Live from the US Open: Sky Sports UK delivers HDR to viewers and expands presence across the grounds

It’s year two for the Sky Sports UK team at the US Open and James Thomas, Sky Sports tennis production manager (pictured, above), says the big changes are delivering the event in HDR as well as expanding the team’s ability to roam the grounds.

“We are on a more robust RF network so we can roam the Tennis Centre and be in and amongst the event,” says Thomas.

“We want to get close to the action and we have a bit more kit to help us do that this year. We are always looking to grow and innovate our production and next year we’ll probably look to evolve even more.”

Thomas says Sky UK has a large remote production crew of about 40 people on site, and a remote team back in the UK of about 20 people.

At the centre of the coverage is the main presentation stage on the Plaza, right next to ESPN. There is a three-camera set up, including a jib that is tied to a Hawkeye AR system and a PTZ camera which integrates AR graphics into the show.

Sky UK also has two roaming RF Sony cameras (one an FX6 and the other an FX9) giving the production team the ability to have the presentation team at the Plaza to throw to other courts.

“Our Sky Sport tennis team very much wanted to be out and amongst the US Open,” adds Thomas who says a phone on a gimble running the LiveU Central app is in use by Sky talent who are in the ‘whisper’ position in the lower bowl of Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“We are connecting that to WiFi and that enables us to get as close to the action as possible as we can flip the phone between [the talent or guest] and the players on the court,” he adds.

As for roaming the grounds, Thomas says the USTA has been great in letting the production team cover the event from numerous locations.

“I don’t think we’ve used the same location twice so far and it’s really good that we’re able to do so much,” he explains. “There are a lot of fans here as well, which is a little bit tricky at times but the areas that we can go to and the vast scale of it all is really good.”

Commentary is done from two booths alongside each other at the top of Arthur Ashe stadium. There are also commentary cameras as well as the ability to have talk back with the core production team back in Sky Studios in Osterley. Five LiveU units send court and switchable feeds back to the team in Osterley.

“We are sending all the feeds back and everything is cut from Sky Studios in a production gallery,” says Thomas. “We have two main channels showing tennis: Sky Sport Tennis and Sky Sport Plus with Plus offering all the court feeds on the red button.”

The Sky Sports UK team is also working closely with Sky Sports Deutschland, which is also on site. The team from Germany is working closely with Sky UK and share some onsite facilities.

“They also get all of our feeds via Sky MCR London,” adds Thomas.

Sky Sports UK also has a presence in the USTA Broadcast Centre. It is there where all of the court feeds are monitored and this year the Hawkeye AR team is working onsite. There is also a local analysis paint system, an EVS IP director for clips, and more.

Read more Live From the US Open: USTA makes leap to HDR; rights holders expand presence across grounds

With respect to the HDR feed, Sky Sports operational technical specialist Jonathan Craggs says the camera all arrive in London in HDR with the exception of the small commentary POV cameras. The RF cameras capture the colour of the tournament in full rec. 2020 colour space.

“We use the BBC LUT because we have been involved with them from an early stage and this year, we are also sticking to the native 1080p signal [the USTA provides],” he adds. “We do a lot of HDR back home for football, cricket, and F1, so this is a bit business usual for us.”