PyeongChang 2018: NBC Olympics Selects SMT as Real-Time Results, Timing Interface Provider for Winter Games
NBC Olympics, a division of NBC Sports Group, has selected SMT to provide real-time, final results and timing interfaces for its production of the Olympic Winter Games, which take place in PyeongChang, South Korea, from Feb. 8-25. The announcement was made today by Dan Robertson, Vice President, Information Technology, NBC Olympics and Gerard J. Hall, Founder and CEO, SMT.
Since 2000, SMT has been a contributor to NBC Olympics’ productions by providing results integration solutions that have enhanced NBC’s presentations of the Games via on-air graphics, scheduling and searches for content in the media-asset–management (MAM) system.
For the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, SMT will deliver TV graphics interfaces for NBC Olympics’ Chyron Mosaic systems in its coverage of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, short-track speed skating, speed skating, bobsled, luge, skeleton, ski jumping, and the ski jumping portion of Nordic combined.
SMT’s Point-in-Time software system integrates live results to allow commentators to locate a specific time during a competition in both live and recorded coverage. The software graphically shows key events on a unified timeline so that NBC Olympics commentators can quickly see how a race began, when a lead changed, where an athlete’s performance improved, and the kinds of details that dramatically enhance the incredible stories of triumphs and defeats intrinsic to the 2018 Winter Games.
“The complexity and sheer amount of scoring, tracking, and judging data that comes with an event of this size, both real-time and post production, is beyond compare,” says Robertson. “The ability to organize and deliver it aids NBC’s production in presenting the stories of these amazing athletes, and requires nothing short of the capabilities, innovation and track record of SMT.”
“It is our privilege to provide our expertise, experience, and results reporting technology for NBC Olympics’ production of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, SMT’s 10th straight Olympics,” says Hall.
“Our team of 10 on-site engineers have rigorously prepared for PyeongChang with a tremendous amount of testing and behind-the-scenes work, ensuring SMT delivers seamless services of a scope and scale unprecedented in a sports production.”
SMT’s partnership with NBC Olympics began with the 2000 Sydney Games and has included providing graphics interfaces as well as NBC’s digital asset management interface that helped the network receive Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Team Technical Remote” following the 2008 and 2016 Games.