ESPN Taking More Hands-On Approach To British Open Production

ESPN at 4:30am ET began its live coverage of the British Open from Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and the net "has taken greater control of the production rather than relying chiefly on the BBC feed." Roughly "90 cameras will blanket the course, and about 40 of those will belong to ESPN." ESPN VP/Production Mike McQuade said that he will use images from the BBC's coverage "'as a resource' to supplement ESPN's coverage." ESPN's new graphics features include "Virtual Aerial," which will "show an aerial view of wind direction" (GOLFWEEK.com, 7/15).

McQuade: "The one area where we want to continue to get better is sometimes the weather becomes so bad ... (and) you don't sense how bad it is because most of the commentators by and large are in a booth with the windows closed" (WASHINGTONEXAMINER.com, 7/18).