Fox Sports carried the Angels-Rangers game nationally on the second-to-last day of the MLB season, using a month-old production truck from FS Southwest that had an impressive number of bells and whistles.
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The production truck’s first MLB game came in mid-August.
Photos by: COURTESY OF FOX SPORTS (2)
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Once the game ended, an unnamed producer called a top RSN executive to praise the new truck. He said, “For the first time, technology on the regional side has surpassed the technology on the network side.”
“This guy was upset but invigorated by what he had just worked in,” said Mike Connelly, senior vice president and executive producer for Fox Sports Regional Networks. “That was a true compliment. This was my goal. RSNs drive this business.”
Regional sports networks are not known for being hotbeds of technical innovation — something Connelly is trying to change with the new production truck that made its debut in August.
Fox Sports’ group of 22 regional sports networks has started changing out its fleet of production trucks into new ones that have state-of-the-art technology, including more high-tech routers and switchers with high-speed cameras that can handle 4K productions for its MLB, NBA and NHL games — even though cable and satellite operators don’t provide 4K services yet.
The first truck is up and running in Dallas; the next one most likely to be switched out will be in Arizona, Connelly said. Eventually all 22 regionals will be outfitted with a new truck that can handle 4K.
Connelly would not give the cost of the truck, owned by Mobile Television Group, a company in which Fox owns 35 percent. It is outfitted with high-speed cameras from Grass Valley. “The cost wasn’t crazy out of control once you started diving into it,” he said. “The looks, the pictures, the replays — it’s truly a game changer. It has changed calls on the field, just by seeing plays so clearly. It really is a unique piece of equipment.”
The truck’s first game was an Aug. 14 Rays-Rangers game that featured three calls that were overturned — something Connelly credited to the new truck and high-speed cameras that allowed for super-slow-motion replays.
TV production trucks generally last around five to seven years. “When we finance it, it’s amortized at about five years,” Connelly said. “But you want more life out of it than that.”
The new production truck has added a level of quality to Fox’s local MLB productions, more so than its local NBA and NHL productions, Connelly said. That’s because the NBA and NHL use a system of vendor exclusivity and rate cards that Connelly says is 20 years old, which means that Fox Sports has to use outdated technology for games not played with the new truck in Dallas.
“It’s holding back the regional broadcast for the NBA and NHL,” he said. “With baseball, we can do anything we want and economically we can start building these types of trucks.”
