HD Fiber Feeds, Engineering Support and TechnicalExpertise Help Biggest Night in Sports Shine Bright
Bexel, a unit of the Vitec Group's Services Division and a pre-eminent worldwide provider of broadcast services and solutions, was behind-the-scenes at ESPN's 18th annual ESPY Awards, providing a wide range of support, equipment, technical and engineering services for the awards telecast. The 2010 ESPYs were televised live for the first time since 2003 on Wednesday, July 14 on ESPN/ESPN HD, originating from the Nokia Theatre's LA Live campus in Los Angeles.
For the evening's festivities, Bexel provided fiber design, integration and engineering support between ESPN's main show production truck, the red carpet production truck which handled coverage for several of ESPN's most popular shows, the ESPN International production truck, the ESPN 3 production truck and the ESPN Los Angeles Production Center (LAPC).
In addition, Bexel provided HD, SD and analog signals to the throngs of local and international press covering the event as well as production communications engineering between the pre-show, main show, international show and five stages on the red carpet.
"By utilizing Bexel Broadcast Service's broad scope of resources, including video engineering, audio engineering and fiber engineering, ESPN was able to enjoy the economies of scale possible when utilizing one vendor that has a wide range of skills and hardware," says Joseph Wire, vice president of sales, Bexel.
Bexel provided EVS servers, [X]Files storage and IPDirector control systems, to assist in content delivery and ensure the telecast went smoothly. Distribution, termination and monitors for all production feeds internal to the Nokia Theatre were provided by Bexel in addition to an extensive amount of fiber equipment that was used to connect the main show mobile units with the countdown show production facility.
The ESPYs gather top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting leading performers and performances.
"Having the full set of resources Bexel offers to each one of our clients provides them the piece of mind they are looking for when evaluating vendors," says Alan McDonald, senior account executive, Bexel. "Knowing that our goal during pre-production and on-site is to exceed every expectation they have allows us to anticipate and plan for the exceptions."
