SVG Sit-Down: Canare’s Joe Castellano on the Rise of Fiber in Live Sports Production

When it comes to audio and video cables, connectors, patchbays, and fiber-optic products for the television-broadcast industry and the professional A/V market, few have a bigger impact on the growth and development of the industry than Canare. Broadcast engineers, sound technicians, A/V-facility integrators, design consultants, and many leading OEMs have found fiber, specifically, becoming the preferred method of transmission, especially in sports venues for a live television production.

Canare’s COPS Series HFO camera and cable connector panel

SVG sat down with Joe Castellano, sales manager for Canare Corp. of America, to discuss the company’s place in the sports-video–production industry, how fiber has become the transmission method of choice for live productions, and what Canare showed off earlier this week at the SVG Summit.

Fiber continues to grow as the transmission method of choice for many major sports broadcasters. In what ways has Canare responded to the growing desire for fiber connectivity in sports?
As a trusted supplier of complete solutions for the television-broadcast industry and the professional A/V market, Canare is committed to the sports community and its professionals, who require best-in-class audio and broadband technologies to produce and distribute sports content. Canare has listened to its customers and developed a line of tactical SMPTE HFO cables that withstand the demands of live events and mobile truck use. Ideal for sports production, the new Tactical HFO SMPTE cables are more rugged, flexible, and weigh less than traditional SPMTE HFO cables.

Are there any other major trends in your space that you see your clients gravitating toward? Are onsite productions getting large? Are broadcasters looking to fiber back to their home broadcast facility?
To save money and operate more cost-effectively, many broadcasters are streamlining their production process, which includes slimming down on space. Using smaller trucks onsite, rack space then becomes even more valuable. Canare offers panel-mount solutions that help alleviate this pain point of limited space. Our SMPTE Triax panels allow for easy setup and installation and support both connectors on a single panel. Additionally, Canare offers a one-rack panel that accepts all commonly used panel-mount connectors. Both solutions are ideal for consolidation and situations where space is limited.

What are some recent projects or client successes that you can share with us?
A major U.S. sports arena with LEED certification that had implemented a Canare solution more than 15 years ago recently underwent an expansion. With the expansion, more camera-connection points were required. Because the original Canare solution had proven to be reliable and delivered live broadcasts that were transmitted flawlessly, the stadium maintained its confidence with Canare. All additional camera connections that were installed as part of the expansion were provided by Canare.

Canare exhibited at the SVG Summit this week. What did attendees see at your table?
Canare showcased its latest offerings of COPS Series HFO camera- and cable-connector panels. This series of products employ unique features ideal for supporting the specific requirements of the sports-production and -distribution industry. These connector panels can be custom-configured to provide a seamless, reliable interface for stadiums and ENG vans, ensuring live broadcasts are transmitted flawlessly. The COPS Series of SMPTE pre-terminated HFO camera-connector panels boast a built-in splice-enclosure box that provides easy and quick installation between an HD camera system and a terminal panel or rack. By combining the unit and frame, the HFO camera-connector panel enables a variety of layouts depending on the system design. Canare’s HFO camera-connector board is integrated with HFO camera connectors and an HFO composite termination box.