Kent State University’s TeleProductions crew and satellite truck provided support capabilities for the BBC’s live broadcast of the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Senior electronic media production major Dan LeBeau was part of the TeleProductions crew at the Super Bowl. Other crew members included Jeff Bentley, Dan Tonneli, Bill Kennedy and Jason Forbes.
LeBeau was responsible for setting up the equipment. He took all of the necessary equipment up to the booth and provided expertise on how to use it to the BBC crew members. LeBeau needed to make sure everything ran well in the Super Dome itself.
“Almost everybody in this industry wants to be involved in a Super Bowl production,” LeBeau says. “I think it's only natural that TeleProductions is bringing a student employee along for the Super Bowl. It certainly shows the level of commitment that the staff has for student training, and it highlights the level of trust that they have in my abilities.”
PM TV hired the TeleProductions’ satellite truck for the BBC’s use. They went through a long negotiation process to ensure the equipment met all of the requirements in order to have a successful broadcast. This type of production is unlike anything TeleProductions has done in the past.
“The real champions of the show are our outstanding technical crew,” says Bentley, executive producer of Kent State Sports Network. “Our client, the BBC, was very particular about what they wanted. Our crew was able to be creative and solve the critical needs they requested.”
The TeleProductions crew made their way down to New Orleans on Jan. 30. Upon arriving at the site, they set the truck up to begin broadcasting the game. The set-up for the game took about three days.
The day of the Super Bowl, the crew had a final production meeting and went through the final set-up. The crew had to make sure the audio and equipment was set up the way the BBC crew wanted. The crew partnered with a director, tech, graphic, audio and talent from the BBC.
“Our crew was awesome and our client was very happy with our efforts,” says Bentley. “We are continually trying to establish new clients, and this gives us the opportunity to increase our visibility and reputation as a capable and reliable production and satellite provider.”
LeBeau says it was fun working on this large of a scale.
“Working with their crew was great,” LeBeau says. “They work with some different technology than we work with. Seeing what they used gave us a different perspective than we are used to. I am very proud of what our crew did. I think we have come a very long way since our crew got this truck. This really shows what we are capable of. I think it should be a big point of pride for our university and our department.”
“TeleProductions’ involvement with the Super Bowl is a testament to its reputation and the extremely high level of professionalism, performance detail and overall capability of the team. We view this as an important validation,” says Mark Bussey, director of technology at TeleProductions.