SVG Year in Review: April

April was a huge month for sports broadcasting. The annual March Madness tournament wrapped up the first weekend in April with the Final Four in another football stadium, this time Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, which featured a monstrous center-hung scoreboard, courtesy of GoVision. In addition to a blockbuster 2D production, CBS Sports, in partnership with PACE, produced the Final Four in 3D and sent that 3D presentation to theaters nationwide. SVG sat down with the CBS team before and after the production to talk about the challenges of 3D cameras and lessons learned.

Shortly after the production wrapped, CBS signed an agreement to keep the Final Four in CBS for another 14 years, thanks to a $10.8 Billion agreement between CBS, the NCAA, and Turner Sports, one that industry consultant Neal Pilson called “outstanding” for everyone involved.

April was a busy 3D month, as ESPN also produced the Masters in 3D, utilizing 12 cameras at Amen Corner, while Comcast got into the 3D transmission business. Sky Sports also launched in 3D in April. The NFL Draft also made noise in April as the annual selection show moved to three days, and a primetime slot on ESPN. NFL Network found ratings success on Draft weekend, as well.

Over in Las Vegas, the annual NAB show featured plenty of 3D gizmos and gadgets, from graphics to the place of 3D production in the HD workflow, but there was plenty of 2D news to report, as well. Workflow was a buzz word, big rigs were a big presence, and audio was everywhere at NAB 2010.