SimplyLive ViBox All-In-One Production System Serves Tennis Channel

As the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the ATP Tours are returning back to the tennis court, the audience is not. You won't miss out on the action though because the Tennis Channel is bringing live sports back. The Tennis Channel has been busy during the pandemic. They produced five U.S tournaments and have hundreds of hours of live coverage from around the world. With the help of the SimplyLive ViBox the Tennis Channel was able to produce the first WTA sanctioned event in the U.S, the WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington KY, since the pandemic shut down sports in March. The Tennis Channel can take the title of being one of the first networks to come back with live sports. 

"We took great pride in being one of the very first networks to come back with live sports. We never put the ‘gone fishing’ sign up. We have done five remotes since [the pandemic began], and we’re happy with that accomplishment. If we weren’t producing live tennis on our own, we took in live world feeds from Europe. And, if we weren’t doing that, then we had a live studio show where we incorporated some of our talent in studio and other talent via Skype.”
Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel. 

The Tennis Channel was being extra cautious when producting the WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington, KY. The network had a smaller onsite crew. Usually the crew would be 50-60 people, now they have only 22 people making the show happen. Instead of a 53-footer, they are working out of a Gravity Media's Polaris midsize mobile unit. The Polaris is built around a 16-channel SimplyLive ViBox all-in-one production system. They were able to limit the size of the crew on site because of their Los Angeles production facility. Back in L.A. the production team used a control room to supplement the feed with graphics, studio inserts, match commentary, and more!

“[The SimplyLive ViBox] takes a little bit of getting used to because it’s relatively new technology, but it has worked out great so far. Our operators in there have been doing a great job, and it’s accomplishing exactly what we need to accomplish, which is a nice, clean world feed.”'
Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel. 

The Tennis Channel is preparing for the real "Super Bowl" of tennis, the French Open. The French Open will be taking place for the first time in the United States at the end of September. Whyley and his team are excited for the French Open and know they're ready for it!

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