As part of a three-year deal, Reality Check Systems (RCS) is lending its graphics expertise and technology to 29 WTA Media tennis broadcasts this season. WTA Media is a joint venture between leading digital sports content and media powerhouse Perform Group and the Women’s Tennis Association. RCS’ partnership with WTA Media went on air January 1, as the Shenzhen Open broadcast debuted a full slate of new data-driven graphics created by RCS and powered by its technology solutions.
Prior to the tournament, RCS designed and built all of the match graphics for WTA Media’s world feed, including opens, full screens and more; developed custom control and real-time scoring apps; and created a talent and production stats display. To facilitate graphics control and playout, their team architected mobile graphics flypacks that travel to each tournament. Each system is integrated with RCS’ Foundation data service, and receives and processes data from WTA Media’s data aggregator, Umpire PDAs and WTA’s historical database, for use in real-time graphics production. RCS graphics operators are providing a production assist for all 29 tournaments; an additional 26 locally produced tournaments will also leverage RCS’ graphics package.
“Our deal with WTA marks the largest yet in the history of women’s sports, so naturally we wanted to take our production value to the next level. Having worked with RCS on DAZN and other projects, we knew they could help us make a big splash with high-end graphics that complement the players and the game,” shared, John Learing, MD, WTA Media. “They’ve done an amazing job and we look forward to working with them to improve the quality of our coverage even further.”
“WTA is home to some of the most amazing tennis talent, and we wanted to give its tournament productions the attention and respect they deserve with a modern look and feel,” shared RCS EMEA Managing Director Mike Ward. “WTA Media made this easy and fun. Channeling their passion for the sport and working with both the WTA Media and Perform teams, we were able to deliver an efficient yet compelling package that tennis fans will love.”