Skycam

Skycam is a computer-controlled, stabilized, cable-suspended camera system. The system is maneuvered through three dimensions in the open space over a playing area of a stadium or arena by computer-controlled cable-drive system. It is responsible for bringing video game–like camera angles to television sports coverage. The camera package weighs less than 14 kilograms (31 lb) and can travel at 13 m/s (29 mph).

A Skycam at work during a Washington Huskies football game in Seattle.

Invented by Garrett Brown (also the inventor of the Steadicam), Skycam was acquired by Winnercomm, Inc. in 2004. On January 12, 2009, Winnercomm was acquired by Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (now a subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment), parent company of the Outdoor Channel.[1] On February 27, 2015, a Federal lawsuit was filed by Nic Salomon, the former President of Skycam, to include a claim of tortious interference, related to the 2013 acquisition by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.[2] The case was allowed to proceed by the court in the Northern District of Texas on August 31, 2017. It was then dismissed on February 27, 2019, weeks before a jury trial. Notice of appeal was given to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on March 29, 2019.[3] Kroenke Sports has made allegations of "misappropriated" records against Mr. Salomon.[4] Mr. Salomon has responded by identifying the exclusive term sheet with investors to acquire the business - before Kroenke Sports, his preservation of records after an emergency purge announcement, and a lack of reply from the CEO of Kroenke Sports to his preservation request, prior to his surprise termination. [3] Mr. Salomon identified to the Court of Appeals on June 27, 2019 that he is an SEC Whistleblower related to the Kroenke Sports acquisition of Outdoor Channel.[5] Despite the long running dispute, Skycam remains an important technology for the presentation of football content. [6]

Usage
Skycam HD at an ESPN on ABC–broadcast University of California, Berkeley football game.

While "Skycam" is a registered trademark[7] the term "Skycam" is often used generically for cable-suspended camera system, and competing systems like CableCam (invented by Jim Rodnunsky but also a subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, LLC), Spidercam and Robycam 3D. Systems like it have been in limited use since the mid-1980s when the technology was first patented, but until the mid-1990s progress was slow due to limitations in computer and servo motor technology as well as cost (a 2001 estimate pegged the cost to use the Skycam at $30,000 per event).[8] All of these systems began seeing more widespread use in the 21st century.

American football

Skycam was first publicly used in fall 1984, at a preseason National Football League game in San Diego between the Chargers and 49ers, televised by CBS.[9] NBC debuted the first wire-flown remote-controlled camera used in sports coverage at the 1985 Orange Bowl.[10]

The XFL was one of the first leagues to make extensive use of the Skycam as a primary camera angle for broadcasts when it debuted in winter 2001.[11] Traditional camera angles were used more prominently after the first week of play; the "Xcam" (as it was known in that league's broadcasts) remained in regular use throughout the rest of the season.[8]

ESPN first used Skycam in 2001 for an NFL pre-season telecast and then consistently in 2002 for Sunday Night Football broadcasts. Since then, ESPN and sister-network ABC have made widespread use of Skycam for NCAA football, Monday Night Football, and Super Bowl XXXVII respectively. The network has regularly offered a skycam-only Internet broadcast of many of its more important sportscasts under the Megacast brand.

CBC used a CableCam in their broadcasts of the 2005 and 2006 Grey Cups.[12]

In October 2017, NBC was required to broadcast the majority of a Sunday Night Football game using Skycam angles, as their traditional sideline angles were obscured by a large amount of fog. Reception to the impromptu experiment was mostly positive (with some drawing comparisons to the default camera angle used in football video games, such as the Madden NFL franchise); NBC announced that it would experiment with intentionally using the Skycam as a primary angle during a subsequent Thursday-night game on November 16, 2017[13][14] and again for the December 14 game the same year.[15] ' The Skycam's perspective, while making more effective use of the field of vision offered by a television screen (thus allowing viewers to see plays develop more clearly than the traditional sideline view),[16] distorts vertical distances and makes it more difficult to assess yardages (part of the reason it has not been used more often),[8] and thus in NBC's trial runs, they switched to a traditional sideline camera in short-yardage situations including the red zone, where the shorter distances negate some of the disadvantages of the sideline camera.[14] To mitigate some of these disadvantages, NBC experimented with expanding the live on-field graphics to include a "green zone" that darkens the area between the line of scrimmage and the line to gain for a first down.[17][18][19]

Other sports

Prior to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, it was proposed that Skycam be used at the Opening Ceremonies and Track & Field events. A test run was held at the Coliseum. The images were terrific. However, during its last test, it sped very fast low to the ground and the entire length of the field. One of its four support wires snagged on the top of the steel football goal post at the Peristyle end of the Coliseum and bent one of the arms. Skycam was unharmed, but was not used at the Olympics that year.

Systems from Skycam and CableCam have also been used for the NBA and NHL final series and the beginning of the 2005 and 2006 NASCAR season broadcast on Fox. CableCam was used on the famous 17th hole at the TPC at Sawgrass for NBC's coverage of The Players Championship in 2005. CBS used a SkyCam for their coverage of the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four games in Lucas Oil Stadium.

In Australia, the Nine Network trialed Skycam for three of their Friday Night Football broadcasts of the Australian Football League for the 2004 season. It was also used in the State of Origin series.

The first use of Skycam for an MLS broadcast was on April 2, 2005 for an ESPN broadcast of a match between DC United and Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.[20] However, the use of Skycam soon proved to be controversial a few weeks later on April 23, 2005 when the camera crashed to the field of the Home Depot Center during a match between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA.[21]

Skycam has been used infrequently for MLS broadcasts since then, including the 2015 MLS All-Star Game. On April 2, 2016, Sporting Kansas City debuted the league's first semi-permanent Skycam installation at Children's Mercy Park, in a match against Real Salt Lake.[22]

Technical overview

Skycam consists of three major components: the reel—the motor drive and cables, the spar—the counterbalanced pan and tilt video camera, and central control—the computer software used by the operator to fly the camera.

Reels

The system consists of four reels anchored at high fixed points at corners of the stadium or arena (the cables are attached to fixed spars formed by tall extensible lift platforms when permanent anchors are not available). Each reel is a cable spool with 4.5 horsepower (3.4 kW) motor and disc brakes with its own computer capable of a .01" positioning resolution. The cable is a braided Kevlar jacketed single mode optical fiber with conductive copper elements and is capable of supporting 600 pounds (270 kg) on a single cable.

Mobile spar

The 36-inch (91 cm) tall spar contains the Sony HD camera, the pan and tilt motor, and stabilization sensors. Weighing 45 pounds (20 kg), the package also includes a power distribution module and electronics for fiber optic signaling.

Central control

Central control is an industrial grade, Linux computer workstation that provides camera flight and video control. Both a pilot (the one who flies the spar in 3D space) and the operator (the one who controls the camera pan, tilt, zoom and focus) use this system for controlling the overall video shot. The central computer system uses a custom software package to control each aspect of the camera system, including motion, video, and obstacle avoidance.

Incidents
  • In the December 20, 2009 Las Vegas Bowl between the Oregon State Beavers and the BYU Cougars, Skycam had to be taken down as a result of high winds. Gusts were reported at over 40 miles per hour.
  • In the 2011 Insight Bowl on December 30, 2011 between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Oklahoma Sooners, Skycam crashed onto the field with 2:22 left to play, almost striking Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt. The game was delayed for about 5 minutes as a result, as the camera and its cables were removed from the field of play.[23]
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See also

References

Notes
  1. Robert Evatt, "TV client buys Winnercomm: Outdoor Channel pays an undisclosed sum for the Tulsa company", Tulsa World, January 13, 2009.
  2. ¨Kroenke in fight over cameras used in NFL games¨ St. Louis Business Journal, December 2, 2015
  3. http://pacermonitor.com
  4. http://www.law360.com/articles/1087703/rams-owner-says-stolen-docs-should-kill-aerial-camera-suit
  5. http://ecf.ca5.uscourts.gov
  6. http://www.nbcuniversal.com/press-release/skycam-returns-nbc-present-live-coverage-skycam-broncos-colts-%E2%80%9Cthursday-night-football
  7. http://www.uspto.gov/
  8. Larry Stewart (February 7, 2001). "XFL, NBC Working Out Kinks". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  9. Cone, Lawrence L. (October 1985). "Skycam: An Aerial Robotic Camera System". BYTE. p. 122. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  10. ""The Design and Operation of Skycam" by McConkey, Larry - American Cinematographer, Vol. 66, Issue 4, April 1985 - Online Research Library: Questia".
  11. Terry Tefton (May 16, 2011). "Bubba Cam put cameraman into the game". Sports Business Daily. American City Business Journals. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  12. "CBC will be stringing viewers along". CFL.ca. 2005-08-08. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
  13. "How fog might have revealed the future of NFL camera angles". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  14. Geoffrey C. Arnold (November 16, 2017). "NBC's 'SkyCam' will provide Madden-like view of tonight's Titans-Steelers game". oregonlive.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  15. Manza-Young, Shalise (December 15, 2017). "SkyCam returns for Broncos-Colts on Thursday Night Football". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  16. 3 plays that show perfectly why Skycam is the future of the NFL on TV
  17. "NBC's "Green Zone" Is the Ultimate Conclusion of Graphics Creep". The Ringer. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  18. Editor, Jason Dachman, Chief. "NFL Kickoff 2018: From Green Zone to Dual SkyCams, NBC Sports Has Big Plans for Sunday Night Football". Sports Video Group. Retrieved 2018-11-21.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  19. "I'm here to defend NBC's 'green zone' -- sort of". SI.com. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  20. "ABC, ESPN2 unveil broadcast team, enhancements for 2005". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  21. "MSL notes: Adu continues to prove he deserves more minutes". Deseret News. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  22. McDowell, Sam. "Sporting KC telecasts will soon show soccer in a new way". The Kansas City Star.
  23. "No one hurt after camera falls at Insight Bowl" Houston Chronicle (December 31, 2011){{}}

Bibliography
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