Bexel, a unit of the Vitec Group’s Services Division and a leading worldwide provider of broadcast services and solutions, provided broadcast systems and solutions to TNT for the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. The seventh game of the thrilling series was a ratings record for an NBA game on the network.
Bexel deployed two DiGiCo SD Ten B digital broadcast audio mixing consoles for Turner Sports, enabling fans to get the full courtside experience at home. Bexel also supplied two 24-foot custom trailers outfitted with the DiGiCo consoles to cover the sub-mix positions in both Miami and Indianapolis. The sub-mix trucks picked up about a dozen mics scattered around the basketball court in each arena where the sub-mixer followed the pace of the game to give at-home viewers a real sense of the action.
“Today there are more mics on the court during conference finals than ever before,” notes Helen Carr, key account manager for Bexel’s Eastern region. “In the past, they didn’t mic near the floor or on the rim of the basket, but now fans can hear the swish of the basket, the squeak of sneakers and every dribble of the ball. It adds excitement to hear the game’s natural sounds; viewers can imagine they are right there.”
Bexel began representing DiGiCo for sales and rentals at the beginning of 2013. The manufacturer is well known in the theater and live event markets but branched out to the broadcast world a few years ago. The company has scored a number of television credits, including sub-mixing ESPN’s X Games last year.
“The DiGiCo SD Ten B is a small, powerful console with a great price point and an easily-assignable control surface for making changes on the fly,” says Carr. “They’re great for trucks and ideal for broadcast, especially sporting events. Customers who have seen our demo have been very impressed by the console’s capabilities and feature set, yet find it very economical compared to the competition.”
The SD Ten B boasts 96 channels with full processing (12 of them Flexi Channels), 48 assignable busses that offer multiple configurations, plus a stereo or LCR master buss and 16 x 16 output matrix.
Bexel is no stranger to the NBA. For the last two decades Bexel has been providing video and audio support to Turner Sports for about 40 games from April to June, culminating in the NBA Finals.
This year, among the gear furnished by Bexel, was a dozen Sony super slo-mo cameras with EVS units. “The super slo-mo cameras are not new technology, but this year Turner Sports used twice as many as in 2012,” reports Lee Estroff, vice president of account development at Bexel. “The cameras can go live, like any other camera, but their ability to play back some really great slow-motion action is increasingly in demand.”
“Turner has become the network of record for the NBA Playoffs, and Bexel is proud to be a part of such an ambitious and creative compliment of games during April, May and June,” Estroff added.
Bexel also supported the broadcast of the NBA Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals with equipment and engineering expertise, to bring all the exciting basketball action to fans this season.
