By Karen Hogan, Assistant Editor
From deep within Arthur Ashe Stadium, coordinating producer Brian Williams and his crew work endless hours to bring the USTA’s US Open to the international community. With the USOptimum world feed, the tennis tournament is broadcast from Flushing Meadows to more than 200 countries worldwide.
Brian Williams, coordinating producer, helps USOptimum bring action from Flushing Meadows to more than 200 countries worldwide.
USOptimum takes the feeds cut by CBS directors from each of the six television courts — Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, Grandstand, Court 11, Court 13, and the new Court 17 — and integrates them into one network-style broadcast.
“We create what is very much like the show that you would see on ESPN or CBS in that we’re covering the best tennis at any one time,” Williams explains. “We’ll have an anchor match on Ashe or Armstrong, but then we’ll bounce out to Court 17, if it’s a tiebreak in the second set of the match, to show the most compelling tennis.”
This year, in addition to having matches from a sixth television court at its disposal, Williams’s team also has access to ESPN’s Spidercam, giving the broadcast a more active and dynamic feel.
A Network for the World
Like ESPN’s and CBS’s feeds, USOptimum’s offering features highlight packages and scores of matches. Unlike the two U.S. networks, though, it does not provide on-camera announcers or player sound bites. This allows recipient countries to supply their own commentary.
“Obviously, we’re in many languages,” says Williams, “We do English commentary on Ashe and Armstrong, but our pictures are going out to places where they’re speaking in all different languages.”
Beginning with the quarterfinals, USOptimum will carry pre- and post-match interviews. The various countries that receive the world feed can either translate the interviews as they occur (all are broadcast live) or tape them to play back at a different time.
With USOptimum evolving from a two-court feed and wide-shot “coming-up” graphic to a fully integrated network-style show, many countries simply opt to broadcast the feed as is. Networks in Australia and New Zealand, as well as ESPN International, carry the USOptimum feed for a good portion of the day.
Even those networks on-site at the Open, including the UK’s Sky Sports and Russia’s NTV Plus, use USOptimum while supplementing with their own on-site commentators from sets within the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Tennis Channel carries some of the afternoon and night calls, and USOpen.org picks up USOptimum for its live streaming.
Come Rain or Shine
Speaking during a particularly wet day at the Open, Williams observes, “We did 161½ hours last year, and, with this rain, we may be over that this year.”
With an international community of over 200 countries waiting, the USOptimum crew is up for the challenge.
