ESPNews HD Eyes March 30 Launch
George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 3/19/2008 3:54:00 AM EDT
ESPN has built a new production control room and studio for the launch of ESPNews HD on March 30, the fifth anniversary of the launch of the programmer’s first high-definition channel, ESPN HD.
While the standard-definition and HD versions of the channel will be produced from the new studio and production, ESPNews HD marks the first time that ESPN has launched an HD channel that is not a simulcast of an existing channel, said Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic planning and business development at the programmer.
ESPNews HD will debut a new HD Sideline graphic system that will provide viewers with a wide variety of data, information, artwork and clips not available on the standard-def version.
“Through the magic of our engineering folks, the bottom line is that the consumer will get more sports news on the HD channel than is now available on standard def,” Burns said.
While the separate feed for ESPNews HD gives the programmer the theoretical option of offering separate ads in on the standard- and high-definition feeds, Burns says there are no immediate plans to sell different spots in each of the services.
The SD channel ESPNews currently has 63 million subscribers. ESPNews HD will reach about 3.2 million homes at launch, a figure expected to grow to about 8 million at the end of the year.
To capitalize on that growing demand for HD content, The Walt Disney Co. will also launch Disney Channel HD, Toon Disney HD and ABC Family HD on March 30. In April, ESPN will launch ESPN Australia HD and on August 28, ESPNU HD.
“It shows the importance HD,” Burns said. “From a technical stand point, everything we do is going that way.”
To prepare for ESPNews HD’s launch, the company built a new production control room in its Digital Center and a new studio at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., operations, according to ESPN vice president of technology and engineering Mitch Rymanowski.
ESPN executives declined to discuss specific vendors that supplied equipment and services for the project.
But Mark Schumacher, media systems engineer at ESPN noted the new studio “pretty much mimics the technology that they had been using [in other HD productions]” making it easier for operators to use and service the equipment.
The new studio has six cameras. Two research areas are located behind the talent desks, allow producers to feed announcers the latest scores, highlights and other information as quickly as possible.
To prepare for the growth in HD content and the opening of a new facility next to the Staples Center in Los Angeles in 2009, ESPN is also building a private optical network to transport signals between the West and East Coasts, said Emory Strilkauskas, associate director of media transmission technology and special project.
Parts of the 10-Gigabyte network already connect points in New York City and Bristol and engineers will begin testing the connection to L.A. in November.
“It will prepare us for the opening of the L.A. facility and future application” Strilkauskas said. Transport by fiber provides “better quality than satellite at a better price point.”
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