibility were all important factors. 

We looked at several options before selecting the Grass Valley LDX 110. During our evaluation, it delivered better performance in low-light and other challenging lighting conditions than the alternatives we considered, while remaining within the budget we had set for the project. The Xenios CMOS image sensor consistently produced the picture quality we were looking for, and the compact camcorder-style design was a good fit for the way our operators work on game days. 

All-Action Capture 
Our production schedule begins when the gates open and finishes after the last fans leave the ballpark. During that time, in addition to the baseball game itself, we’re producing a variety of content including player introductions, fan features, live entertainment, and promotions and activity around the concourse. Camera operators are constantly moving between different environments and lighting conditions. 

Our fixed cameras, including the high home and center field positions, provide the main coverage throughout the game. They produce excellent pictures and give us the consistency we need across the entire production. 

The MVP in our live production workflow has been the mobile camera system, a huge upgrade over previous systems deployed.  

The LDX 110 gives us much more freedom to cover everything happening around the stadium with the same picture and color quality we see on fixed cameras. Operators can move freely around the 360-degree concourse to spend time with fans, react to big moments, and capture entertainment that occurs on and off the field, all with the consistent high-quality production standard. These shots are critical in telling the story of the fan experience at CarMax Park. 

The mobile system is a seamless, natural fit in our workflow with the color grading system in our control room, allowing our shader full control while the camera operator freely moves around CarMax Park. That combination has made mobile operation far easier than we have experienced in past workflows. 

We use the word consistency often as that has probably been the biggest operational improvement seen since opening the venue. The picture quality and consistency of the LDX 110 systems is big league, giving our production the polish our fans and partners deserve while allowing our production team to stay focused on the live show. 

Big-League Delivery  
The response from our fans and community partners has been extremely positive. We regularly hear comments about the beautiful picture quality of the video presentation. Fans, colleagues, and industry peers who visit CarMax Park often describe our productions as “big-league”. That was one of our main objectives when we designed the production facilities, so it is very rewarding to receive that feedback. 

We are equally pleased with how the system has performed behind the scenes. The deployment has exceeded our expectations, and we are already working with Grass Valley and our integration partners to add a second mobile camera system. That decision is based on how much value the first system has added to our productions and how often we now rely on it during a game. 

Opening a new ballpark gave us the chance to build the production workflow we wanted from the beginning. The LDX 110 cameras have become an important part of that workflow, helping us produce consistent, professional coverage throughout every game while giving our production team more creative freedom around the stadium. 

David C. Ruckman is Vice President of Creative Services and Branding for the Richmond Flying Squirrels and owner/operator of David C. Ruckman Creative LLC. A live event production specialist with more than 20 years of experience, David has produced more than 1,500 professional baseball and NCAA Division I sporting events. Including CarMax Park opening in April 2026, David has now helped open five ballparks across the United States. 

Interview with Production 360. Original article published here

The theme of this issue is outside broadcast (OB) and remote production (RP). How would you assess the general health of these markets at the present time? 

The market is healthy and evolving quickly. Demand for live content remains strong – particularly in sports – but broadcasters and rights holders are under increasing pressure to deliver more content across more platforms while keeping costs under control. 

Traditional OB remains essential, especially for premium productions and major international events where maximum onsite capability is required. What has changed is how the industry views remote production: it’s becoming a core part of modern live production rather than an alternative workflow.  

What I find particularly exciting is the move toward software-based remote production. More production workflows are shifting from fixed hardware to software-defined environments, creating new opportunities for scalability, flexibility and resource sharing. I expect that trend to continue. Software-based remote production will play a much bigger role, even for large international events that have traditionally relied on extensive onsite OB infrastructure. 

I don’t see traditional OB and remote production as competing models; I see a hybrid environment where the production model is determined by the specific needs of each event. 

The expansion of RP has been attributed to a variety of technical, economic and practical factors. From your perspective, why has RP grown so rapidly in recent years? 

Several factors have come together at the right time. Firstly, the technology has matured. Better IP connectivity, improved contribution links and lower latency have made remote workflows reliable enough for demanding live productions. 

The economic case is equally compelling. Broadcasters need to produce more content, but budgets aren’t growing at the same rate. Remote production allows them to scale far more efficiently. 

There’s also a people aspect. Skilled operators are valuable resources. Instead of spending time traveling between events, they can support multiple productions from centralized facilities. 

Software has probably been the biggest catalyst. As live production has moved from dedicated hardware to software-defined infrastructure, entirely new production models have become possible. For me, that’s where the real acceleration started. 

Remote production today has moved beyond saving costs to creating new ways of producing live content.  

There is huge pressure on broadcasters and service providers to make OB and RP more streamlined and cost-efficient. What steps has DMC taken in this regard? 

We’ve focused on removing inefficiencies without compromising production quality. One of the biggest steps has been investing in our new remote production vehicles, built around Grass Valley AMPP running on high-performance servers inside the trucks. That has changed how we think about mobile production. 

Instead of relying entirely on fixed-function hardware, much of the production processing now happens in software. That gives us much greater flexibility. We can scale switching, replay, audio and graphics to match each production instead of designing every truck for maximum capacity. 

We’ve also invested heavily in standardizing workflows across the DMC Group. It may not be as visible as new technology, but it has a significant operational impact. Standardization simplifies engineering, improves support and reduces setup complexity. 

In my experience, efficiency rarely comes from one major breakthrough. It’s usually the result of many smaller improvements in workflow, automation and smarter use of resources. 

On a related note, the software-based production facility opened by DMC in 2025 was designed to provide a “scalable, cost-efficient” approach to sports production. Can you tell us about the workflow of this facility, how it delivers more streamlined sports production, and the role of Grass Valley technology? 

Our software journey with Grass Valley AMPP started before many people realized how committed we were to software-based production. 

DMC launched its first AMPP-based production platform in Hilversum in 2024 to support our Dutch operations. It proved that software-based live production was already capable of supporting demanding productions at scale. 

We’re now building a fully software-based Broadcast Center in Stockholm, which will go live in September, while a similar platform for our German operations is scheduled to launch in 2027. 

In terms of the bigger picture, this is very exciting. Within the next six to twelve months, all DMC broadcast centers will be compatible with production control rooms that connect directly to our AMPP-based remote production trucks. 

A production can be handled entirely within a remote vehicle or extended into any of our broadcast centers. Just as importantly, we’ll be able to allocate operators regardless of location: a vision mixer in Stockholm, a replay operator in Hilversum and an audio engineer in Germany can all work on the same live production. That level of flexibility changes how production teams can be built and deployed. 

We’re also seeing major gains in bandwidth efficiency. Modern software-based workflows make it possible to produce a full-scale multi-camera production using around 100 Mbit of public internet bandwidth without compromising production quality. 

That changes the economics of live production. Events that were previously too expensive to produce remotely suddenly become commercially viable. 

Instead of thinking in terms of trucks versus centralized facilities, we think about one distributed production ecosystem where compute resources, production tools and operators can move wherever they’re needed. 

It’s been a very busy summer for RP and OB, especially in live sports. Can you outline some of your recent projects in this area? 

It has been a busy summer for us. Across the DMC Group, we deliver thousands of live sports productions every year, and the past few months have included everything from football and horse racing to large studio-based sports broadcasts. Many of these are high-volume productions where remote workflows deliver clear operational and commercial benefits. 

Football is a good example. Broadcasters want more matches covered, and not just premium fixtures but secondary leagues and additional editorial programming around the games. Remote production makes that possible while maintaining the production quality audiences expect. 

Beyond our day-to-day sports production, our work supporting MagentaTV’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026 is a good example of where live production is heading. 

DMC Production Germany is delivering key elements of the production infrastructure for the tournament, supporting a highly distributed production model spanning studios in New York and Munich, together with remote production from stadiums across Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

The scale speaks for itself: 104 matches, more than 1,000 hours of programming, three dedicated tournament channels, and delivery in UHD, HDR and Dolby Atmos. 

The real difference is how the production is brought together. Rather than treating every location as a separate production island, the workflow connects multiple studios, remote venues and centralized production resources into a single production ecosystem. 

For me, that’s a great example of where the industry is heading: combining traditional OB with software-defined remote production to deliver major international events with much greater flexibility. 

Finally, please give us a hint of what lies ahead for the company in the second half of this year. 

The second half of the year will be an important period for us. A major milestone will be the launch of our new Stockholm Broadcast Center, another significant step in our software transformation. We’ll also continue expanding our remote production capabilities while investing in automation and AI-assisted workflows. 

What excites me is the broader transformation taking place across live production. We’re still in the early stages of software-based broadcasting, and over the next few years the lines between broadcast engineering, IT infrastructure and software development will continue to blur. 

At DMC, we’re focused on making that technology practical, but with one principle in mind: technology should serve storytelling, not the other way around. 

Every live event starts with a defining moment. A camera captures the game-winning goal, the dramatic replay or the crowd celebration. But capturing the moment is only the beginning.

What happens next is just as important.

Today’s venues are expected to deliver engaging experiences simultaneously to fans in the stadium, viewers at home and audiences across digital platforms. Replays, graphics, statistics and LED displays all need to work together in real time. Yet many production teams still rely on separate systems that add unnecessary complexity and slow down operations.

This is where connected workflows make a difference.

One connected workflow

The collaboration between Grass Valley and Daktronics brings together two essential parts of the live event ecosystem.

Grass Valley provides the live production technology that captures and produces content, while Daktronics delivers the display and show control technologies that power the in-venue experience. Together, they create a connected workflow that moves content from camera to production and on to venue displays with fewer manual steps.

Instead of managing disconnected systems, operators can work within an integrated environment where video, graphics, data and control stay synchronized throughout the production.

Built for today’s venues

Whether it’s a professional stadium, collegiate athletics venue, entertainment venue or esports arena, production teams are being asked to do more than ever, often without adding more people.

They need to create more content, support more displays and deliver increasingly engaging experiences, all while keeping productions running smoothly.

A connected workflow helps simplify those operations, making it easier for teams to work efficiently while staying focused on the event itself.

Better experiences for every audience

Fans don’t think about where the broadcast ends and the in-venue experience begins. They simply expect everything to work together.

When a key play happens, replays, graphics, LED displays, statistics and venue presentation all need to respond instantly. By connecting production and display workflows, Grass Valley and Daktronics help operators deliver a more coordinated experience that feels natural to the audience.

The result is a better experience for fans in the venue while maintaining the high production standards expected by viewers everywhere else.

Ready to grow

No two venues operate in exactly the same way.

That’s why the solution is designed to fit into existing production environments while supporting a broad ecosystem of technologies and partners. Rather than requiring teams to overhaul established workflows, the integrated approach builds on the systems they already use and provides the flexibility to grow over time.

As live production continues to evolve, connected workflows will play an increasingly important role. They help venues simplify operations, make better use of existing technology and create more engaging experiences for fans.

From lens to pixel, every step in the workflow matters.

Leading North American mobile production facility provider standardizes on Grass Valley’s fully IP-native K-Frame production switchers for its fleet of next-generation trucks   

MONTREAL, CANADA – July 09, 2026 – Game Creek Video, one of North America’s largest mobile production providers, has reached an agreement with Grass Valley to purchase 10 fully configured K-Frame production switchers as part of a two-year fleet expansion program. 

Game Creek serves major professional sports leagues and premium live event productions across the United States, and the agreement continues a long-standing relationship between the two companies. Two K-Frame systems have already been delivered, with the remaining eight scheduled over the next two years.  

“We have always invested in technology that gives our clients the flexibility and performance they need for the most demanding productions,” said Pat Sullivan, President and Founder, Game Creek Video. “The K-Frame platform and its fully IP-native configuration reflects our commitment to serve our demanding customers by building customers by building a fleet of trucks ready for modern live production workflows.”  

Each K-Frame system will be deployed with a Kayenne 4ME control surface and configured identically, featuring nine MEs and a fully loaded 192×96 IP-architecture. The common specification provides Game Creek with a consistent operational framework across its fleet to support high-end sports and entertainment productions. 

“The combination of scale, reliability and IP capabilities made K-Frame the right fit for our next generation of trucks,” said Jason Taubman, SVP, Technology, Game Creek Video. “Standardizing on a common architecture gives our engineering and production teams the same unique capabilities, regardless of which truck is on-site.” 

The project continues a relationship that spans multiple generations of Game Creek production trucks and further expands the presence of K-Frame in the North American mobile production market. “Game Creek is known for being ahead of the curve with technology investments and setting an exceptionally high bar for production standards,” said Greg Doggett, Vice president of Sales, NAM Sports at Grass Valley. “This commitment reflects the strength of our relationship and the confidence the industry has in K-Frame as Game Creek continues to advance the capabilities of their respected fleet.” 

Grass Valley will showcase its latest live production solutions, including the K-Frame production switcher family, at Booth 219 at the 44th Annual IDEA Conference, taking place 12–15 July at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Cincinnati, OH.

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About Grass Valley 

Grass Valley empowers over 90% of the world’s top media brands to create and deliver compelling stories that captivate audiences. At the heart of its solutions is the GV Media Universe (GVMU), combining advanced hardware solutions, with the agility, elasticity, and adaptability of the AMPP Media Operating System. Together, they form a seamless, scalable ecosystem for efficient and innovative workflows. 

With a portfolio spanning from camera to consumer, Grass Valley provides the flexibility to build solutions for every need – from a single creative harnessing immense production power to globally distributed teams collaborating seamlessly. This breadth of capability enables customers to craft efficient workflows that inspire and engage their audiences. 

With over 65 years of expertise, Grass Valley has consistently driven the evolution of live content creation and storytelling. Headquartered in Montreal and supported by Black Dragon Capital, the company remains dedicated to shaping and leading the media revolution.

MiLB Club Deploys LDX 110 Cameras at CarMax Park to Deliver A New Standard in Engaging Fan Experience 

MONTREAL, CANADA – June 15, 2026 – Grass Valley today announced that the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have deployed five Grass Valley LDX 110 cameras at CarMax Park. The upgrade has significantly elevated the quality and consistency of the organization’s game broadcasts and livestreams, further enhancing the Flying Squirrels’ ability to deliver a more dynamic and engaging viewing experience for fans. 

The Flying Squirrels’ new production environment features five LDX 110 camera systems, including one unit in a wireless configuration, delivering the image quality, operational flexibility and broadcast-grade performance needed to support comprehensive live coverage throughout the venue. The deployment reflects the club’s continued focus on raising the quality and consistency of its live game coverage while also strengthening CarMax Park’s capabilities for live sports and event productions. 

“There is nothing minor league about our capabilities using Grass Valley equipment,” said Flying Squirrels General Manager Anthony Oppermann. “The overall broadcast and live event production is on a completely different level now. We’ve received very positive feedback from our fans and MLB partners on the quality of the broadcasts, livestreams and in-game presentation.” 

The new workflow is further enhanced by Grass Valley’s Creative Grading technology, which allows operators to maintain a consistent and distinctive visual look throughout every game. Its intuitive graphical interface enables rapid adjustments without distracting operators from the live action, helping them stay focused on the moments that matter most. From high-speed plays to emotional crowd and player reactions, Creative Grading continuously supports optimal image quality while preserving the creative vision behind the production. The result is a richer, more immersive viewing experience that helps bring fans closer to the game. 

The upgrade has positioned the Flying Squirrels among a small group of Minor League Baseball organizations operating with broadcast infrastructure typically associated with larger sports markets. The improved on-screen presentation has strengthened the club’s ability to deliver an engaging and visually consistent experience across streaming, broadcast and in-venue coverage. 

“Fans expect a high-quality viewing experience regardless of market size,” said Greg Doggett, Vice President Sports, North America at Grass Valley. “The Richmond Flying Squirrels are demonstrating how regional sports organizations can adopt the same caliber of technology used across top-tier live sports to deliver stronger coverage, more engaging broadcasts and greater long-term operational value.” 

The project reflects a broader shift across regional sports as teams continue investing in modern broadcast infrastructure to elevate live content and strengthen audience engagement across streaming and in-venue experiences. 

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About Grass Valley 

Grass Valley empowers over 90% of the world’s top media brands to create and deliver compelling stories that captivate audiences. At the heart of its solutions is the GV Media Universe (GVMU), combining advanced hardware solutions, with the agility, elasticity, and adaptability of the AMPP Media Operating System. Together, they form a seamless, scalable ecosystem for efficient and innovative workflows. 

With a portfolio spanning from camera to consumer, Grass Valley provides the flexibility to build solutions for every need – from a single creative harnessing immense production power to globally distributed teams collaborating seamlessly. This breadth of capability enables customers to craft efficient workflows that inspire and engage their audiences. 

With over 65 years of expertise, Grass Valley has consistently driven the evolution of live content creation and storytelling. Headquartered in Montreal and supported by Black Dragon Capital, the company remains dedicated to shaping and leading the media revolution. 

About the Richmond Flying Squirrels

The Richmond Flying Squirrels, Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have established themselves as one of the most recognizable brands in Minor League Baseball since their inaugural season in 2010. Guided by three pillars – be different, be impactful and have FUNN – the organization has ingrained itself in Central Virginia, annually reaching more than 10,000 students through the club’s education programs while making 400-plus community appearances. Additionally, the team has renovated multiple youth baseball and softball fields across the city and awarded more than $150,000 in scholarships through its 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Flying Squirrels Charities. The Flying Squirrels consistently rank among the top-drawing teams in MiLB having led the Eastern League in total or average attendance 11 times while topping all 30 Double-A teams in total and average attendance each of the past four seasons. For more information, visit SquirrelsBaseball.com

Singapore-based broadcast services provider has deployed Grass Valley cameras, switchers and hybrid workflow infrastructure across sports and entertainment productions

MONTREAL, CANADA – May 19, 2026 – Grass Valley has entered into a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions as the Singapore-based company expands its live production operations across APAC and the Middle East. 

The agreement includes the deployment of Grass Valley LDX Series cameras, K-Frame production switchers and Densité/XIP infrastructure to support OB, REMI and hybrid production workflows across sports and entertainment projects. 

Phoenix Broadcast Solutions provides live production services across international sports and multi-event productions, specializing in OB, REMI and hybrid workflows for major sporting events and broadcasters across APAC and the Middle East. As part of the revamp of its operations, the company sought a scalable production ecosystem capable of supporting rapid deployment across multiple geographies and varied production environments. 

“We were looking for a production infrastructure that could scale with the type of projects we are delivering across different markets,” said Siddhartha Tyagi, Founder & Managing Director, Phoenix Broadcast Solutions.  

“That meant improving workflow flexibility and interoperability, supporting UHD and 4K production requirements, enabling REMI and distributed workflows, and maintaining reliability across large-scale multi-venue sports productions. We also wanted the flexibility to work across both IP and baseband environments depending on the operational and regional requirements of each project.” 

The deployment includes LDX 150 and LDX 98 cameras for live sports production, alongside K-Frame switchers with Kayenne and Karrera control surfaces for multi-camera productions across OB and REMI environments. Densité and XIP infrastructure will support a combination of IP and baseband workflows, allowing Phoenix to adapt systems according to venue, project and regional requirements. 

Systems are being deployed in phases in line with Phoenix’s production schedule across APAC and the Middle East, with the Grass Valley and Phoenix engineering teams collaborating on configuration and integration across a range of third-party audio, communications and transmission systems. 

“Grass Valley’s solutions give us the flexibility and reliability we need to deliver at the highest level across multiple markets,” Tyagi added. “This partnership is an important step in building a future-ready broadcast infrastructure.” 

The systems are already in use across Phoenix’s major international productions, improving operational flexibility across projects while enabling faster deployment between regions and greater consistency across workflows. 

For Grass Valley, the agreement strengthens its position within growing live production markets across APAC and the Middle East. 

“Phoenix Broadcast Solutions represents a new generation of broadcast companies: agile, ambitious, and built on deep industry expertise,” says Evan Boyd, Senior Vice President, Sales APAC, Grass Valley. “We are proud to support their journey with solutions that enable both performance and flexibility at scale.” 

The partnership is expected to expand further as Phoenix Broadcast Solutions continues to grow its operations across sports and live event production. 

Visit the Grass Valley booth (5C2-7) at Broadcast Asia 2026, taking place 20–22 May at Singapore EXPO, to find out how the company is supporting media providers across APAC and the Middle East with scalable live production, distributed operations and next-generation broadcast infrastructure. 

##### 

About Grass Valley 

Grass Valley empowers over 90% of the world’s top media brands to create and deliver compelling stories that captivate audiences. At the heart of its solutions is the GV Media Universe (GVMU), combining advanced hardware solutions, with the agility, elasticity, and adaptability of the AMPP Media Operating System. Together, they form a seamless, scalable ecosystem for efficient and innovative workflows. 

With a portfolio spanning from camera to consumer, Grass Valley provides the flexibility to build solutions for every need – from a single creative harnessing immense production power to globally distributed teams collaborating seamlessly. This breadth of capability enables customers to craft efficient workflows that inspire and engage their audiences. 

With over 65 years of expertise, Grass Valley has consistently driven the evolution of live content creation and storytelling. Headquartered in Montreal and supported by Black Dragon Capital, the company remains dedicated to shaping and leading the media revolution.

Compact HDR-ready remote production units combine native IP workflows, advanced camera shading and flexible live production capabilities for premium sports coverage

MONTREAL, CANADA – May 13,  2026 – Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras and K-Frame production switching technology for premium live sports production across the UK. 

Designed for high-end sports broadcasting, the compact, fast-deploy OB units combine UHD, HDR and high-frame-rate production capabilities with a modern IP-based infrastructure. The trucks support centralized production operations and evolving remote and distributed production models, enabling Cloudbass to deliver premium-quality coverage across top-tier football and major live sporting events. 

The deployment features 32 Grass Valley LDX 150 native IP camera systems, delivering the imaging performance, operational flexibility and Native-IP connectivity required for premium live sports production. The cameras support SMPTE ST 2110 workflows directly from the camera head and are designed to help production teams transition efficiently to scalable live production environments. 

The project also incorporates Grass Valley’s Creative Grading tools to support centralized camera shading workflows, alongside K-Frame production switching capabilities as part of the overall live production architecture. 

“Sports broadcasters and production providers are increasingly looking for ways to expand UHD and HDR capabilities while maintaining operational efficiency and flexibility,” said Mark Gardner, Senior VP of Sales, EMEA at Grass Valley. “These new Cloudbass trucks demonstrate how native IP production, centralized shading workflows and scalable live production technologies can be combined in a compact environment built for the realities of modern sports production.” 

The new units feature fully IP-based workflows and are designed to support remote operations, dynamic configurations and evolving broadcast requirements. The integration was led by dB Broadcast, a long-standing Grass Valley partner with extensive experience in complex broadcast systems integration. 

“This project was about delivering a future-ready IP architecture without compromising the operational practicalities of live OB production,” said Mike Bryan, Technology Director at dB Broadcast. “By standardising on Grass Valley’s LDX 100 native IP camera platform, Creative Grading and K-Frame technologies, we can provide Cloudbass with a consistent production environment from acquisition through to live production switching. 

Supporting around 15 cameras per truck, including UHD and HDR high-speed production workflows, the new units are optimized for long-term sports production contracts while maintaining the flexibility required for evolving sports production workflows. 

Come and see Grass Valley at booth B55 at MPTS at Olympia London on May 13–14, 2026. 

##### 

About Grass Valley 

Grass Valley empowers over 90% of the world’s top media brands to create and deliver compelling stories that captivate audiences. At the heart of its solutions is the GV Media Universe (GVMU), combining advanced hardware solutions, with the agility, elasticity, and adaptability of the AMPP Media Operating System. Together, they form a seamless, scalable ecosystem for efficient and innovative workflows. 

With a portfolio spanning from camera to consumer, Grass Valley provides the flexibility to build solutions for every need – from a single creative harnessing immense production power to globally distributed teams collaborating seamlessly. This breadth of capability enables customers to craft efficient workflows that inspire and engage their audiences. 

With over 65 years of expertise, Grass Valley has consistently driven the evolution of live content creation and storytelling. Headquartered in Montreal and supported by Black Dragon Capital, the company remains dedicated to shaping and leading the media revolution. 

Originally published in FEED Magazine

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that broadcast-grade technology is no longer confined to major networks and global sporting events. Now, it’s rapidly becoming a crucial component of collegiate athletics, where universities are producing content at a quality that even rivals professional operations.

This is no more apparent than across three recent deployments in the US at the University of Illinois, University of Pittsburgh and Texas A&M. Using tools from broadcast tech powerhouse Grass Valley, one theme from these projects stood out: the continued move toward future-proof infrastructures is serving to empower both students and professionals to operate at the highest level.

Upgrade without upheaval

At the University of Illinois, the challenge wasn’t just about upgrading, it was about doing so within the constraints of an existing facility while laying the groundwork for long-term growth. Partnering with TAB M Solutions, Grass Valley delivered a hybrid SMPTE ST 2110/SDI environment that strikes a careful balance between innovation and operational familiarity.

The deployment includes native SMPTE ST 2110 workflows powered by LDX 150 cameras, alongside a CCS-ONE camera control system, which centralises shading and enables remote monitoring. By eliminating traditional baseband CCUs, the system reduces both rack space and thermal load – critical considerations in a constrained control room environment.

For Fighting Illini Productions, the impact is instant and strategic. As its associate director of athletics Derryl Myles explains: “Our objective was to elevate our game-day production while positioning Fighting Illini Productions for long-term growth. The hybrid architecture allows us to incorporate IP strategically while still maintaining familiar workflows, and the LDX 150 cameras provide the image quality, flexibility and performance needed to meet the expectations of the Big Ten as well as the fanbase.”

This ‘intentional transition strategy’, as described by TAB M Solutions partner and CTO Kevin Tucker, highlights a key trend in education: universities are not simply replacing legacy systems, they are evolving them. “The hybrid 2110/SDI architecture preserves operational familiarity while leveraging IP where it creates tangible benefits. Deploying the LDX 150 cameras natively over 2110 reduced rack space, heat load and integration complexity while creating a scalable foundation for future expansion.”

Pittsburgh powers up

If Illinois represents a carefully phased evolution, the University of Pittsburgh shows what full IP transformation looks like within a high-demand environment. Supporting more than 150 live events annually across 19 NCAA Division I programmes, Pitt Athletics required a system that could handle scale and complexity.

Grass Valley’s solution centred on a complete transition to a SMPTE ST 2110 IP backbone, anchored by K-Frame XP switcher architecture. The upgrade enables six switcher suites across control rooms, with shared processing, expanded ME capacity and enhanced resilience.

Importantly, this latest deployment followed pre-existing investments. Pitt’s original LDX 86 cameras, installed in 2018, were seamlessly integrated into the IP infrastructure, demonstrating the longevity and adaptability of Grass Valley systems.

“With over 150 events annually, our production demands continue to grow across both broadcast and in-venue platforms,” says director of operations and strategy, University of Pittsburgh athletics, Patrick O’Shea. “The original LDX 86 installation allowed us to operate in 1080p from day one, and this upgrade now positions us for IP, HDR and expanded slow-motion capabilities.”

From an engineering perspective, the transition to IP unlocks new efficiencies. Tucker notes: “By leveraging Grass Valley’s K-Frame XP ecosystem in a full 2110 architecture, we were able to centralise resources, increase capacity and create a clear path toward HDR and expanded super slow-motion workflows.”

Built to scale

At Texas A&M, the focus shifted, with the main goal being to build a forward-looking production ecosystem that bridges today’s needs with tomorrow’s possibilities.

The university deployed a suite of Grass Valley solutions, including K-Frame X switchers, LDX 135 cameras and LDX 150 cameras, creating a robust foundation for high-quality 1080p production with a clear upgrade path to UHD.

12th Man Productions’ associate athletic director Andy Richardson emphasises how, originally, “12th Man Productions first invested in Grass Valley camera technology in 2014 when we upgraded our facility to support the Videoboard shows and ESPN/SEC Network live event programming for Texas A&M Athletics. In 2024, as we turned over a new page in technology by upgrading our live camera systems to support IP 2110 infrastructure and transitioning to HD 1080p, we saw Grass Valley as the ideal partner to elevate our productions. And we couldn’t be happier with the results.”

Delivering Olympic coverage across Europe requires production teams to manage hundreds of feeds, multiple editorial teams and simultaneous live events. For Warner Bros. Discovery, the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 provided another opportunity to operate and refine a production platform, driven by Grass Valley’s AMPP using Framelight X and Playout X, designed to support that scale.

Milano Cortina was my seventh Olympics working with Eurosport and Warner Bros. Discovery. Each Games brings different operational challenges, but this one highlighted how much our production infrastructure has evolved in recent years. 

Over several Olympic cycles we have moved towards a shared production platform connecting editorial teams, operators and engineers across our operations. The aim has been to support both major live events and day-to-day sports production through the same infrastructure. 

Earlier Olympic workflows were organised differently. Production environments were often built around individual events or teams, which meant systems and capacity were spread across multiple locations. Over time, we moved towards a unified platform – built on Grass Valley’s AMPP and underpinned by Framelight X and Playout X – that was capable of supporting Olympic coverage alongside our regular sports output, as well as adding capacity for new channels and capabilities.

Today, through Grass Valley’s Framelight X, teams can access the same production environment from multiple locations. During the Milano Cortina Games we saw around 650 concurrent users working on the platform at peak, with an average of more than 600 users per day across Europe and the US. 

Supporting that level of collaboration requires infrastructure that can evolve without interrupting live production. The core platform powered by Grass Valley’s AMPP operates on a microservices architecture, with the Framelight X workflow engine connecting ingest, content management, central LiveTouch replay management, playout (Playout X) as well as post production. This allowed engineers to update individual components without affecting the wider system. 

In the past, system upgrades were often lengthy processes requiring updates to each individual user’s computer, but changes can now be introduced gradually while production continues. With the GV team, we reconfigured the core AMPP platform through software-defined production for the event instead of rebuilding it as a one-off workflow. This also changed how we introduced new services, by extending existing resources rather than deploying new infrastructure. 

During Milano Cortina, this approach supported the launch of additional pop-up channels alongside our core services. 

Central to all of this was the Framelight X story-centric, continuous media production environment, which is specifically designed for high-demand and distributed operations like ours. Framelight X federated all of our content into a single system, giving us streamlined access to everything we needed – from ingest through to editing and publishing – from any location.  

Scaling ingest and managing content 

One of our priorities ahead of Milano Cortina was ensuring the platform could handle the volume of content we expected to record. Unlike a summer Olympics where most other major competitions are no longer running, the Winter Games sit right in the middle of an extremely busy global sports calendar. So in addition to our Winter Olympics coverage, we were also delivering our regular sports output across Eurosport and TNT Sports, which meant managing multiple events simultaneously. That complexity is added to by the Winter Games being more susceptible to weather delays and last minute rescheduling, as we experienced this year with events being postponed by snow delays. 

Across the Games, the platform handled more than 62,000 hours of recorded content, with peaks of over 4,000 recording tasks in a single day. 

Working with Grass Valley, we completed a migration project that modernised our ingest workflow and expanded recording capacity, moving us away from legacy GV I/O recording workflows using CMF formats and towards an architecture based on MXF and Elastic Record X. 

With this model, the ingest layer remains local while the resources required to run the recording services and connect to Framelight X can scale through distributed infrastructure. At the same time, the platform operates as a single production environment, with media asset management, playout, production tools and post-production capabilities all connected to the same core storage. Content doesn’t need to be moved between systems, and is accessible from any tool, even during ingest, across 22 supported languages. 

This simplifies operations and support, while ensuring content is immediately available to editorial teams. It also reduces duplication across systems and helps teams deliver more content, more efficiently. This allowed us to add 80 additional recording ports to cope with the recording peaks during the Games.  

Alongside ingest, we also identified specific requirements around playout and commercial break handling. Working with Grass Valley, we developed dedicated user interfaces within Playout X to support live operations and simplify how commercial breaks are managed. One of these is the Sports UI, which allows operators in the PCR gallery to manage commercial breaks directly during live production, without needing to be connected to the central playout system. This gives production teams more flexibility during live events while allowing central teams to remain focused on international and master playlists. 

We also extended our approach to regionalization. Alongside a primary international feed, we operate multiple regional channels that can either follow the main feed and replace breaks with local content, or opt out entirely to deliver rights-specific programming. This allows us to maintain a single master playlist while supporting multiple localised outputs in a more efficient and scalable way.

At the same time we reviewed how operators interacted with the platform itself. Following the Paris 2024 Games, feedback from users highlighted the difficulty of locating specific clips within large volumes of recorded content. 

When hundreds of feeds are recorded simultaneously, search and discovery become critical parts of the workflow. Together with Grass Valley we focused on improving Framelight X’s search capabilities and metadata handling within the system, and during Milano Cortina the difference was noticeable. ​​Operators were able to locate relevant material much faster, which helped editorial teams publish content more efficiently across both digital and linear platforms. 

Resilience and distributed production 

Operational resilience is another essential requirement for large-scale live production. For the Winter Games, Paris and London served as our main operations centres for Olympic coverage. The system is designed so that either location can assume control if required; for instance, if an operational issue occurred in Paris, our teams in London could immediately manage recording operations through the same scheduling interface. And vice versa.  

Rather than relying on disaster recovery processes that activate only during emergencies, the platform operates in a balanced mode where redundancy is already built into day-to-day operations. 

The same infrastructure also supports more distributed production models. Across the Games, we delivered 42 linear channels in 22 languages, alongside more than 100 digital channels, supporting over 4,000 live events across linear and digital platforms. 

For some workflows it is no longer necessary to move large numbers of people or equipment to every event location. Infrastructure can remain in central data centres, cloud environments or any hybrid, while production teams connect remotely. For the Milano Cortina Games, I was based in Paris rather than being on site in Italy. From a production perspective this approach allows us to coordinate resources more efficiently across multiple events.

Collaboration and continuous improvement 

Technology provides the framework for these workflows, but large productions ultimately depend on the teams operating them. Our engineering and operations groups are stationed in Paris, London, the US and across Europe with each region handling its own dedicated editorial requirements, and collaboration between those teams is essential during major events. 

Engineers also need to think from the perspective of operators and editorial teams. A workflow that appears simple from a technical point of view may become inefficient if it needs to be repeated many times during a production day. Feedback from operators after each major event helps guide improvements ahead of the next production cycle. 

Looking ahead, our focus now moves to upcoming productions such as [the French Open Tennis Championship at] Roland Garros, while we continue to evolve the platform itself. One area we are exploring is the increased use of 1080p HDR as a mezzanine format for production workflows. We are also building additional media platforms for other parts of the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio, including free-to-air channels in Nordic markets. 

Each event adds experience that feeds into the next stage of development, and the AMPP-powered platform – driven by the innovative capabilities of the Framelight X and Playout X systems – continues to evolve alongside the production requirements it supports.

John Howard is one of the most experienced Technical Directors in live sports, working week in and week out on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and contributing to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts over the last 20 years. Here, he shares his perspective on the craft behind live production and why the role of the switcher is often overlooked.

When people talk about big championships, everyone talks about the cameras. The new angles, the pylons, everything they added this year. That’s all great. I love that side of it, but that’s not what makes the show work.

The vehicle that ultimately tells the visual story is the switcher. And nobody really talks about that.

And the job itself is often misunderstood. It’s not just cutting cameras. A Technical Director is involved throughout the entire planning PROCESS, not just building the show and setting it all up, but making sure everything works to plan before it ever goes to air.

I’ve been doing this a long time. Sunday Night Football on NBC, week in and week out, that’s my office. I’ve also worked on 10 Super Bowls. The scale is enormous, but that’s not really the challenge.

On this year’s show, we had three fully loaded K-Frame XPs in the compound. One dedicated to pre-game, one I used to cut the live game, and another in a separate unit handling replays and additional elements. All of them were essentially full.

You think 192 inputs is a lot. On a show like that, it’s not. You need that and then some.

What experience teaches over time is how to structure it. What stays close, what moves elsewhere, how everything is organized so it works when the show is live. That’s the job.

“Elegance is the standard. Not flash. Not complexity for its own sake. Elegance.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the real challenge isn’t the technology. It’s not overthinking it.

There’s a lot of firepower available. A lot of options. And it’s very easy to go too far. It’s easy to over-plan, to overbuild, to try to account for everything. But that complexity comes back in the moment when things get busy.

Most of the work is muscle memory. Sitting at a panel, everything needs to be exactly where it is expected to be. No searching, no hesitation.

That only works if it has been built properly beforehand.

That’s where discipline comes in. If something doesn’t need to be complicated, it shouldn’t be.

A lot of it also comes down to the relationship with the director. There’s an understanding there. Sometimes a call comes in, and holding a shot just a fraction longer helps the moment. That kind of communication isn’t written down anywhere, but it’s critical.

Every show is different. A football show is not built the same way as a golf show. The layout changes, the priorities change, the approach changes.

The system has to adapt to that. The setup needs to follow the show, not the other way around.

On Sunday Night Football, I try something every week. It might be small. It might not even make air. But the goal is always to make something better.

Over time, that becomes a creative back-and-forth. A transition, a look, something subtle that fits naturally into the show.

Not everything needs to be used. If something doesn’t add to the story, it doesn’t belong there.

That’s really what it comes down to.

Sunday Night Football goes up against prime-time entertainment. It’s not just a game. It’s a show. And the audience is broader than people think.

So the question always comes back to the same thing. If the show is watched with no sound, does it still make sense? Does the story come across just from the pictures?

If the answer is yes, then it’s working.

I don’t think we talk about this enough.

Grass Valley, the name alone, it means television. It means broadcast. But what matters is that it keeps moving forward.

The company continues to evolve, continues to innovate, and does it at every level, not just at the very top end. That matters.

And it works because it’s not one-way.

There’s a constant exchange. Feedback goes back to the engineers. Ideas come from real use. Nothing is built in isolation.

A lot of the time, what is needed is actually simpler. It just has a clear purpose.

That’s the relationship. It works both ways.

Every live frame of NFL football in the United States, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, AMAZON PRIME, every single one goes through a Grass Valley switcher.

Think about that.

Seventeen years, across every broadcast, at that level.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens because the product keeps evolving, and because the people using it are part of that process.

And that’s what keeps us all moving forward.