Bexel, Turner Sports Tee Off at PGA Grand Slam of Golf

For the fifth consecutive year, Bexel, a unit of the Vitec Group’s Services Division and a provider of broadcast services and solutions, delivered on-site engineering support, portable solutions and fiber for the 2011 PGA Grand Slam of Golf. To meet the complex production requirements in remote Southampton, Bermuda, and ensure a seamless broadcast, Turner Sports turned to Bexel’s customizable Hercules Flypack.

For the fifth consecutive year, Bexel will provide portable solutions, fiber, and support to Turner Sports and its coverage of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.

New to the HD Hercules Flypack in Bermuda this year is the Calrec Artemis Beam digital audio console with Bluefin 2 high-density signal processing, 48 multi-layer faders and the extensive Calrec Hydra2 I/O network. In an effort to reduce weight in the flypack, while increasing signal capacity the Calrec Artemis helps move signals around the compound as well as to and from the booth located on the other side of the course.

In addition, the Grand Slam Announce Booth was completely based around a Calrec Hydra2 32×32 Analog I/O box—using Calrec 32×32 Edac analog I/O. The box was interconnected to the main console with single mode fiber, and all microphone, talkback, IFB and four wire signals were distributed to the booth via the Calrec Hydra2 I/O.

Also included in the Hercules Flypack is the Sony MVS-7000X 4 M/E multi-format digital 3G production switcher; a custom production monitor wall with up to 224 virtual displays utilizing Evertz multi-image display processors; an Evertz EMR multi-format video router—160×288 with 11 XLink™ video display processors; an Evertz audio router—576×576 AES, 96×96 analog audio, 20 MADI ports; multiple EVS LSM XT[2+] six-channel HD DDRs and a mix of Sony and Panasonic Multi-Format HD VTRs.

Established in 1979, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf is a 36-hole tournament that matches the current winners of golf’s four major championships—The Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA Championship. This season-ending event boasts the most difficult qualification and was televised October 18 – 19 on TNT to a global audience.

“Located in Bermuda, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf is a high-profile event that presents several logistical considerations,” explains Lee Estroff, director of broadcast technical sales, Bexel. “From narrow, winding roads within Bermuda causing equipment shipping and delivery challenges to transforming a golf cart maintenance shed into a world-class, network level production facility, Bexel’s Hercules Flypack and engineering professionals was the ideal remote solution for TNT.”

Bexel was also charged with handling the extensive fiber optic specifications for the event. The broadcast required Bexel to create a large fiber infrastructure, featuring 15,000 feet of tactical fiber cable for RF camera antennas, 32,000 feet of tactical fiber cable for Telecast HDX Camera SMPTE eliminators and 47,000 feet of SMPTE fiber camera cable.

“In total we used 94,000 feet of fiber cable,” says Estroff. “In all, the equipment used helped to make the crews’ jobs easier to produce this high-profile event—in Bermuda, of all locations.”