When Rogers Sports & Media (RSM) wanted to build new studios that would enable Sportsnet to completely reimagine their approach to traditional hockey broadcast, production and distribution, they turned to Diversified’s team of experts for the consultation and design of two new production control rooms that would drive two new cutting-edge IP-based sports broadcast studios.
Together, Diversified’s Media and Entertainment (M&E) and Toronto-based engineering teams partnered with the RSM Technical Design team to build out the infrastructure, video processing and routing, and display technology based on the SMPTE 2110 IP-routing standard, using an Evertz IP routing to create a futureproof broadcast hub.
“There was no debate [on whether to go IP],” says Pierre Fortin, Vice President, Technology Media and Innovation, Rogers Sports & Media. “The only debate was how to go about it. Do you go multi-vendor and do all that integration yourself, or do you go for a more end-to-end solution stack?”
Ultimately, the new design has brought all of Sportsnet’s hockey operations under the same roof as the rest of its productions, making it one of the largest and most advanced end-to-end IP-based production facilities in North America. Even amid a challenging timeline, a pandemic and global supply chain issues, Diversified leveraged their expertise and resources to keep the project moving, ultimately delivering the completed spaces on time and on budget.
“The timetable for this was very aggressive, and we didn’t have the luxury of making mistakes along the way,” adds Fortin. "We wanted to lean on people who had done this before, so we worked with Diversified as our integrator, and they worked out great.”
In addition to the IP infrastructure, Diversified helped outfit the impressive new broadcast studios with Samsung 1.5mm pixel pitch LED displays in various sizes and configurations along with Samsung large format LCD in 75″ and 98″ sizes including:
“The Sportsnet Studios are for Canada’s sports fans, first and foremost. The investment made in these studios is representative of the way Sportsnet is adapting everything we do to better serve today’s sports fan in the ways they want,” said Bart Yabsley, President, Sportsnet.
The state-of-the-art technology, data capabilities and increased in-broadcast versatility allows the NHL on Sportsnet team to create unprecedented interactive, immersive and innovative content—including virtual and augmented reality offerings—that bring fans into the game day excitement from anywhere.
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