By Brian Galante
Special to RBR+TVBR
TNDV and GameTime Productions have expanded their remote production responsibilities for Team Boxing League (TBL), building on a Season 3 collaboration with what they call a more comprehensive REMI production model for the league’s recently completed fourth season.
The refined workflow positions TNDV’s Sallie mobile production unit as the centralized production control room in Irving, Tex., while GameTime Productions coordinated local technical crews for live matches originating from venues around the country, including the August 30 championship at War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale. All events aired live on Envoy TV.
The new model represents an evolution from Season 3, when TNDV supplied remote fly packs, cameras and supporting production systems at each venue while live signals were transported to a third-party REMI facility in Texas for production.
For Season 4, TNDV assumed responsibility for both ends of the REMI workflow, receiving live camera and audio feeds from the venues into Sallie, producing the live program and supporting outbound distribution to broadcast and streaming partners.
“Bringing the venue-side REMI systems and the centralized production environment under the same TNDV umbrella has made the entire workflow more cohesive,” said TNDV President Rob Devlin. “We already understood the production requirements from Season 3, so this year was about fine-tuning the model and taking greater responsibility for the complete technical ecosystem. We can see and manage what is happening from the venue all the way through the truck and into distribution, which gives the production team a much more unified operation.”
The regular season presented a demanding schedule of three live matches most weekends, typically originating from three different cities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. TNDV maintained three remote production racks that rotated among venues nationwide, allowing crews to quickly establish a consistent technical footprint regardless of location.
Each venue typically featured six HD camera signals, including four operated cameras — a primary game camera, two handhelds and a jib — plus two fixed cameras focused on the team “corrals.” The latter are particularly important to TBL’s distinctive format, which transforms traditional boxing into a team sport with teammates positioned ringside throughout a fast-moving sequence of single-round bouts.
GameTime Productions continued to manage the local crewing operation, providing camera operators, audio technicians and other technical personnel at the remote venues.
The REMI model is designed to be well suited for many TBL venue. Compact flypack systems can be brought inside and quickly configured using a standardized technical design.
“REMI was essential to making the schedule both logistically and economically practical,” said Larry Meyers, Consulting Executive Producer for Team Boxing League television. “We can have our primary production team and talent working from the same location throughout a three-event weekend while the venues change around the country. TNDV and GameTime have helped us develop a production model that can move efficiently from city to city while still delivering a very polished television product.”
TNDV transports the venue feeds to Irving primarily using SRT over public internet connections, typically budgeting approximately 10 Mb/s for each video feed. Return program feeds and confidence multiviewers are also sent back to the venues, allowing local technicians to immediately confirm that their signals have successfully reached the truck.
TNDV maintains additional safeguards for less predictable venue connectivity, including cellular-based LiveU backup for maintaining an on-air camera feed if primary internet service is disrupted.
TNDV’s Nashville operations center provides another layer of support by monitoring bandwidth and signal health, managing remote intercom and providing backup paths. Operators can adjust compression and latency when necessary to accommodate variations in available bandwidth.
Inside Sallie, the remote signals are combined with three additional cameras capturing TBL’s commentators and studio presentation in Irving, creating a nine-camera live production. The HD truck includes a Grass Valley production switcher, EVS replay systems, Calrec audio console and extensive routing and connectivity, with production, replay, graphics, audio and engineering personnel working in close proximity.
Season 4 matches aired live on Envoy TV and were distributed across an expanding mix of regional television and streaming outlets. The flexible architecture allows additional feeds and destinations to be incorporated as TBL’s distribution requirements evolve.
“The technology behind REMI has reached a point where productions like this can achieve things that would have been economically difficult just a few years ago,” said Larry Meyers, Consulting Executive Producer for Team Boxing League television. “We produced 56 live events this season, with venue signals traveling over SRT and the public internet. That changes the economics of producing a growing sports property, while still allowing us to deliver the quality audiences and distribution partners expect.”
