SMT Collaborates With Amgen Tour of California On Real-Time Graphics for NBC Sports, International Coverage

SMT, the leading provider of data integration, graphics presentation and video enhancement solutions to live sports and entertainment television, has partnered with the 2014 Amgen Tour of California to deliver real-time broadcast graphics to NBC Sports and international broadcasters during live coverage of every stage of the eight-day cycling event.

Considered America’s largest and most prestigious cycling contest, the 2014 Amgen Tour of California will be its ninth edition. More than 100 cyclists from across the globe will participate in the annual event.

“SMT will provide critical graphics – from start to finish – for this year’s coverage of the Tour of California,” says Joel Felicio, cycling producer, NBC Sports Group. “Our operators will be able to identify any rider at any data point, supplying a headshot and compelling stats about him on-screen. We will also have the ability to calculate which rider would receive the yellow jersey at any point in a stage, allowing the viewer to see who could potentially take over the overall lead of the race.”

SMT’s ISO Track System, which allows broadcasters to track riders with an on-screen pointer feature and to interface names, rankings and headshots, allows viewers to easily follow the cyclists in the tightly packed peloton.

SMT’s live race crawl, or ticker, will provide a wide range of information and statistics, including live data tracking and the position of the leaders, peloton and other groups during each stage. The crawl will also showcase stage winners, the standings of top American cyclists and other  notable riders, and jersey standings.

“Our three-man team will set up and install the system in advance, followed by two of our personnel serving as primary workers during the event; one to monitor the race crawl and insert leaderboard graphics, the other to operate the ISO Track System,” says Ben Hayes, SMT account manager. “This race is a massive effort covering hundreds of miles of varying terrain, with information gathered by cameramen on motorcycles and helicopters, and we’re proud to be part of this exciting competition.”

Other graphic features from SMT include lower-thirds with riders’ names, headshots, team logos and other race statistics; leaderboard graphics; race stage profiles showing the layout of the current stage and the progression of the riders; a production telestrator;  a social media display aggregated and parsed through SMT’s DMX Social Media Publisher; and onscreen clocks and time trial graphics.

SMT will debut a new enhancement during the time trial stage on the competition’s second day in Folsom, Calif. Each rider’s time displayed on screen will be 100 percent accurate down to a tenth of a second thanks to SMT interfacing with the race’s official timing system.