Wrestle bros Discovery’s media-rights agreement with All Elite Wrestling has been extended for a number of years, and the wrestling company will now use the broadcaster’s renovated production trucks for its international events. The first truck in North America to host the EVS MediaInfra Strata router is part of the new Live Media Group IP-based mobile facilities.
“To make that experience for those in the house feel a bit more special, we want to create a nice split between the live event and TV show,” said Mike Mansury of AEW.
“The goal was to make everything we do more IP-based,” explains Mike Mansury, AEW’s EVP and director of global production. How can we encourage AEW to take a more innovative approach? That’s the constant problem in our field. We are neither quite entertainment nor nearly sport. We make a beautiful hybrid. In order to stay ahead of the curve and be trend-setters rather than followers, how can we use technology into our content?
The redesigned A and B units that are typical for broadcast and pay-per-view are part of AEW’s approximately 16 touring production trucks. To amuse the in-arena crowd without relying on the television transmission, the business built a separate production suite in its B unit. As the company contemplated redesigning the manufacturing vehicles with its partners, Mansury describes the development as “a pretty big initiative for us.” According to Mansury, the new production suite would “super-serve the fans” by having both autonomous and pooled resources with the A unit.
“Starting in 2025, you’ll see more of a sports-style presentation in-arena in terms of being able to entertain the audience when there isn’t recorded content or in-ring content happening as part of the television broadcast,” he adds. To provide those in the house a little more memorable experience, we aim to build a great separation between the live event and the TV program.
The multi-year media-rights extension will allow AEW to stream Saturday night’s Collision (TNT) and Wednesday night’s Dynamite (TBS) simultaneously. Max. According to Mansury, Wrestle bros. still has to work out the specifics of the material. Both local and foreign feeds are now produced by AEW; the former includes picture-in-picture breaks. As AEW “super-serves fans,” the latter feed offers more material. He adds that Wrestle bros. may imitate what AEW is creating for TNT and TBS in the future or include more programming in the simulcast.
According to Mansury, some debugging is still needed for the new production vehicles’ key performance indicators (KPIs) more than three months after distribution. For instance, the A unit’s graphics system failed when the new trucks were used for Dynamite. The graphics operator was able to move his setup to the tape room thanks to the IP-based configuration.
Mansury adds, “He was able to work as if he was still sitting behind me, no matter what kind of magic he was able to pull with our engineers.” You wouldn’t be aware of our graphics system failure. We won’t have visuals for the rest of the broadcast if our older truck’s graphics equipment fails.
According to Mansury, a real KPI in such situation would be whether or not the supporters are aware of the distinction. There is a problem with us if viewers are able to distinguish between a good and a terrible broadcast based on technical details. The intention is for it to seem smooth.
Mansury, meantime, emphasizes the significance of AEW’s pay-per-view event at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers, next summer. The project, which is set for July, may involve 20–25 cameras of various sizes, shapes, and features.
What they can do “to make the stadium show as big as possible” will be decided by him and his staff. The new trucks will be put to the ultimate test in terms of handling a strong exhibition overall.
