Live from NAB: Sony Inks Deals With NBC Olympics, NEP

Sony’s NAB press conference put the focus on 3D production, announcing that the company will once again be the sponsor of ESPN’s Summer X Games in 3D as well as programming for 3Net and Sky in the UK. But it was the announcement of a multiyear, multicamera deal with NEP that topped the list of new deals.

“We’ve working with the Sony 2500 series of cameras,” said NEP CTO George Hoover, “and we feel it is the finest broadcast camera in the world.”

The camera’s performance offers two more f-stops of sensitivity over competing cameras, making it well suited for nighttime shooting.

“It’s a truly superb camera,” Hoover added. “We will use it for both of our primetime NFL [customers] this fall and take advantage of its sensitivity for night games.”

Dave Mazza, SVP, engineering, for NBC Olympics, was also on hand to discuss how Sony’s Media Backbone will help make the “Highlights Factory” workflow more transparent by providing an overview of the production cycle as well as monitoring each clip and then publishing highlight clips quickly.

“Sony also customized it so we can create work orders, monitor conforming, and [track] metadata,” reported Mazza. It also integrates with other platforms, including Avid for craft editing, Omneon for storage, MOG for conforming clips, FourScene, IDS, Deltatre, and more.

“We are also working with the Sony Systems Group on our new facility in Stamford, CT, that will be home to the newly formed NBC Sports Group,” he added. The facility will use Long GOP 50 as a house format and handle NBC Sports, NBCSports.com, Olympics.com, and the NHL Network.

The next-generation 4K acquisition format will be featured at the Sony booth, and TV Globo International of Brazil was on hand to share 4K footage from this year’s Carnival in Rio.

“We’re considering using 4K even for HD needs as it has a high dynamic range, wider color gamut, and gives HD a much better, more film-like look,” said Fernando Bettencourt, engineering director, Globo TV. “And 4K is not like TV. It’s immersive, and, at Carnival, you can see the details, the movement, the color. Because the contrast range [demands] are so high at Carnival, this is the perfect format.”