SVG Summit Reunites Sports-Production Industry in NYC for First Time Since 2019, Drawing 1,000+ Production Pros

Two days of sessions tackle remote production, content creation, hiring issues, and more

The 15th SVG Summit brought together more than 1,000 sports-production professionals at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel for the first time in two years. After being held virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic, the in-person event offered two days (Dec. 13-14) of informational panels and workshops, cutting-edge technology showcases, and, most important, plenty of opportunities for attendees to network and socialize face-to-face.

Registrants were required to be fully vaccinated to attend the event and show proof of vaccination upon arrival. CLICK HERE to view a photo gallery from the event.

Stay tuned to Sportsvideo.org for full video recaps, podcasts, and further coverage of the 2019 SVG Summit in the coming days.

Day 1: Workshops Hit on ‘Hot Tech,’ Remote Production, Cloud, Social, Audio, Truck Design, MAM, OTT, and More
The first day of the SVG Summit once again featured a full day of workshops — eight in all — offering a detailed look at the industry’s latest technology trends.

The morning kicked off with the first-ever SVG SPIRIT Career Development Track, designed to bring together industry professionals at the center of hiring and creating apprenticeships, internships, and mentoring programs.

The morning also included workshops on The Future of Remote Production, Cloud Tools & Services, and Social Sports. Speakers included top execs from A+E Networks, Fox Sports, NESN, New York Islanders, New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Jets, and New York Liberty, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Amazon Web Services, Broadcast Management Group, Diversified, Evertz, Grabyo, Grass Valley, Gravity Media, Imagine Communications, LiveU, Lumen Technologies, Media.Monks, NEP, NewTek, Net Insight, The Switch, AG V.S., Telstra, and Vizrt.

The DTV Audio Group hosted a day-long workshop exploring the task of cost-efficiently creating premium audio experiences and the impact of modern networking and cloud-based processing on achieving that goal. Speakers included reps from NBCUniversal, Dolby Labs, Quintar, Salsa Sound, Shure, and WarnerMedia Studios

The Summit’s general sessions kicked off in the afternoon of Day 1 and served as a “Hot Tech Showcase” highlighting today’s most exciting live-production technology. Sessions addressed 5G as a production tool, shallow–depth-of-field cameras, drones and aerial cameras, augmented-reality (AR) graphics, and HDR. Among the speakers were representatives of CBS Sports, Fox Sports, NBA, NBC, NHL, Canon, disguise, Dolby Labs, EVS, Fujifilm, Interdigital, Ross Video, SMT, Sony, Unreal Engine, and Verizon.

In addition to the Hot Tech Showcase, the afternoon featured workshops on Production Truck & Facility Design, Sports Content Management, and Streaming & OTT. Afternoon workshop speakers offered insights from CBS Sports, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA TOUR, WWE, SNY, Alpha Video, ATEME, CTI, DataCore, Diversified, Dome Productions, EditShare, LMG, Lyon Video, MediaKind, N3BULA Technologies, NEP, OpenDrives, Phenix Real-Time Solutions, Quantum, Signiant, Spectra Logic, Telestream, Videon, and Zixi.

Day 2: State of the Industry and Perspectives From National Networks, RSNs, Digital Leaders, Leagues, and Production Services
Day 2’s general sessions kicked off with a State of the Industry session featuring three industry stalwarts: SVG Chairman and Fox Sports SVP, Technical and Field Operations, Mike Davies; Program Productions Chairman/CEO Bob Carzoli, and Devoncroft Partners Principal Analyst Josh Stinehour. The trio discussed how the pandemic has impacted the live-sports-production industry, the challenges in finding skills crews and technicians, and the commercial future of the sector and its vendors.

The National Networks Perspectives session took the stage with Davies and CBS Sports EVP, Production/Executive Producer Harold Bryant and EVP, Operations and Engineering, Patty Power discussing their accomplishments and challenges over the past two years, as well as what’s ahead in 2022.

The conversation then shifted to regional sports networks with a panel featuring Bally Sports SVP/Executive Producer Mike Connelly; YES Network President, Production and Programming/Executive Producer John J. Filippelli; and NBC Sports Regional Networks, SVP, Content and Live Programming, Jon Slobotkin.

The Digital Leaders session was next up. Facebook Sports Programming and Partnerships Ben Berchuck; NBCUniversal SVP, Technology, Fandango, Sports and Entertainment Eric Black; and ESPN VP, Digital Media Programming, John Lasker discussed how OTT, DTC, and social media affect the content-creation side of the business.

The NBA and PGA TOUR offered League Perspectives with NBA VP, Broadcasting Content Management, Paul Benedict and PGA TOUR Entertainment VP/Executive Producer Greg Hopfe examining how the pandemic has impacted their approach to content creation and delivery.

Day 2 concluded with the Production Services Perspectives panel, with Mobile TV Group COO Nick Garvin, CTV CEO Hamish Greig, and NEP Broadcast Services President Mike Werteen discussing the current market conditions and where they are heading in the future.

Tuesday’s program also featured a trio of case studies from Diversified (with San Francisco Giants), Imagine Communications (with Golden State Warriors), and Spectra Logic (on the future of distributed cloud content management).

Plenty of Tech: 50+ Exhibits Roll Out Sports-Production Offerings
No SVG Summit would be complete without a Technology Showcase spotlighting the latest in sports-production technology. CLICK HERE for a full rundown of the tech exhibited by these companies:

ADDER TECHNOLOGY

ARRI

AT&T

ATEME

ATOMOS

BIRDDOG

CALREC AUDIO/DIGICO

CANON

CHYRON

CREATIVE DIMENSIONS

DALET

DISGUISE

EDITSHARE

EEG

EVERTZ

EVS

FOR-A

FUJIFILM

GRASS VALLEY

IHSE USA

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS

JOSEPH ELECTRONICS

KISWE

LAWO

LIVEU

LUCIDLINK

LUMEN

MARKERTEK

MARSHALL ELECTRONICS

MEDIAPRO

MO-SYS

NEP

NET INSIGHT

PANASONIC

QUANTUM

RIEDEL

ROSS VIDEO

RTS INTERCOM

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY

SENNHEISER

SHURE

SIGNIANT

SOLID STATE LOGIC

SOS GLOBAL

SPECTRA LOGIC

STREANN MEDIA

TELESTREAM

TELOS ALLIANCE

TERADEK

THE STUDIO – B&H

THE VIDEO CALL CENTER

TSL PRODUCTS

TVU NETWORKS

UNREAL ENGINE

VERIZON BUSINESS GROUP

VISLINK TECHNOLOGIES

VIZRT GROUP

ZIXI

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