ESPN’s ‘Live From Home’ efforts keep the content factory churning

At-home studios, remote commentary kits, and ViBox REMI workflows have played key roles

When the coronavirus pandemic brought the sports world to an abrupt halt two months ago, ESPN quickly formed a ‘Live From Home’ committee to evaluate options that would allow on-air talent and crew to produce live studio shows from the safety of their own homes.

ESPN MLB analyst Eduardo Perez prepares for a KBO telecast using the a remote commentary system at his home (credit: Eduardo Perez/ESPN)

In the months since, efforts by the committee — led by the Remote Operations department and comprising 30+ staffers from several ESPN departments — have resulted in the launch of more than 60 at-home studios for talent, five remote-commentary kits for live KBO League (Korean Baseball Association) telecasts, and a full REMI production workflow for several ESPN studio shows.

“Obviously, we all continue to plan for live sports to return,” says Chris Calcinari, SVP, remote operations, ESPN. “We’re on calls every day with our production partners and our league partners trying to work through scenarios and plans to come back once it’s safe to hold sporting events. But, in the meantime, we’ve been keeping busy coming up with homegrown, innovative solutions that allow our production teams to work from home. And we believe these innovations will prove to be extremely valuable once live sports return.”

Read the full story here on SVG USA.