MLB Postseason 2022: Fox Sports Studio Shows Join 1080p HDR Party; Game Coverage Gets Plenty of Super-Slo-Mo

A mix of onsite and remote production is slated for NLDS and World Series

Fox Sports begins its march to the World Series today with a pair of NLDS Game 1’s, and, as always, the broadcaster will have plenty of production firepower to cover the MLB Postseason. In addition to producing all games in 1080p HDR and broadcasting them in 4K HDR — as was the case last year — Fox Sports’ MLB studio shows will also be produced in 1080p HDR (upconverted to 4K HDR for distribution) for the first time.

“We’re really excited to be 1080p HDR across the board for both game and studio shows this year,” says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, Fox Sports. “That was the last piece of the puzzle, and we’re thankful we were able to find the trucks to make that happen.”

Postseason pre/postgame coverage opens from Fox’s brand-new state-of-the-art studio in L.A. for the NLDS and then shifts to onsite sets for the NLCS and World Series.

Today, Game Creek Video Yogi (A and B) and Riverhawk (along with B9), respectively, are home to Fox Sports’ NLDS productions in Los Angeles (Padres-Dodgers) and Atlanta (Phillies-Braves). When the series shift locations, GCV Webby (A and B) will be in San Diego, and NEP EN2 (A and B) will be in Philadelphia. In addition, NEP NCP 11 (A and B) is currently staging for the NLCS.

Fox Sports aims to bring viewers closer to the action than ever during its MLB Postseason coverage, beginning today with the NLDS.

Yogi and EN2 will serve as primary game-production units for the NLCS and World Series, and Webby and NCP 11 will be onsite for the studio shows.

CAT Entertainment Services will power the compounds throughout the postseason, and Filmwerks will provide staging for the onsite studio shows. A variety of transmission services are being provided by Lumen, The Switch, LiveU, Intelsat, SES, American Satellite, Encompass, Peak Uplink, and PSSI. CP Communications is handling RF video and audio, and NEP|Fletcher is providing robos and other specialty capture devices.

Fox’s 20-camera complement for the NLDS features four 6X super-slo-mos, which are a mix of HDC-4300 and HDC-5500, along with HDC-3500’s and HDC-4300’s in standard positions (with a mix of Canon and Fujinon glass). As Fox goes deeper into the postseason, expect that complement to grow and to feature Fox Sports staples like DirtCam, FlyCam, and MōVI roving handhelds.

Onsite Productions, With Help From the Vault

Given the unpredictable nature of the locations and short timelines required for the NLDS, Fox’s production will be entirely onsite for the Padres-Dodgers and Phillies-Braves series. Once the NLCS begins, the Fox Sports Vault in L.A. will enter the equation with six game EVS replay operators, one Vizrt graphics operator, and FoxBox scorebug operator located remotely in Los Angeles. In addition, the studio-show production will have one replay, graphics, and teleprompter operator in the Vault, along with edit/postproduction support.

Thumbwar is back to remotely oversee Fox’s postproduction and media management, providing a fully remote edit solution in the cloud for the NLCS and World Series. One editor will be onsite handling in-game turnarounds, and three features editors will be remote. Thumbwar has two data centers — one East Coast, one West Coast — to serve the remote editors at various locations. Thumbwar is also managing all of Fox’s file-transfer workflows — both internally and with WBD Sports and Major League Baseball.

With large shows taking place in multiple cities over the next three weeks, Fox’s operations team is led by longtime MLB-vet Francisco Contreras and also features Judy Acone, Nick Utley, Nicole Perrin, Pam Chvotkin, Hunter Acone, Bernadette Wells, Erik Guyton, Monika Chislov, Emilio Mendoza, and Matt Howatt. Tom Lynch and Sid Drexler serve as the lead tech producers, supported by Taihe Miller, Brady Polansky, and Tim Kennedy. The engineering team includes Rob Rees, Leigh Behunin, Phil Abrahams, Matt Battaglia, Chris Ruiz, Rob Brotzman, and TJ Scanlon along with GCV’s Steve Dolce and NEP’s Nick Romano.

“The postseason is always a special time for us and gives us the chance to innovate and try new things,” say Cheney. “This year, when you look at the superstars that are coming into view and the things that they’ve done in a regular season, you can only imagine how much greater it’s going to be for us to cover. This is going to be a historic postseason, and we’re excited to be able to bring that to the world.”

Stay tuned to SVG for more on Fox’s MLB Postseason coverage come World Series time.