Fox Sports Debuts Fully LED, Digital-First Studio on Fox Studios Lot
L.A.-based ‘Stage D’ to go live Wednesday with Flippin’ Bats With Ben Verlander and Alex Curry
Story Highlights
On Wednesday, Fox Sports will launch a studio set dedicated exclusively to content creation for digital and social platforms at the Fox Studios Lot in Los Angeles.
“Stage D” houses 3,000 sq. ft. of stage space and is supported by two new control rooms. It leverages state-of-the-art technologies with Fox Sports’ Studio A, the Sports Emmy Award–winning home to the broadcaster’s NFL and MLB studio coverage since 2022.
Fox Sports’ new Stage D is a 360-degree studio set dedicated to content for digital and social-media platforms. (All photos: Jon Hill/Fox Sports)
Many of Fox Sports’ digital-first programming will call the studio home, including The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast, The Skip Bayless Show, State of the Union With Alexi Lalas, Out of Character With Ryan Satin, and the first show that will shoot in the space, Flippin’ Bats With Ben Verlander and Alex Curry. The content produced will stream in long-form and produce clipped short-form content for delivery across the Fox Sports App, Fox Sports’ website, and Fox Sports’ various social accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
The stage area is loaded with LED: eight movable walls, a movable LED stage, a movable interview stage, and even an LED floor that can move into position for multiple shooting locations. Selected LED walls are in vertical format to support both display of and creation of content for vertical-friendly platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram Stories, and other mobile-first distribution methods. All LED displays are from Planar.
There are currently 10 identified shooting positions on the stage, but, with so much of the furniture and all but one of the LED surfaces movable, the possibilities are virtually endless in how and where to produce content.
“I’m encouraging producers, directors, creatives, talent to make this space their own,” says Ricardo Perez-Selsky, senior director, digital production operations, Fox Sports. “The LED walls are on casters; the stages are on casters. Our furniture can move. We have movable lighting in the grid. Everything on the stage moves. The only limitations here are the producer’s creativity, but I want content that’s going to look different and feel different on a month-to-month basis so that [users] become ‘timeline stoppers.’ When you’re scrolling through our content on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, the Fox Sports App, you’re going to see something that looks different and new.”
Fox Sports’ Ricardo Perez-Selsky: “The only limitations here are the producer’s creativity.”
The stage gets its power and versatility from a pair of new control rooms that leverage automation technologies via Ross Overdrive to help smaller digital crews produce the high-quality shows that the stage is capable of. Both control rooms can range from full automation to 25 staffed positions.
The central area in each control room is affectionately referred to as the “cockpit” since a single operator could essentially cut a show on their own. Depending on the size and scale of the show, a single director could switch cameras, insert graphics, manage LED elements and lighting on the set, and adjust audio all from that seat.
Stage D is supported by two control rooms, each featuring automation technology and built on a core of Ross Video gear.
Having two control rooms also enables synergies and flexibility. One is outfitted to house Home Run (or remote) productions; the other is exclusively for studio content. The Home Run model allows talent to host programs from locations on the road, but all key positions — producer, graphics, playback, engineering — can remain at the studio in Los Angeles.
In addition to Overdrive, the control rooms are based on a core of Ross gear, including the Acuity production switcher. Calrec consoles are in place for audio. With the strong emphasis on live, Fox Sports Digital delivers content via Amazon and AWS, encoding over AWS Elemental MediaLive.
Fox Sports’ approach to live digital programming is a bit unusual in an era when linear television is expected to be more “polished” and social content more “raw.” Fox Sports Digital’s award-winning work with its live Twitter show at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar and similar digital-exclusive live programming surrounding Super Bowl LVII demonstrates that “traditional” studio-based programming can succeed in a big way.
“I think things that eye-catching are going to be eye-catching regardless,” says Perez-Selsky. “That’s why we’ve incorporated the technology that we’ve done here with desks and LED walls. The studio was not designed for 16:9; it was designed for 9:16. Social producers are involved in our content, and now they’re able to film their content at an insanely high quality. We’re able to design graphics that are specific for LED elements and things that are interactive with talent. I think that’s going to come through in the overall content and is going to be a timeline stopper.”
Fox Sports Digital talent Ben Verlander (left) hosts a podcast with Hall of Fame pitcher and MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz from the new Stage D.
Besides simply a beautiful, multipurpose set and a pair of control rooms, Perez-Selsky points out, perhaps the biggest benefit of the new build is the collaboration and content-sharing workflows that it established between the Fox Sports’ digital team and the linear-television side of the company. Digital producers working in the space have access to more than 2,000 cameras from productions and sports events worldwide through Fox Sports’ Video Router.
“When [Fox Sports Digital] first came into the [Fox Studio Lot] and started doing productions here in January 2021, we were still on an island,” says Perez-Selsky. “This will greatly enhance our content. It’s incredibly critical — not just the technology but also having access to the [linear] personnel. The engineers help us out on a regular basis, and that full Fox Sports backbone is now supporting digital. It’s a huge thing to leverage.”
Conceptualizing the facility was a collaborative effort by digital and linear executives. SVP, Digital Content Michael Bucklin; Senior Manager, Technical Operations, John Marcus; Senior Manager, Production Operations, Thomas Meason; and Associate Manager, Technical Operations, Chris Cheshire played critical roles in the space’s development and its integration with Fox Sports headquarters infrastructure.
