The league is producing its first All-Star with NBC, Intuit Dome, and, once again in-house, NBA TV
With a new broadcast partner, new state-of-the-art arena, and NBA TV back in-house, it’s a particularly noteworthy All-Star Weekend for the NBA’s broadcast-operations team. In addition to its first All-Star working NBC Sports, hosting the festivities at Intuit Dome for the first time, and producing all NBA TV studio programming in L.A., the league is once again handling the world-feed broadcast, in-venue production, and a bevy of ancillary media events throughout the weekend.
“There is definitely a lot of ‘new’ this year, and it’s exciting for everyone here,” says Ken DeGennaro, head of media operations and technology, NBA. “I couldn’t be prouder of the team. The amount of coordination that goes into this — especially with the new partners and the new building — could be overwhelming, but they just constantly deliver time and time again. Our partners, especially NBC in their first year, have been absolutely phenomenal. I think this is definitely one that’s going to stick out [in our memories].”
NBA All-Star is always one of the busiest times of the year for NBA Broadcasting. This year, that effort has included the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and both the NBA x HBCU Classic at the Kia Forum and the NBA Rising Stars game at Intuit Dome on Friday. Then come NBA All-Star Saturday and the main event on Sunday. Throughout the weekend, the league is also covering a multitude of practices, press conferences, and media-availability events, as well as serving the Red Carpet Show and various NBA Digital broadcasts.
“It’s hard to understate just how much we have going on here,” says Dave Barry, head of broadcast operations and engineering, NBA. “And it’s all new this year with NBC, which makes it exciting. Last year was more of a celebration of our longstanding partner with Warner Bros. Discovery, and we had every little detail down pat with our counterparts since we had done it for so long. Now NBC has come in with a lot of new ideas, and we’ve really started fresh, which has been a great experience so far.”
New Broadcasting Chapter: NBC Joins the All-Star Party
For the first time in 24 years, the NBA is working with a new broadcast partner for NBA All-Star Weekend. NBC Sports is producing its first NBA All-Star Game since 2002, and it’s doing it during the busiest month in company history. However, despite producing a Super Bowl and Winter Olympics this month, the league says NBC has given NBA All-Star the attention it deserves.
“The energy that they’ve had has been impressive,” says Paul Benedict, head of broadcasting, NBA. “It’s no joke what they’re trying to pull off in February, but I don’t think we feel at all like we’re being shortchanged. Honestly, we’ve seen only the benefits because it makes the event feel even bigger with everything going on around it. Of course, they are master storytellers and best-in-class in terms of making events feel big and grand anyway, so it has been a great first outing.”
NBC worked closely with the NBA, which has full oversight over Intuit Dome during All-Star Weekend, to coordinate positions for more than 50 cameras, including a Supracam cabled system overhead. In addition, NBC has opted for a lower, more intimate play-by-play position than the traditional game camera.
“They dropped down from the main camera platform and [NBA on NBC Director] Pierre Moossa is going to use that middle-level camera there for a lot of game coverage,” says Benedict. “It’s going to have a shallower and tighter look, and I think it’s going to be great. The flexibility of this building allows us to make those kinds of changes. Plus, the lighting here is absolutely phenomenal, and the halo board is going to be prominently featured [in the broadcast]. It has been great working here.”
For today’s game, NBC has dedicated six cameras to covering the 10 miked players (the broadcaster is deploying Q5X PlayerMics for the first time this weekend). During the NBA Rising Stars game on Friday, NBC had live mics on the four coaches — NBC talent Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Austin Rivers — providing a new level of access for the viewer at home.
“We obviously have been miking players for a long time,” says Benedict, “but it’s the first time for NBC, and they’re very excited about it. It makes [the broadcast] feel more immersive and interactive, and it’s some of the best content we get on All-Star Weekend. I don’t know if there’s another tentpole sporting event that leans as much into the access as All-Star, and it genuinely makes a difference during the show. They’re excited to have fun with that.”
NBC is also leaning into all-access features with its Courtside Live viewing experience on Peacock and the On the Bench feature that is already a signature element in this season’s coverage. For Courtside Live, the NBA has worked with NBC and NEP Specialty Capture for months to find a camera system and position capable of delivering a true courtside-seat perspective to viewers.
“One of the key building designs by Steve Ballmer and the Clippers here was to get as many fans as close to the action as possible,” says Barney Carleton, VP/broadcast strategy leader, NBA. “You see that with all the camera positions as well. We’ve worked with NBC, NEP, and the venue to find some unique positions close to the court. That means not only using the smallest cameras possible but also padding appropriately from a safety perspective. It has been a point of emphasis to give the fans watching at home the same experience as the fans in the building.”
Tying It All Together: A Game of Truck Tetris in the Compound
With NBC Sports’ Stamford, CT, broadcast center fully dedicated to Olympics production this week, NBC has nearly its entire show production onsite. As a result, the NBA has had to be tactful in positioning the army of mobile units at Intuit and the surround areas.
Inside the Intuit Dome broadcast compound, the league worked with NBC and NBA Live Production & Entertainment to fit in seven mobile units: NEP Supershooter 10 and ST 10, Supershooter 4 A/B, and Supershooter 12 and ST 12 and a Live Mobile Group unit for the in-house entertainment show. Supershooter 4 C unit is just outside the arena in the ancillary compound, along with a satellite uplink and several trailers.
In a parking lot down the street are NEP Supershooter 6 and ST 6 (typically part of the NBA on NBC fleet), which are serving the NBA world-feed production. Also there is NEP Alpha mobile unit for NBA TV’s studio production, which is being done as a REMI.
NEP’s TFC (Total Facility Control) system is deployed, connecting the units and bringing it all together.
“There is a lot going on here between NBC, the entertainment show, the world feed, NBA TV, and everything else,” says Barry. “But TFC has made it possible to tie everything together in a much simpler way. In the past, this setup would have been much more [complex], but it’s all functioning as one well-oiled machine, thanks to NEP’s work with TFC.”
Around the Globe: World Feed Serves 200+ Countries, Nine Rightsholders Onsite
This year, the NBA world feed is being distributed to 214 countries and territories in more than 15 languages. As in previous years, the world feed takes the NBC dirty feed and supplements it with its own cameras (a main and a slash) and with individual iso feeds from NBC. The world feed line cut is sent, along with individual audio channels for multiple languages, via the league’s HSAN network to its Secaucus, NJ, broadcast facility. From there, it is distributed to various international partners around the globe.
“When it comes to the world-feed production, we have similar workflow to previous years,” says Francesca Martinelli, broadcast operations international distribution and events, “but we’re always looking for new ways to improve and serve our international partners. As the game continues to grow internationally, they keep improving their productions because they want their fans to get the same [quality of broadcast] that fans are getting here.”
For the first time, the world feed is being produced in 1080p HDR (although it’s being downconverted to SDR internationally) to match NBC’s 1080p HDR broadcast. The show is being produced out of NEP Supershooter 6, which is tied directly into NBC’s trucks via TFC for the first time (in the past, the world feed did not use an NEP mobile unit).
“In the past,” says Eb Tesfalidet, VP/systems engineering and support lead, “we were more on an island and dropped terminal gear to interface with [the domestic broadcaster]. “This year, we use TFC and have mapped out for 64×64 [routing infrastructure] in both directions. That helps a lot from our perspective and streamlines things.”
Broadcast Services International (BSI) is once again supplying onsite commentary services for NBA rightsholders who wish to call the action onsite. This year, nine broadcasters have commentary setups in L.A. (five of them also use a commentary camera in their kit): Tencent China, Migu China, beIN Sports France, Cosmote TV Greece, PSN Mongolia, Docomo JAPAN, Israel Sport5, ESPN International, and HBO Max/TNT Sports ROLA. Each broadcaster is also given an opportunity to host a three-minute pregame segment on the court with a player interview included.
New League-Run Era Takes Center Stage With Live Studio Shows
In addition to welcoming two new rightsholders in NBC Sports and Prime Video this season, the league also brought NBA TV in house after taking over operations from TNT Sports, which had managed the cable channel since 2008.
NBA TV is working with production partner Everwonder Studio in L.A., rolling out a four-camera set in the atrium of Intuit Dome for daily production of flagship show The Association. In addition, a practical set is deployed on the court along with a pre/postgame director’s-chairs setup. Typically produced by Everwonder Studio in Los Angeles, The Association features MJ Acosta-Ruiz, David Fizdale, Rudy Gay, Chris Haynes, John Wall, and contributors. For All-Star Weekend, NBA TV is producing the show as a REMI, deploying NEP Alpha mobile unit and a remote control room at Victory Studio in L.A.
“We now have come full circle,” says NBA VP/Broadcast Operations Lead Anthony Fierro of NBA TV’s return to league-operated status. “It’s just incredible because we’ve all worked so hard and on such short timelines this season, and it’s a great feeling to see it all [on display] here at All-Star. Everybody has pitched in, and it’s gratifying to see not just what we have going on here but what has been accomplished all season with a very small team.”
CLICK HERE for SVG’s full story on NBA TV’s All-Star operations and relaunch this season.
Friday at The Forum: NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and HBCU Classic
The NBA Celebrity Game and NBA HBCU Classic have long been fixtures of NBA All-Star Weekend. This year, though, the two events were condensed into a single day, making for a complicated production-day split between ESPN (Celebrity Game) and NBC (NBA HBCU Classic) productions at the nearby Kia Forum.
The league worked with ESPN to roll out Game Creek Video Spirit mobile unit to serve both shows. ESPN and the NBA also worked with Tencent China to produce an in-language feed and accommodate announcers onsite for the HBCU Classic (available domestically on ESPN2, Peacock, and NBA TV).
“We’ve been meeting for months with NBC and ESPN to collaborate on the best way to share resources,” Justin Akiva, broadcast operations, affiliate leagues and events, NBA, said on Friday. “It’s tricky because there is only a two-hour gap in between the Celebrity Game and the HBCU Classic for the switchover to happen. We ended up deciding to keep ESPN’s below-the-line [crew] the same for both shows and bring in NBC’s above-the-line [crew] for HBCU that night.”
With the First Half in the Books, NBA Looks Toward a Busy Second Half
Looking back over the past year, the NBA’s broadcast-operations team has navigated one of the most transformative periods in recent memory with remarkable success. From initial site surveys at Intuit Dome and broadcast bootcamp sessions with NBC Sports to countless hours of planning and coordination, it has all culminated in this weekend’s All-Star festivities
“When we started mapping this out last spring, there were so many unknowns: new partner, new building, NBA TV coming back in-house,” reflects DeGennaro. “But everyone came to the table willing to innovate and problem-solve together. That’s what makes All-Star special, and we’re excited to see what’s ahead the second half of the season and into the playoffs.”