By Brian Galante
A subsidiary of CP Communications has won the exclusive rights to produce and televise the United States Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew National Championships, a national dragon boat race on schedule for this weekend on Florida’s Suncoast.
Red House Streaming scored the deal, giving it exclusive live streaming for the national dragon boat race event planned for July 21-23 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.
The FAST network RHStv is where viewers can turn, as Red House Streaming will provide all live production and technical support services for the multi-day event. An opening ceremony begins at 5pm Eastern on Thursday (7/20).
The USDBF Club Crew National Championships is a bi-annual event organized by the United States Dragon Boat Federation, the official governing body for the sport in the US. This month’s event will bring together 44 teams across various competition classes that will compete for berths to the IDBF Club Crew World Championship, to be held next September in Ravenna, Italy. More than 1,500 paddlers across varied age groups are registered for the Sarasota event, including participants in specialty divisions for Breast Cancer Paddlers (BCP), All Cancer Paddlers (ACP) and Paradragons (PD), which comprises several teams of physically impaired paddlers.
Red House Streaming will bring three robotic camera systems and one handheld camera for live content acquisition, with the robotic cameras positioned shore-side at the starting point, halfway point and finish line. The first two camera positions will shift each day based on race lengths, which run 200 meters on July 21, 500 meters on July 22, and 2000 meters on July 23. The third camera system will remain fixed on the fourth-floor balcony of the Nathan Benderson Tower in level alignment with the finish line.
Red House Streaming will also provide microphones, headsets and intercom capabilities to event announcers positioned on the third floor of the tower. Color commentary from announcers will be featured in the broadcasts along with real-time scoring results, live paddler interviews, and advertisements from event sponsors booked through Red House Streaming’s sales team.
Red House Streaming will encode all video and audio using Haivision Makito X4 and MB6 systems, including aerial coverage acquired from a USDBF-supplied drone. The RHS production team will send all signals to the Red House Streaming Production Center in St. Petersburg. Florida, where RHS engineers will composite the program inside the facility’s control room for live delivery to viewers watching on the RHStv.com website and the RHStv app. The free app is available on Connected TV platforms such Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Google Play, and Roku, as well iOS and Android mobile devices. The event will also be streamed to 20 Sarasota hotels and all guest rooms, with the goal of providing a positive economic impact to both the local community and the broader dragon boat community.
“Nathan Benderson Park is an ideal venue for both the race and the live production, thanks in large part to a high-speed data infrastructure that stretches over its nearly 600 acres,” said Jerry Gepner, COO of CP Communications and Red House Streaming. “That data infrastructure accommodates the sophisticated timing systems and wave attenuators required for conducting and scoring races of this magnitude, and provides the capacity for our crew to acquire, process, manage and backhaul video, audio and data to the Red House Streaming Production Center with exceptionally low latency. The opportunity to broadcast the entire event exclusively over RHStv.com to global audiences that follow the sport, with ad and sponsorship support through local businesses, is also an exciting opportunity for our growing network, as is the opportunity to make a positive economic impact on the community by bringing attention to local businesses.”
Larissa Stanley, Manager of Production Operations notes that since its February launch, RHStv has exceeded more than 5000 app downloads and has recorded more than 23,000 users with 77,000 views on its websites, with its @WatchRHStv social media accounts reaching more than 1,200,000. RHStv has booked several sponsors across all four days for the live RHStv broadcasts.
The USDBF Club Crew National Championships are expected to return to Nathan Benderson Park in 2025 and 2027, with discussions underway regarding Red House Streaming’s involvement in these future productions and broadcasts.
