SVG Reflects Interests of a Broadening Membership at This Year’s Summit

An expanded conference program and record-breaking exhibit hall reflect a broadening Sports Video Group (SVG) membership at this year’s SVG Summit, Dec. 15-16, at the NY Hilton in Midtown.  The event is the largest gathering of sports technology senior executives anywhere in the world.

During the two days, a total of seven keynote speakers, 75 presenters and panelists on 20 conference sessions will address the sports-technology industry’s most relevant and timely issues for an audience of over 1000 key executives. A record exhibition hall of 72 solutions providers in five exhibit halls will showcase the most advanced tools for sports-video production, distribution, and content management.

Producers and directors will take a higher profile at this year’s event beginning on Monday morning at the Women’s Sports Media Initiative (9 a.m., Morgan Suite), where women who ‘call the shots’ will take the stage panelists  include: Rebecca Chatman, NBC Olympics, Coordinating Producer; Emilie Deutsch, CBS Sports, Coordinating Producer, We Need to Talk; Jennifer Greechan, Tupelo-Honey Raycom, Executive Producer – Live Sports Production & Special Programming; and Amy Rosenfeld, ESPN, Senior Coordinating Producer.

The next day (Tuesday, Dec. 16) directors and producers take a close-up look at their football, baseball, and basketball coverage.  Covering gridiron TV for SVG this year will be Drew Esocoff, NBC Sports, Director, “Sunday Night Football”; Steve Grigely, Fox Sports, Director, Technical Operations and Rich Russo, Fox Sports, Lead Director, “NFL on FOX”; and Leon Schweir, Pac-12 Networks, SVP, Production and Operations. Going deep about baseball will be Larry Meyers, Time Warner Cable Sports, VP Content and Executive Producer; Woody Freiman, YES Network, VP of Production and Programming; Matthew Lipp, Turner Sports, Director, MLB on TBS; Phil Orlins, ESPN, Senior Coordinating Producer, MLB.  As for hoops, you’ll hear tales from the front bench from Tim Corrigan, ESPN, Senior Coordinating Producer; Jeff Filippi, The Madison Square Garden Company, SVP and Executive Producer and Christopher Lincoln, FOX Sports Regional Networks, VP, Production and Coordinating Producer, NBA & NCAA

A large part of these discussions will focus on the recently implemented instant replay systems at MLB, the NBA, and the NFL.  How does instant replay impact the production, the play and the fan experience? Steve Hellmuth, NBA, EVP, Operations and Technology, who spearheaded the NBA launch will be joined at the show by Joe Borgia, NBA, SVP, Replay and Referee Operations. Meanwhile, MLB’s instant replay system will be discussed by Matt McKendry, MLB, Director of Umpire Administration, and Tom Psipsikas, MLB Advanced Media, Broadcast Infrastructure Engineer. Finally, Scott Nardelli, VP and GM of Bexel ESS, which played a major role in the NFL’s revamped replay infrastructure, will provide a sneak peak at this season’s workflow.  

The task of managing, tagging, and monetizing all those files will be the subject of a concentrated workshop track on Monday December 15; The Sports Asset Management Workshop is designed for SVG members and sponsors who will be discussing the current state of asset management technology as it relates to near-term and long-term strategies.  Executives from UFC/Zuffa, Fox Sports, Turner Sports, Viacom Media Networks, PGA Tour, University of Notre Dame, and MLB will offer everything from a ‘Back to Basicss’ tutorial to deep dives into cloud storage, metadata archiving and successful MAM strategies.

College television takes a higher profile at this year’s Summit with its own track on Monday, December 15 and a main stage presentation on Tuesday, December 16.  Addressing the question,  “Can College Sports Hit New Heights?” will be Stephanie Druley, ESPN, SVP, Production, College Networks; Michael Harabin, Pac-12 Networks, VP, Technology and Engineering; and  Del Parks, Sinclair Television Group, SVP/CTO.  Meanwhile, a case study on the Ivy League Digital Network will be presented Matt Panto, The Ivy League, Assistant Executive Director, Digital Media & Communications; and Alex Oberweger, Columbia University, Associate Athletics Director.

The changing broadcast/venue relationship is an area of important focus in two separate two separate workshops this year.  From the remote production perspective, a Monday workshop entitled ‘Best Practices for Managing The Compound IP Network’ (10:30 am) will discuss the ‘wild west’ of today’s connected venue compound with insights by George Hoover, NEP Broadcasting, CTO and Jason Taubman, Game Creek Video, VP Design and New Technology.  Communicating what “venues need to know from their broadcast partners”  will be:  Carl Cutforth, MetLife Stadium, ‎Director of Broadcast, A/V; Logan Meier, Barclays Center, Senior Director, Facilities Presentation; and Don Sperling, New York Giants Entertainment, VP and Executive Producer.

That connected venue and compound is delivering more than broadband these days, which is why SVG is launching its Beyond Broadcast Initiative at this year’s show with our first Beyond Broadcast Workshop; this Monday afternoon track (1:30 pm) will address how the rapid growth in live video streaming is testing the limits of broadband networks’ ability to handle the volume. Another panel will discuss the latest developments in online measurement and monetization, And a third panel will examine the factors driving the growth of mobile viewing, the role of second-screen and companion apps in sports broadcasting, and how broadcasters are responding to the growing need to capture, package and deliver live video to small screens and handheld devices.