BRINGING AI-AUTOMATION TO THE BALL PARK

How Pixellot streamed more than 500 games from two MLB leagues with DoublePlay, the world’s first automated multi-camera production solution for baseball!

Background

Major League Baseball was founded way back in 1869 and the first televised baseball game was in 1939. The World Series has been televised since 1947, with regular-season games broadcast nationally since 1953.

Since those days, both the league and its coverage have grown tremendously with baseball becoming e major attraction for many American television networks. Today, rights to nationally televised MLB games are held by several groups (like ESPN, Fox Sports, Turner Sports, and YouTube) and each team also has its own regional broadcasters that air games not picked up by one of the national outlets.

NEW LEAGUES, NEW CHALLENGES

As part of major league baseball’s effort to organize new showcases for amateur players and develop its prospect development pipeline, MLB overhauled its minor leagues and created two leagues as a main focus.

MLB initiated the Draft League, a collegiate summer baseball league that serves as a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects. In addition, the Appalachian League, was converted to a collegiate baseball league designed for rising freshmen and sophomores.

As showcases for upcoming baseball talent, it was important to ensure that the games had quality coverage for the various stakeholders in the baseball eco-system – scouts, managers, coaches, etc. By the same token, especially with the economic downturn brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was imperative to find a way to make sure the coverage was professional enough to meet the MLB brand image while at the same time being cost-efficient.

AUTOMATION TO THE RESCUE

Pixellot’s integrated systems provided the ideal end-to-end solution for the needs of MLB. 17 cameras were permanently installed at all the venues of the two leagues with the ability to automatically record and stream live games and practices, as well as make them available on-demand. Since the systems are fully automated, there is no need for any operator to produce and broadcast. This is all done automatically.

The systems installed were Pixellot’s breakthrough DoublePlay™ – the first automated multi-camera system in the world. Utilizing artificial intelligence, Pixellot’s technology can automatically detect the game action, switch camera angles, zoom in on the ball, track the players and deliver a professional production. Fans will have access to live and on-demand content while coaches and scouts will be able to get breakdowns, analytics, and player highlights using Pixellot’s integrated analytics and video coaching platform, VidSwap.

As part of the overall solution, Pixellot provided its fully-featured OTT platform and set up a designated branded channel for each league.  (See here: Appalachian League MLB Draft League). With a customizable interface on web and mobile, it features full transcoding, storage, security and stream packaging capabilities as well as seamless integration with social channels.

THE OUTCOME – A HOME RUN!

With the installation of the system, and the launch of the new channels, fans, and scouts from all across the country had access to more than 500 games of the leagues and enjoyed the quality video coverage.  At this time, MLB is offering all of the content free of charge to all registered viewers.  

With maintenance-free operation and low production costs, the Pixellot solution provides a comprehensive 360® solution for any league or federation seeking to inexpensively provide full coverage for their games and practices.

“We are excited to partner with Pixellot for the first seasons of the new Appalachian and MLB Draft Leagues. This partnership will provide the highest quality video coverage for families and fans in local and regional markets, while also showcasing players’ talents more broadly through state-of-the-art automated production technology. Pixellot will help us capture all the action for local communities, scouts, and baseball fans everywhere.”

John D’Angelo, Vice President and Head of Amateur and Medical at Major League Baseball