NFL drafts Glowpoint, Sony for draft coverage

The NFL Network will rely on IPTV for its NFL draft coverage on April 28 and 30 as it uses the low-costs transmission method to connect its facility in Culver City, CA with 32 Sony teleconferencing systems at every NFL team location and Radio City Music Hall where this year’s draft will be held.

Sony will provide the cameras and teleconferencing technology at the team facilities while Glowpoint will provide the backhaul communications over T1 lines. The advantage? The NFL will be able to switch from one location to the next at the flip of a switch and without relying on satellite or fiber transmission. The system can switch from one team to the next in about 20 seconds and doesn’t require a larger complement of engineers to run it. Transmission speeds can reach up to 1.544 Mbps.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Glowpoint has been selected to broadcast the draft on national cable TV and the first time Glowpoint will be used by NFL Network for draft coverage. The Glowpoint network will be used to carry live interviews from 32 team headquarters across the country throughout the two days of ongoing television coverage. Team representatives will connect to Glowpoint’s IP-based video communications network and, at various times during the broadcast, on-air personalities will place live video calls to solicit and broadcast pick-by-pick reactions from team coaches, players and other key personnel.

“It’s simple, Glowpoint has consistently performed for us in delivering live two-way video feeds between our NFL Network Studios and the NFL team sites,” says Glenn Adamo, Vice President of Media Operations at the NFL. “And this year, we’re taking our draft programming further by leveraging the Team Cam to include team reactions during our live draft coverage.”

The NFL installed the Team Cams last year and used them during the course of the season for player and coach interviews. The cameras are located in a quiet corner of each NFL team facility (and even a couple of practice facilities) and provide an always-available link that can send live audio and video between facilities and back to Los Angeles.

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