CSVS Advisory Committee Q&A: Patty Power, SVP, Operations, CBS College Sports Network

In anticipation of the inaugural College Sports Video Summit (CSVS) to be held June 9-10 in Atlanta, the Sports Video Group has assembled a seasoned advisory committee that includes some of the game-changers in the business and technology behind college-sports broadcasting. Each week leading up to the event, College Sports Video Insider is featuring an interview with a member of the College Sports Video Summit Advisory Committee. This week, Patty Power, SVP of operations for the CBS College Sports Network, shares some of her thoughts on the upcoming event and how CBS College Sports’ 200 partner schools can benefit from attending.

At CSVS, your panel, Saturday Afternoon Live, will focus on live-event production on campus. What do you think is most important to discuss during the panel?

The minimum requirements for sports production. We don’t want to insult [attendees’] intelligence, but I think it’s important for us to assume they know the minimum and cover the basics in terms of basic requirements for TV 101. Start at the beginning: assume this is not a CBS or a Fox Sports telecast but a regional college-sports network telecast and just describe what that is and what the requirements are.

We really need to go over everything: power, phone connectivity, parking access, personnel resources, infrastructure as it relates to the venue — run down the list of requirements. With a lot of these Olympic-sports events that we cover — soccer events, for example — we arrive at the venue, and it’s just a field, so it’s important to know what we need in order to make the production happen from that space.

What do you hope your partner schools take away from the event?

This is an information resource. This event is an opportunity for the schools in attendance to learn and learn how to grow their program.

How much education do our partner schools need? It depends. Our partners range from schools that are fully HD and have their own trucks to schools that have never done anything more advanced than a streaming production. But everyone can benefit from some education, no matter what their starting level.

Is there a way to build a video program from scratch and be cost-conscious while doing so?

Absolutely. And there are different levels of video production. I think this event is an opportunity for these schools to learn what those different levels of video production are and where they fit in. Yes, you can string together 10 Avid systems and have a huge postproduction facility, or you could get one or two Final Cut Pro systems and do quality video production that way. It really runs the gamut, and it’s important for our partner schools to know the range that is out there.

What do you hope to accomplish at the event?

I would hope that we educate them, so that the next time they go to make an investment in a video program, they will take the opportunity to call people and ask for help. We can offer help, but the schools need to know that they can call us and ask. We’re happy to help, guide them, and give them information wherever we can.