Sportsnet launches IP-based facility, new studios

Canadian sports network Sportsnet has launched its new broadcast facility and studio ahead of this year’s NHL season. 

The move relocates Sportsnet’s hockey coverage from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, where it had utilized Studio 41 and 42 since 2014, to the Rogers Campus in Toronto. 

Former ground-floor retail space has been transformed and renovated to create Sportsnet Studios, which includes multiple studios, control rooms and support spaces in a fully IP-based production environment. 

New features and capabilities include:

  • Virtual reality set extensions with larger-than-life views of “Sportsnet Stadium” 
  • Augmented reality for more dynamic storytelling
  • Data capabilities for in-broadcast statistics, graphics and content 
  • Versatile physical studio space with multiple LED video walls

“The investment made in these studios is representative of the way Sportsnet is adapting everything we do to better serve today’s sports fan in the ways the want,” said Bart Yabsley, president, Sportsnet, in a statement. 

“As our NHL on Sportsnet broadcast team unites under one roof with access to the most current technology on the market, we are leveraging our exclusive access to the NHL’s brightest stars to create content in ways not seen before in North America. We are pushing the envelope in sports broadcast technology for NHL fans and continue to set the bar in the Canadian media landscape evolution.”

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The two studios, totaling nearly 6,400 square feet of production space, were designed by Artform and will serve a variety of productions and sports at the network beyond NHL season. 

Studio 31 and Studio 32 include: 

  • 22 set monitors delivering 1200 square feet of visible surface area in-broadcast
  • Augmented reality and virtual set capabilities, driven by the Unreal Engine
  • The “Cove” centerpiece – a 50 foot curved, floor-to-ceiling LED wall
  • Adjustable main studio desks equipped with end-to-end LED graphics displays
  • 250 energy-efficient LED broadcast lighting fixtures
  • 13 studio cameras
  • Two IP-based production control rooms equipped with the latest multi-ME production switchers
  • 50,000 feet of video cables, 75,000 feet of network cables and 55,000 feet of audio cables.

Along with the new facility, Sportsnet will also debut new motion graphics for the NHL season.