Supercharging NHL storytelling at Rogers Sportsnet Studios

As the national cable rights holders of the National Hockey League in Canada, Sportsnet delivers extensive coverage of the sport through several different programs, including the broadcast of games, highlights and in-depth analysis on the iconic Hockey Night in Canada program.

In addition to their Hockey coverage, Sportsnet is a specialty channel that broadcasts a wide range of content including professional baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, curling, and the summer and winter Olympics.

They aimed to build two new studio sets in downtown Toronto featuring state-of-the-art technology, enhanced data capabilities, and increased in-broadcast versatility, to enable the NHL on Sportsnet team to produce more interactive, immersive, and innovative content for viewers.

To achieve this, Sportsnet selected Ross Video’s XPression Tessera solution, which delivers adaptive graphics to all 22 LED displays within the studio, including the impressive 50-ft. curved, floor-to-ceiling LED wall known as “The Cove.”

XPression Tessera, a trusted solution used in prominent sports venues worldwide, empowers production teams to deliver pixel-accurate content to large LED displays. The system’s flexibility gives the Sportsnet team unparalleled storytelling capabilities, allowing them to feed a huge range of stats, betting information, player and puck tracking data to their displays, all in real-time.

The newly revamped studio environment incorporates several unique applications of the Tessera system, including:

• Adaptive matchup templates: These templates are custom-built to perfectly fit the different displays in the studio. With just one click, the production team can seamlessly transition between a matchup layout showcasing the playing teams and the game’s up-to-the-minute start time, to a dynamic score display that syncs with the clock, period, and live scores.
• Frame-accurate synchronization: Tessera’s advanced mechanism allows content to be changed on individual displays or on several displays simultaneously, ensuring flawless coordination between different visual elements.
• XPression Incoder for transcoding and transporting media: The Sportsnet art department’s media is efficiently transcoded and transported to the LED control system using XPression Incoder. This system’s capability to monitor files uploaded by on-premises and remote artists proved to be a crucial workflow consideration during deployment, enabling Sportsnet to support today’s hybrid workplace reality without compromising production value.

Sportsnet’s vision of transforming hockey broadcasts has been achieved through the integration of Ross Video’s XPression Tessera solution.

Learn More

To discover how Ross solutions are helping sports broadcasters tell a more compelling story for fans, visit rossvideo.com/sports-broadcast

*Photos courtesy of Sports Video Group