We are slammed from coast to coast (and beyond) this weekend. Here’s a look at what we’re up to.
It’s championship weekend in the NFL, and PSSI Global Services is proud to be the satellite transmission vendor of choice at both the AFC and NFC championships. Blake Blomstrom will be setting up our C41 truck at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the Philadelphia Eagles will host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night for the NFC Championship. The Vikings are coming into the game with a lot of confidence after last week’s miracle win, and if they can pull off the win this week, it will be the first time EVER that an NFC team will play at home in the Super Bowl. Blake will be there for every second of the action on Fox’s prime-time broadcast (including the pregame show).
Up the I-95 a bit, Mike Howley will be at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, for Sunday’s AFC Championship game, where the New England Patriots take on the Jacksonville Jaguars for a shot at the Super Bowl. Mike has a full day of testing on Saturday, and the game is live on CBS Sunday afternoon. You can be sure that Shrewsbury-based senior project manager Mike Reidy, who may or may not have named his son after Tom Brady, will be closely monitoring Howley’s feed.
All of our Boston-area staff are staying close to home this weekend, but boy will they be busy! Before the big Pats game, Howley is at TD Garden for the Celtics vs. the 76ers on Thursday night. Then the fun really starts. It’s UFC 220 on Saturday night, also live from TD Garden. Project managers Garrett Hunt and Keith Valeri are assembling a small army of engineers for this huge event, which features UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic against Francis Ngannou and UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier fighting Volkan Oezdemir. Engineer in charge (EIC) Jim Flowers is already setting up with John Bright, Nick Ray, Rick Varney, Marc Sarazin and senior engineer Mike Lemieux for extensive transmission services for worldwide distribution of the event. Mr. Varney will be manning the 4K/UHD transmission for pay-per-view (PPV) subscribers fortunate enough to have 4K screens in their homes.
Here’s the team getting ready for the event:
Nick Ray has a pretty short turnaround before he’s due in Manhattan for Monday night’s WWE Monday Night Raw 25th Anniversary show, live from Manhattan Center Studios. Nick’s got one of our fiber multiplexing kits loaded up in the van and ready for action. Zane Michaels will be in his usual seat in the CK30 mobile teleport over at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the WWE Raw main event. From Brooklyn, driver Joe Kelderhouse heads down to D.C. for SmackDown on Tuesday night, where we will also have Dennis Smith on hand at the Capital One Arena for additional feeds of the big show.
There’s more action at Barclays Center on Saturday night, where project manager Victor Verno joins Mati Kerpen for Showtime Championship Boxing. Mati’s encoding a fiber path for Showtime while monitoring the international feed for boxing fans around the world. The main card includes the IBF world welterweight championship bout between undefeated Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. and former two-division champion Lamont Peterson. The co-main event is undefeated IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. of Toledo, Ohio, defending his title against Javier Fortuna of the Dominican Republic. The PSSI International Teleport (PIT) will be turning the signal to Latin American viewers as well, while LA-based project manager Tommy Lopez will be monitoring remotely and calling receive sites around the world to ensure they receive a perfect broadcast. There are a lot of moving parts to any given show, and PSSI Global Services is well-equipped to manage all aspects of live television distribution.
We also have more fiber encoding and multiplexing with one of our custom-built “at-home” kits. This weekend Steve Toth is at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, where the Gamecocks host the Tennessee Volunteers in SEC basketball action. Steve will be multiplexing seven channels for ESPN’s at-home production and broadcast of the game.
Plenty more hoops on the schedule:
- Dave Buckman heads to Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island, for women’s college basketball when the La Salle Explorers face the Rhode Island Rams.
- Todd Harvey’s back at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, for some NBA excitement, as the Houston Rockets host the Minnesota Timberwolves. Before that, he was in Memphis, where the Lakers lost to the Grizzlies on TNT Monday.
- Ron Ford will head to the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Sundayfor NBA G League action when the Oklahoma City Blue face the Memphis Hustle.
- Rick Kolinek will take K22 to New Albany High School in New Albany, Indiana, for high school basketball on Friday, when Princeton High School Vikings take on the New Albany Bulldogs.
- Mike Sheehan will be driving DC9 to the Dreamstyle Arena (aka The Pit) at the University of New Mexico for men’s hoops, as the San Diego State Aztecs face the New Mexico Lobos.
- Dennis Smith will be at McDonough Arena at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on Sundayafternoon, for women’s basketball as the Georgetown Hoyas take on the DePaul Blue Demons.
The golf season is also already in full swing, and we have three tournaments on our schedule this week. Larry Sheets has the CK25 at the PGA West Arnold Palmer Course in La Quinta, California, for the CareerBuilder Challenge this week. This event, started back in 1960, is considered one of the most fun-filled, action-packed tournaments on the PGA’s West Coast tour. Meanwhile, Kevin Spangler and the C15 truck continue their adventures in Hawaii with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship this week in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, at the Hualalai Golf Course. Chris Golden and the C32 truck are on another beautiful island — this time the in the Bahamas — at the Abaco Club Winding Bay for the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
Here are a few photos of our golf adventures:
All of our West Coast trucks and engineers are booked solid through the weekend in Southern California.
On Saturday Steve Chaisson will be at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl when the American League faces the National League. This postseason all-star game is where draft-eligible college players can showcase their talent to NFL scouts and coaches. The game’s live on Fox Saturday afternoon, and from there Steve heads down to San Diego for some soccer action on Sunday. Steve will be setting up at the San Diego County Credit Union Stadium (formerly Qualcomm Stadium) for the U.S. Women’s National Team international friendly against Denmark.
This weekend, the MLS media day will also take place at the Hilton Universal in Los Angeles, and we will be providing production and transmission services for all the live interviews and press conferences to kick off another exciting season. Production EIC Kyle Meyer is flying in to run our K34 production truck while Nathan Holsey will commandeer the B-unit to ensure our friends at ESPN have all of our production capabilities at their disposal.
John Jennings was at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Thursday for the MTV Lip Sync Battle celebrating the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The one-hour event will feature larger-than-life live performances, including a special performance by “Michael Jackson ONE,” a critically acclaimed Cirque du Soleil show in permanent residence at the Michael Jackson Theater at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Brian Blomstrom and Rick Ball will join senior project manager David Gallardo and the CK35 mobile teleport at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday for the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell. Rick will be handling a six-channel mux for Turner’s simulcast on TNT and TBS, while Brian and David will manage the worldwide distribution of the international program. With presenters like Emma Stone, Halle Berry and Dakota Fanning, it should be a great evening of entertainment not to be missed. PSSI News Group’s David Conwell will be at the Shrine, as well, for CNN’s coverage of this glamorous event.
You know we’re in the middle of awards season when the Oscar nominations come out. David Gallardo will be on hand in the wee hours Tuesday morning, along with Chris Hovden, to be ready as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announces this year’s nominees, live from Beverly Hills. Of course we’ll also be there for the big show in February, just as we have been for the past two decades. It’s safe to say we have plenty to look forward to this year!