June 7 marked the first broadcast from ESPN’s new purpose-built, 120,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art Digital Center in Bristol, CT, and also the beginning of regular High Definition transmissions of its flagship SportsCenter programme. In the process, the US sports fan benefitted from the same leap of viewing experience as the change from black and white to colour in the 1960s. The new HD SportsCenter programme represents the output of the world’s first fully tapeless integrated digital HD production system.
The broadcast technology behind this feat of engineering is spearheaded by UK company Quantel. The digital production system comprises 6,000 hours of random access storage on 68 Quantel HD broadcast servers and nearly 250 Quantel edit and viewing stations. June 7 is the realization of an incredible 18 months’ partnership between ESPN and Quantel,” says Richard Taylor, Quantel Executive Chairman. “When we first started it was all little more than a gleam in our eyes. Now, Quantel technology and ESPN sports coverage prowess are together creating a revolution. We know that the sports broadcasting industry around the world is watching with bated breath. Soon every major sports broadcaster will be following the trail blazed by ESPN and will go HD,” Taylor concludes.
“Sports coverage on television is about providing fabulous pictures with all the immediacy, drama and stats so loved by the sports fan,” adds Chuck Pagano, ESPN Senior Vice President of Technology, Engineering and Operations. “Our Digital Center allows us to achieve this beautiful stuff in; beautiful stuff out.”