Rogers Sportsnet Offers Alternative World Series Coverage for Canadians
Baseball fans in Canada have a choice of where to turn for World Series coverage – Fox, which also provides the U.S. coverage, or Rogers Sportsnet, the Canadian rights holder for the Fall Classic.
“Running the World Feed provides viewers with an alternative in Canada, because we all receive Fox in Canada,” explains Jennifer Chamberlain, acting resource manager, for Rogers Sportsnet. “The main advantage is it allows us to insert or own ads; that’s the first reason to take it.”
Rogers Sportsnet sends an ENG crew of five to the States to cover the Series. They take the game feed, provided by MLB International, and add their own flavor to the coverage through a 30-minute pregame show that leads into every game, as well as post-game content, all in high definition.
“We do a live hit from the field before every game,” Chamberlain says. “MLB International has helped us with that technically speaking; they set us up with the equipment.”
MLB International also makes their transmission path available to the world rights holders for their unilateral feeds. Beauty shots are also available for the rights holders to use, provided by aerial coverage from a blimp.
Chamberlain’s team relies on two Sony ASI encoders for their HD coverage.
“They are small portable units that allow you to transmit an HD signal as long as you can connect to an ASI circuit,” Chamberlain says. “If there’s ASI connectivity at the venue that you happen to be at, then you can pretty much make HD happen.”
Chamberlain also uses a Panasonic AG-PHG10 P2 encoder.
“I act as a producer slash runner slash technical setup person,” Chamberlain smiles.” At the end of the game, I’ll grab the card from the guys on the field after they shoot their interview, pop it in here, call our assignment desk, feed it down the line, and away we go.”
Tags: Canada, Panasonic, Rogers Sportsnet, Sony