Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

MLB 2022: ESPN To Debut New K-Zone 3D+' Replays, Leverage Multiple REMI Models in First Year of New Rights Deal

07/04/2022

MLB 2022: ESPN To Debut New K-Zone 3D ' Replays, Leverage Multiple REMI Models in First Year of New Rights Deal Both main and Kay-Rod' SNB Broadcasts will be produced out of Bristol PCRs this year By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Thursday, April 7, 2022 - 4:03 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

In its first year of a new MLB rights extension, ESPN is bringing a whole new strategy that puts the focus squarely on Sunday Night Baseball. With 25 exclusive Sunday Night Baseball games (as well as five additional exclusive windows throughout the year plus the new MLB Wild Card series), ESPN is pulling out all the production stops. This includes a host of new and improved production technologies and, of course, the much-hyped Kay-Rod alternate broadcast featuring Alex Rodriguez and Michael Kay in the booth for eight SNB games.

Although ESPN will serve as the exclusive home of tonight's Braves-Reds MLB Opening Night Thursday telecast, the network's days of presenting weekday baseball on linear TV are now in the rearview (though plenty of MLB games will still stream on ESPN ). With that in mind, ESPN plans to use new content offerings like the Kay-Rod simulcast and new technology like K-Zone 3D pitch-tracking and ESPN Multiview synced-camera view to make Sunday Night Baseball feel more epic than ever for viewers.

We are really excited to be back this year with a robust baseball coverage plan and a chance to grow the product with some unique new ideas and lots of new technology, says Phil Orlins, ESPN's senior coordinating producer for MLB. We are looking how to optimize everything we can get out of Sunday, meaning not only technology, but also how we can add from a programming standpoint. And the Kay-Rod [alternate broadcast] is a great example of that.

Stay tuned to SVG tomorrow for our full in-depth piece on ESPN's production plans for Kay-Rod broadcasts this year.

K-Zone 3D : Pitch Tracking for the Modern Age Since its debut in 2015, K-Zone 3D have become a staple of ESPN's MLB coverage and these graphic replays can now be turned around in a matter of seconds. This year, ESPN is kicking it up a notch with K-Zone 3D , which compares every single pitch in the game to the Major league average for spin, vertical drop, horizontal drop and other key Statcast metrics.

https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/kz3d_2022_04_03.mp4-720p.mp4

This is the biggest evolutionary change in our K-Zone in a long time and we've been wanting to do it for quite a while, says Orlins. We feel it adds a whole new layer to our [broadcasts].

Based on MLB Statcast tracking data, K-Zone 3D was developed by the Media Technology team at DMED (Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution) and was spearheaded by Christiaan Cokas, Brian Rooney, Jeffrey Bradshaw, Griffin Rhodes. Since the system is fully automated, Orlins says K-Zone 3D segments can be turned around roughly five seconds and can be inserted almost immediately into the broadcast for any given pitch.

The complexity of what we're showing here and yet the limited amount of clutter that's actually on the screen is absolutely amazing. I think the average fan will pretty easily understand it. We spent a lot of time cutting out all the extra [information] and making sure that every visual component on the screen enhances the viewer understanding.

In the near-term, Orlins believe K-Zone 3d will be provide a valuable new tool for ESPN's analysts in the booth, especially new arrival and pitching guru David Cone.

ESPN Multiview': Quick-Turnaround Multi-Angle Looks at Close Plays In addition to K-Zone 3D , ESPN is debuting a new feature called ESPN Multiview that features up to four synced cameras on-screen at the same time in split-view. This will allow multi-angle review of close plays in a matter of seconds. In order to pull it off, ESPN brings all camera feeds into its Evertz DreamCatcher replay system, synchronizes them, and then displays them in two-, three-, or four-box on-screen layouts that can be turned around as quickly as 10 seconds.

It's actually a pretty simple concept, but think it's going to have a huge impact, says Orlins. We've been messing around with this for a long and we finally just turned it over to the DreamCatcher room and they built out a plan for it. It provides an entirely new experience for something as simple as a close play at first base or a game-changing play like a play at the plate. For a huge play like in last year's AL Wild Card game where Bogarts threw Judge out at home, this would've been a very powerful tool to be able to have so quickly after the play. We've done this kind of thing before of course, but always an inning or more later; now we can do it in seconds.

Next-Gen Graphics: Defensive Shift Virtual Animations, Pitch Sequences, and Win Probability Charts ESPN will also be more aggressive in deploying virtual real-time animation graphics to illustrate defensive shifts in the field. Using MLB Statcast data, ESPN can translate the positioning of the infielders and base runners into graphic overlays that will be used even more frequently than before in its MLB broadcasts.

We're going to use these animation graphics way more aggressively than anyone ever has, says Orlins. We won't leave it up necessarily when the ball is in play, but I would expect it to be used for every batter of the game - both during pitches and between pitches - to see where they're playing defensively.

Other key analytical elements in ESPN's broadcast this year will include the return of pitch sequences for most batters, as well as Win Probability chart graphics that show the momentum of the game and the significance of big plays on the possible outcome of the game.

Big Game Feel for SNB: More Supe
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/04/07/mlb-2022-espn-to-debut-new-k-zo...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

13/03/2025

You Will Leave Opus Singing the Original Bops Performed by John Malkovich

(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...

13/03/2025

How Spotify Is Driving Growth, Discovery, and Innovation in the Audiobook Market

Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...

13/03/2025

Spotify Audiobooks Launches a New Publishing Program for Independent Authors

At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...

13/03/2025

Evolving EO/IR Technology For All-Domain Airborne Law Enforcement

Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Jamie McCombs, Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio

Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...

13/03/2025

Craft Interview: Paul Sandweiss, Production Sound Mixer/Audio Director

On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...

13/03/2025

Riedel To Showcase New StageLink Smart Edge Devices At 2025 NAB Show

WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...

13/03/2025

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring for VOS360 Streaming Workflows at the 2025 NAB Show

TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...

13/03/2025

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage Platform that Empowers Video Teams to Scale Effortlessly

DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...

13/03/2025

Ajit Pai Appointed President of CTIA

CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...

13/03/2025

NAB: FCC's 60 Minutes Investigation Is Unconstitutional, Invalid

he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...

13/03/2025

CBS Miami to Launch AR Coverage of Weather and Sports for March Madness

MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...

13/03/2025

Meet the co-founder and chief customer success & innovation officer

Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...

13/03/2025

FCC Chairman Carr Launches Massive Deregulation Initiative

WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...

13/03/2025

SDVI Integrates Rally With Spectra Vail

SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...

13/03/2025

FCC Approves Gray's Acquisition of KXLT

ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...

13/03/2025

NAB Show 2025 Exhibitor Insight: Blackmagic Design

TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...

13/03/2025

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice

Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions. ...

13/03/2025

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content

Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...

13/03/2025

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew Cross

Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...

13/03/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size on Completing Customizable Studios for All Clients

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...

13/03/2025

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036; Add Digital Projects, Initiatives

IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...

13/03/2025

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical Video Feed, Mascot Mode, and Popular Boss Button

NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...

13/03/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive Experience for Daytona, The PLAYERS, and March Madness

SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...

13/03/2025

Sky Business Launches Cloud Voice A New Cloud Communication Solution for UK Businesses

Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...

13/03/2025

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark for F band applications

Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...

13/03/2025

The ICG Marketing Survey 2025

We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey. Our 2025 survey p...

13/03/2025

Harmonic Amps Up Video Streaming Efficiency with New Origin Capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...

13/03/2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025

Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025 Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...

13/03/2025

FOR-A America Theme Connecting the Present, Building the Future Comes to Life at NAB 2025 Exhibition

Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...

13/03/2025

2025-03-13

A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...

13/03/2025

Italia 90 Republic of Ireland Squad, Riverdance, Cian Ducrot & B*Witched on Friday's Late Late Show

Here is your host, Patrick Kielty! Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...

13/03/2025

RT Celebrating all things Irish this St. Patrick's Weekend

This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...

13/03/2025

GTC 2025 - Announcements and Live Updates

What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...

13/03/2025

T-Mobile, Thales and SIMPL ease IoT deployments with a flexible and secure connectivity solution

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...

13/03/2025

Relive the Magic as GeForce NOW Brings More Blizzard Gaming to the Cloud

Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library. Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...

13/03/2025

Gaming Goodness: NVIDIA Reveals Latest Neural Rendering and AI Advancements Supercharging Game Development at GDC 2025

AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...

13/03/2025

Drop It Like It's Mod: Breathing New Life Into Classic Games With AI in NVIDIA RTX Remix

PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...

12/03/2025

Como o Impacto Cultural e Financeiro da Indstria Musical Define Seu Sucesso em 2025

O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...

12/03/2025

Cmo el impacto cultural y financiero de la industria musical define su xito en 2025

Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...

12/03/2025

Nourish Mind, Body, and Soul This Ramadan With Spotify

Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...

12/03/2025

How the Music Industry's Cultural and Financial Impact Define Its Success in 2025

Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...

12/03/2025

FAST now transcends back catalog content

More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...

12/03/2025

Viamedia Adopts ShowSeeker Pilot To Streamline Ad Workflows

GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...

12/03/2025

Mediagenix Appoints Wael Yasin as Sales Director Central Europe

BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....

12/03/2025

Omdia: Global Online Consumer Expenditure to Hit $6.6 Trillion by 2029

LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...

12/03/2025

Comcast Technology Solutions Upgrades to Interra Systems BATON Version 9

CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....

12/03/2025

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering

Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments High-capacity switch enhances existi...

12/03/2025

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol

DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol Brie Clayton March 12, 2025 0 Comments Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...