By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
Always looking to push the broadcast technology frontier, the NBA used cell phones exclusively to broadcast the Atlanta Hawks-Washington Wizards game during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon in what is the first NBA smartphone-only telecast.
LVSportsBiz.com chatted with NBA media ops and tech chief Steve Hellmuth before the Hawks-Wizards game to learn the NBA deployed six S10 Samsung cell phones and used the AT&T 5G video network to send the footage to a production truck sitting outside of UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.
“We experimented yesterday with it and we know it works,” Hellmuth, NBA executive vice president for media operations & technology, told LVSportsBiz.com Thursday. “You literally have the best seat in the house for the entire game. It’s a first in broadcast history.”
Jeff Curtin, Portland Trail Blazers director of broadcast & content, directed the cellphone game after scouting Thomas & Mack for the best phone locations. Two workers were stationed with cellphones just outside the corners of the court and another two at the baseline.
Curtin noted he used all six of the cellphone camera feeds because the “ball is flying all around the court.”
A cellphone cameraman told LVSportsBiz.com, “It was fun, different. You have to stay wide all the time.”
Here’s our extended interview with Hellmuth on the cellphone broadcast that was live for fans on the ESPN App, internationally on NBA League Pass and on NBA TV Canada.
This NBA “Smartphone View” included courtside views, customized graphics, interviews, in-arena elements and fan interaction. The broadcast strategy was to give the TV fan a courtside seat to an NBA game, Hellmuth said.
“It’s a great challenge for myself as a director,” Curtin said. “I had to re-think how to bring a second screen experience into the game.”
No traditional TV broadcast cameras was used for the game, which ended with the Wizards defeating the Hawks, 76-71, after the 3:30 p.m. local Las Vegas start.
Before the game, Hellmuth looked toward the ceiling of Thomas & Mack Center and pointed to two boxes mounted on poles that contain Ericsson antennas for the transmission of the video footage.
LVSportsBiz.com also met with Dave Macdonald, AT&T’s executive strategy director who said all the partners worked together to pull off the historic broadcast that came together in the last month.
Macdonald said the broadcast integration could be used for other entertainment events like music festivals where people might pay a fee to watch the broadcast. It’s still early in the process, he noted, and thought the cellphone broadcast was comparable to a regular broadcast transmitted via conventional cameras.
LVSportsBiz.com reported earlier in the week on the NBA using sensors above the rim for timeclock purposes and new cameras for broadcasts.
The NBA likes to use the NBA Summer League tinker and experiment with broadcast innovation and technology ideas.
“There’s definitely a future with the cellphone broadcast,” said Curtin, the director.
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