From the AP...
ESPN set to add West Coast
facility
By Greg Johnson
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — West Coast fans who have long suspected an East Coast bias
from Bristol, Conn.-based ESPN can begin to rest easier, because the cable
sports giant is on track to open by spring 2009 a full-fledged broadcast
production facility across from Staples Center.
The five-story ESPN building
that is taking shape will house an ESPN Zone restaurant on the first two floors
and two television production studios with digital control rooms on upper
floors. One studio will become home for the late-night edition of its signature
"SportsCenter" that now is produced on the busy Bristol campus. ESPN also will
house its 710 AM radio station studios next door in an office building now under
construction.
"The scope of this project makes sense on a lot of different
levels," said ESPN President George W. Bodenheimer, who was in town last week.
"And, frankly, having toured it today, I feel very good about our decision to
come out here."
Bodenheimer declined to state the cost of the new building.
But, during a groundbreaking two years ago for the entertainment district that
will surround Staples Center, television industry insiders speculated that the
building would cost ESPN about $100 million.
One broadcast industry engineer
recently estimated the cost of digital technology for the West Coast television
studio at between $35 million and $45 million, with related construction costs
of about $20 million — not including the restaurant, which will open late next
year.
ESPN executives are still wrestling with how to introduce fans to a
bicoastal "SportsCenter," with early shows originating in Bristol and the late
edition coming from L.A. The network regularly incorporates feeds from studios
in New York City, Washington and Charlotte, N.C., but the show's hosts always
have been in Bristol.
ESPN hopes to make the switch in a manner that won't
confuse viewers. For example, there's a good chance that the two studios will be
identical in appearance, and ESPN must decide if broadcasts will be regularly
labeled as "live from Los Angeles."
The network that reaches about 94
million U.S. homes has yet to announce what other programming will originate in
the new facility. But one studio is large enough to accommodate a studio
audience, and Bodenheimer said the L.A. facility "can only mean good things for
ESPN Deportes," the network's Spanish-language channel.
ESPN's television,
radio and Internet operations will have about 100 employees here when the
facility opens, according to Bob Eaton, ESPN's former managing editor who is
overseeing the project as a consultant.
Perhaps the most unusual need? Extra
insulation.
"For street noise," Eaton said, "which we don't have in
Bristol."
He also said the technology that is being added "seems to change
overnight" as digital advances occur. Beyond the studios, which are now little
more than big (7,500 and 5,000 square feet, respectively) empty rooms, the upper
floors will have more than half a dozen editing bays where crews will piece
together video and audio clips.
There also will be a newsroom that will
house reporters, editors and others who feed the never-ending demand for instant
updates and analysis.
As for the larger studio with room for an audience,
Eaton said ESPN isn't sure it would produce such a show, but "it's better to be
forward-thinking at this stage."
On the day of the tour, crews were working
on the massive air-conditioning ducts, which will counter the heat generated by
the studio lighting and wealth of electronic equipment. The walls have yet to be
installed, though conduits are in place for the miles of wiring that are needed.
While ESPN's headquarters will remain firmly rooted in Bristol, Bodenheimer
said, "We'll be moving some of our highest-potential folks out here."
The
network also expects to leverage its proximity to Hollywood to create its own
entertainment offerings.
The new studio and restaurant mark the latest in a
series of collaborations involving ESPN, a subsidiary of Burbank-based Walt
Disney Group, and AEG, which owns and operates Staples Center and theaters and
arenas in the U.S. and overseas.
Next summer, ESPN will move its ESPY Awards
show into the neighboring Nokia Theatre, which AEG recently opened. ESPN also
holds its Summer X Games in Staples Center and at the Home Depot Center.
The
new broadcast facility is expected to shorten the workday for some in Bristol,
where crews now staff the overnight shifts that are necessary to keep ESPN's
sports programming fresh. The West Coast facility will be linked to the Bristol
studios by digital pipelines that promise to give L.A.-based staffers almost
immediate access to content now stored at the headquarters, Eaton
said.
Cue the Hallelujah chorus.