U.S. Figure Skating

U.S. Figure Skating (USFS) is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. The Event & Video Production department is a key resource for the association, handling live production for three to five major televised events annually, creating 150-200 pieces of content supporting USFS programs, vision, branding, and Team USA athletes. The production area also provides production equipment and oversight to a team of technical producers in the field acquiring footage from U.S. Figure Skating qualifying competition events, adding to the extensive archives that the department maintains.

The almost 100-year-old organization’s production environment was formed just six years ago. From simple storage and asset management to content creation, broadcast event management and live-production, “simple” wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was too difficult to store, tag and access footage.

• With deep knowledge of all components in place, Chesapeake assessed the hardware and infrastructure, recommending ways to extend the life of the infrastructure while simultaneously integrating workflow solutions.
• Chesapeake has become Event & Video Production’s media technology department, handling software upgrades, dealing with issues that come up, proactively performing system security and health checks, identifying new technologies and assisting with expansion plans.
• Disaster recovery protocol was a priority after Colorado fires came uncomfortably close to the facility.
• A rewrite of the software workflows, including a custom ingest workflow with metadata, was built so that every ingest was backed up and cloned on two LTO tapes.