Remote integration model

Remote integration model, also known as REMI and at-home production, is a method of live production for television broadcasts and video distribution that transmits live feeds to a single centralized production facility or workflow for integration into a finished feed, which is then distributed to broadcasters.

Initially developed as a less staff- and equipment-intensive alternative to on-site production of live sports events using production trucks or local studios, REMI grew in popularity in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television, which required heavily isolated remote work. However, the practice — particularly in live sports productions — is subject to criticism for the compromises in image quality, stability, and the detachment of commentators and producers operating sometimes thousands of miles from the events they're covering.[1][2]

History

NBC Sports deployed a remote production workflow for the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were hosted in Atlanta, Georgia. To reduce the amount of on-site staff needed to cover all events, producers instead had taped and time-shifted footage transmitted from events to a single centralized production facility at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City nicknamed the "virtual International Broadcast Center", allowing on-site producers to focus on live broadcasts.[3][4] NBC continued the practice in subsequent Olympic Games,[5] and in 2013 established a permanent remote International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Connecticut.[4][5]

Early REMI productions relied on high-bandwidth T1 lines and grew into higher-speed connections and IP routing capabilities as they became available, in order to accommodate increases in broadcast display resolution and the number of cameras in use.[5]

Alongside the growth of in-house REMI studios, independent remote-production service providers expanded into providing full REMI services and commentary on contract to other events and leagues. For example, VISTA Worldlink, which had engaged in global-commentary rebroadcasts of Major League Soccer (MLS) and CONCACAF matches, expanded into providing full REMI services and commentary on contract to United Soccer League competitions,[6] National Women's Soccer League (NWSL),[1] the U.S. Open Cup,[7] and MLS.[2]

Lowering production costs

Sports leagues with smaller broadcast budgets began deploying REMI productions to allow for more live-broadcast and livestreamed matches. For example, with A+E as a broadcast partner in 2016, the National Women's Soccer League produced match livestreams using REMI practices with budgets as small as $10,000 per match, compared to $50,000 to $100,000 for television broadcasts using a production truck.[1][8] The Premier Hockey Federation used REMI production to expand its match availability to its full season and produce its first linear television broadcasts.[9] NASCAR consolidated its remote production to a studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2019 where it produced 30 events remotely.[10]

Use during the COVID-19 pandemic

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television forced live event coverage to adapt to strict rules on isolation. Entities already using REMI methods were able to return to broadcasting events since most production staff and commentators already operated in remote, isolated facilities.[11]

Isolation measures required to control the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 also led live television production companies to adopt REMI practices in sports and fields that previously had not deployed them. For example, NBC used practices from its Olympics coverage to produce college football broadcasts that had traditionally relied on extensive on-site production.[4][12] ESPN migrated National Basketball Association coverage to REMI productions based in Bristol, Connecticut, continuing into the 2021–22 NBA season.[13] The 47th Daytime Emmy Awards in 2020 adapted to REMI production after the in-person ceremony was cancelled.[14]

Methods

In traditional remote broadcast production, multiple cameras routed to a vision mixer and microphones routed to a mixing console, operated by a technical director receiving orders from a director in an on-site studio or production truck. A REMI workflow instead routes camera and audio feeds via dedicated fiber optic, communications satellite, or facility or cellular internet connections to a remote production center. Such consolidation allows one production staff and set of equipment to produce multiple events, in sequence or simultaneously, without traveling, setting up, and tearing down production equipment between events.[3][15] For simple one-camera productions, only a single on-site camera operator might be necessary.[16]

This workflow also allows commentators to call events from the live feeds without being on-site.[17][18] For example, all NBC Sports commentary of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing was done remotely.[19]

REMI production methods can be further streamlined by use of cloud computing production tools, further eliminating part or all of the centralized production facility. BT Sport engaged a test of such a cloud-based workflow for a UEFA Youth League match using aggregated cellular links and local broadband to also eliminate the need for dedicated transport connections.[20]

Drawbacks and criticism

REMI productions rely on IP transport from the venue to the remote production facility, which can be subject to outages if redundant transport methods aren't available on-site. Failures can result in compression artifacts or outages, which can affect the collection of sports analytics data and social media coverage of live events.[21] Players in the NWSL complained when match footage was unavailable for review, or when camera angles weren't available to review goals or important plays.[1]

Tight budgets facilitated by REMI production can result in low-quality productions that doesn't meet viewers' expectations,[1][2][22] leading to organizers being forced to increase spending on equipment and on-site staff to compensate.[23][18][24]

Off-site commentators are limited to what cameras and microphones can record and can be tasked with calling several consecutive games per day, leading to facutal errors, omissions, and mischaracterizations of an event's atmosphere.[1][18][25][26] On-site staff can be subject to communications latency from off-site producers.[16] Commentary can become sufficiently delayed from live events to be recognized by viewers.[27][28] Viewers can also recognize attempts to make commentators sound or appear to be reporting live from an event when they're remote.[29]

See also

References
  1. Strauss, Ben (July 27, 2021). "As NWSL gets more airtime, broadcasts struggle to keep pace". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  2. Harris, Christopher (March 5, 2023). "FOX's MLS coverage is so bad in contrast to MLS Season Pass". World Soccer Talk. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  3. The Remote Video Production Handbook: How To Get Started in Remote Production (Report). TVU Networks. March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  4. Mazza, David (December 7, 2020). "David Mazza". tvtech (Interview). Interviewed by Gary Arlen. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  5. Hallinger, Mark (February 5, 2018). "Live From PyeongChang". tvtech. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  6. Murray, Nicholas (January 29, 2017). "VISTA, USL Productions Form Cutting-Edge Initiative" (Press release). United Soccer League. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  7. Costa, Brandon (September 6, 2022). "After Year of REMI Productions, VISTA Worldlink Brings Strong Onsite Effort to Orlando for Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final". Sports Video Group News. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  8. Taking Advantage of Sports' Fastest-Growing Opportunity: Women’s Sports on TV. MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (Report). December 14, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  9. Dachman, Jason (March 25, 2022). "Premier Hockey Federation, VISTA Beef Up Production Complement for Isobel Cup Playoffs on ESPN+, ESPN2". Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  10. Grotticelli, Michael (March 1, 2019). "Server-Based "At Home" Workflows Provide Efficiency For NASCAR Productions". The Broadcast Bridge. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  11. Dachman, Jason (June 30, 2020). "NWSL Makes Broadcast-Network Debut on CBS With Full REMI Workflow". Sports Video Group News. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  12. "Remote learning: Broadcast teams 'remi'-nisce about new trick of their trade". Sports Business Journal. November 23, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  13. Hernández, Kristian (October 19, 2021). "NBA Tipoff 2021: ESPN To Deploy Onsite Talent, REMI Integration for Coverage of League's 75th Season". Sports Video Group News. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  14. Schneider, Michael (April 29, 2020). "Daytime Emmys Go Remote as NATAS Cancels In-Person Award Ceremonies". Variety. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  15. Dickson, Glen (September 8, 2022). "5G Production Gains Traction". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  16. Soseman, Ned (August 11, 2022). "REMI On A Budget - A Remote Switching Paradigm Shift". The Broadcast Bridge. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  17. Bucholtz, Andrew (April 25, 2018). "Four of Fox's six World Cup crews will call matches from LA studios, eight of 12 commentators will be American". Awful Announcing. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  18. yang, Stephanie (June 8, 2018). "NWSL livestream commentary is a work in progress". Black & Red United. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  19. Bucholtz, Andrew (January 19, 2022). "All NBC event announcing teams for the 2022 Beijing Olympics will be calling events remotely from Connecticut". Awful Announcing. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  20. Priestly, Jenny (October 28, 2022). "BT Sport completes PoC cloud-based live broadcast". TVBEurope. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  21. Azzi, Alex (April 16, 2023). "Technical difficulties impact NWSL games on Paramount+". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  22. Carlisle, André (April 19, 2023). "NWSL broadcast issues continue to hurt the league". Gaming Society. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  23. Yanchulis, Kate (July 13, 2022). "NWSL plans streaming upgrades starting in August". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  24. Strauss, Ben (April 26, 2022). "Nationals, Orioles announcers will travel with teams as MASN reverses course". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  25. Lucia, Joe (October 31, 2022). "Utah's Kyle Whittingham cites remote broadcast as a reason for Cam Rising confusion with Fox". Awful Announcing. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  26. Sprung, Shlomo (April 1, 2021). "MLB during the pandemic: Announcers describe calling games during 2020 COVID season and possible permanent changes". Awful Announcing. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  27. Strauss, Ben (April 23, 2022). "Some MLB broadcasters still aren't back on the road. Viewers notice". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  28. Brown, Mark (April 21, 2022). "Thursday Bird Droppings: Send the Orioles broadcasters on the road already". Camden Chat. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  29. Bucholtz, Andrew (January 27, 2023). "Chris Fowler's remote broadcast honesty is much appreciated". Awful Announcing. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
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