Finding a full broadcast staff to work a two-week-long tennis tournament in late August is never easy, but, with the Summer Olympics and the Democratic National Convention competing for crew members, organizers of the U.S. Open should have been panicked. However, with effective planning and dedicated staffers - some of whom flew directly from Beijing to Queens, N.Y., to work the Open - this year's event not only opened on Monday without a hitch but spread its HD wings as well.

For Nick Muro, head of on-site technical operations for CBS Sports, "the biggest challenge with this event is the grind. We're on the air for 14 days, sometimes 14 hours a day, and maintaining that level of concentration is very difficult." Plus, he adds, "some of our main people flew directly from China to here, and that plays into the whole mental-fatigue factor. That's a big challenge."

Another big challenge this year is increasing the reach of high-definition. The main courts in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums have broadcast domestic HD feeds for a decade, but this year, the dozen international broadcasters on-site will have access to an HD world feed.

Bexel Broadcast Services is providing the majority of the broadcast equipment for CBS, including the HD control room facilities for CBS' international coverage of courts 1 and 2. For the eleven courts that are not broadcast in HD, the standard-definition feed is being shot in 16:9, instead of 4:3, which makes for a smoother transition in the early days of the tournament, when USA and CBS switch among the two stadiums and the outer courts.

"A lot of Europe is now watching the coverage in high-definition via Eurosport, and then they have a lot of sub-licensees," says Steve Gorsuch, director of broadcast operations at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open. Gorsuch continues, "In the second week, WOWOW, the Japanese broadcaster, will broadcast the semifinals and finals in HD...All of the cameras from Courts 1 and 2 get sent over to international distribution point, and they hand off feeds of whatever anybody needs," Muro explains. "We hand it off once to them, and they handle the downstream distribution."

All together, the production uses 40 cameras, about half of them HD, including four robotic cameras. In addition, 14 EVS devices, two Avid rooms with LAN unity, three Vizrt graphics systems, four HD Pinnacle 3000s, two HD Kayak switchers, and two Yamaha digital audio consoles operate behind the scenes.

Coverage of the U.S. Open continues through Sept. 7 on CBS and USA.

© Copyright 2006-2008 sportsvideogroup