Sheesh, it’s been a busy week! It’s awards season, election season is already upon us, the basketball season is in full swing, and major one-off events have us pretty well maxed out! Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to as well as what’s happening this weekend.
I’ll bet a lot of you were watching CNN’s debate in Iowa on Tuesday night. Pretty much everything you saw came through our intrepid PSSI News Group Crew, who was there in full force for the debate as well as all the hoopla surrounding it. Max Lewis, Al Meshberg, Steve Mills, and Bill O’Toole were working around the clock for days prior and days after the debate to bring the world all the nuance and intrigue of the debate as we count down to the Iowa caucuses in a couple of weeks.
You might’ve also heard there’s an impeachment going on. Things are quiet for us in DC, but in Pittsburgh we have several impeachment experts in our live studio’s talent book who are going to be mighty busy over the next couple of weeks. Call the PSSI Pittsburgh VideoTech Center for all of your live shot needs, impeachment-related or otherwise. We’re ready for you!
We’ll take a break from politics before we start talking about this weekend’s awards shows. Let’s make a stop in Scottsdale, where Brian Blomstrom and the CK35 mobile teleport are rounding out a solid week of multi-band transmissions for our good friends at Kavis Productions at the Barrett-Jackson Car Auction. Brian was wise to leave his checkbook at home, because some of these classic cars are too amazing to resist!
From sunny Scottsdale let’s head way north of the border, where David Meyer is going into week 2 of hazard duty in freezing-cold Canada. After last week’s uplink in dangerously cold Nipawin, Saskatchewan, David hunkered down in Calgary to make sure his truck was all set for this weekend’s Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup event from Nakiska Ski Resort, near Banff in the Canadian Rockies. He’s parked and ready for action, and enjoying a heat wave – it’s one above zero! Thanks again to David for hanging in there in some very rough conditions.
It’s not much nicer outside the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, IA, where Jonathan Ayala has the C41’s antenna all set up in snowy, icy, freezing conditions. He’s there for our friends at Showtime, who opted for C-band when the weather started to turn earlier in the week. It’s Vladimir Shishkin versus Ulises Sierra in the main event for this Friday night ShoBox, the first telecast of 2020.
Not too far down the road, where the weather’s still bad, John May has the CK48 mobile teleport just outside Arrowhead Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon in the AFC Championship, live on CBS. Senior engineer Rick Ball is flying up from Florida to join John, as we’ll be providing multiple transmission pathways out of the CK48’s C-band and Ku-band antennas. Should be a great game!
Conditions are a little better in Santa Clara, where John Jennings is getting set up for pre-game live shots at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday morning, as the 49ers host the Packers in the NFC Championship on Sunday afternoon. We couldn’t be more excited to have a presence at the two biggest NFL games of the season so far! And we’re well into the planning stages for our services down in Miami for the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.
Speaking of big events, anybody heard of Conor McGregor? He’s back, and he’s fighting Cowboy Cerrone on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s UFC 246, and the perfect way to kick off yet another year of exclusive transmission services for our friends at Concom and UFC. Earlier in the week, senior event engineer Tracy Michaels joined forces with fellow senior engineer Paul Blomstrom for promotional events at UFC’s Apex facility as well as a multi-camera production and transmission for the official pay-per-view presser on Wednesday. For the event itself, Tracy will be joined by Strategic Television project manager, Garrett Hunt, UFC veteran Jim Flowers, Joe Cox and Paul Blomstrom for multiple inbound and outbound transmission services on behalf of UFC fans around the world. Mark Huss is also in town to provide ringside commentary services for international broadcasters. The PSSI International Teleport is an essential link in the chain for the PPV’s distribution, and our entire team will be working a long day on Saturday to bring all the action, from the undercards to the main event to the post-event press conference, to MMA fans all over the world. Check out this SVG article mentioning STV’s work with the Switch on this big event!
Top Rank Boxing on ESPN continues to keep us busy. This weekend we have senior engineer Mike Lemieux back at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY for a multiplexed transmission out of the CK25 mobile teleport. One of those pathways is 1080p for ESPN+, with the others slated for distribution to domestic and international outlets. We’ll also be handling the international distribution through the PSSI International Teleport so that boxing fans around the world can watch Eleider Alvarez take on Michael Seals in the main event Saturday night. Meanwhile, our events team is looking ahead to big fights in February, including a pay-per-view in Vegas and a bout in China!
We’re also handling the international distribution for PBC boxing at Temple’s Liacouras Center in North Philly. Blake Blomstrom’s our man onsite for the fight between Julian Williams and Jeison Rosario. Strategic Television project manager, Michael Hollander, will be monitoring the feed remotely thanks to a stream from the PSSI International Teleport, who will be taking care of the international turnarounds, as well.
Let’s stay out east and run down some of the hoops action happening over the next few days. Some 25 miles up the road from Turning Stone, Steve Hagerty will be back in action at Colgate University’s Cotterell Court for Monday’s game between the Raiders and the Bucknell Bison.
Both Dennis Smith and Dave Buckman have back-to-back games this weekend, which is just how we like it! Dennis is at St. Joe’s Hagan Arena on Saturday, where the Lady Hawks will host the Duquesne Dukes on CBS Sports Network. From there he heads to the Bronx, where Fordham will host Davidson at Rose Hill Gym on Sunday, also on CBSSN.
Meanwhile, Mr. Buckman is heading south to Richmond for Saturday’s game between VCU and the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure. Then it’s a quick drive up to Fairfax, VA for Sunday’s game at James Mason’s EagleBank Arena. Fordham’s in town to take on the Patriots.
A little further south, Nick Ray’s in Greensboro, NC for WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown on the CK30 mobile teleport. Nick has C-band a Ku-band transmissions for our friends at WWE. From there driver Joe Kelderhouse pilots the 30 to Wichita, KS, where Zane Michaels takes the reins on Monday night RAW.
Back to hoops, there’s a big game up in Seattle, where the University of Washington will host the Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon, live on CBS. Steve Chaisson is all set at the Alaska Airlines Arena. From there Steve takes the truck down to Portland for back-to-back Trailblazers games on the Turner networks.
Also on Turner this weekend: the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, live from Los Angeles. Chris Hovden and Wes Hill are parking a couple of trucks today at the Shrine Auditorium for testing on Saturday prior to the big show on Sunday. Wes is handling Turner’s transmission duties, while Chris is there for the show’s international distribution. Strategic Television project manager, David Gallardo, will be working alongside Chris to ensure a clean show to licensees around the world, and of course the signal will be making a stop at the PSSI International Teleport!
Let’s head West – way west, to the Big Island in the middle of the Pacific. There we have Mike Sheehan rocking and rolling at Hualalai Golf Club in Kailua Kona, as Golf Channel broadcasts the Mitsubishi Electric tournament through Saturday. It’s always challenging to work in Hawaii, half a world away from the rest of our fleet, but at least Mike is enjoying the good weather!
Back on the mainland, we’ve got more good work for our friends at Golf Channel. Larry Sheets will be handling an at-home transmission from Mandeville Auditorium in La Jolla, CA, where GC will put on a live Feherty Show on Tuesday.
Back East we have another non-tournament event for Golf Channel on Monday and Tuesday, as it’s time for the PGA’s Demo Day again back at the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, FL. Chris Golden is our guy there before he heads to Boca for LPGA golf next weekend.
This weekend, Steve Toth is rounding out a solid week of Golf Channel work from the Tranquilo Golf Club in Lake Buena Vista, FL. It’s the Diamond Resorts Tourney, which will finish play on Sunday if the weather holds.
And that’s that for yet another busy weekend here at PSSI Live! Thanks for reading and sharing with your friends and family. Stay warm out there!