US sports broadcaster Universal Sports Network, a subsidiary of the NBC network, will relocate its production and broadcast operations from Los Angeles, California, to Denver, Colorado, in the new year.
Universal has selected Comcast Media Center, a business unit of Comcast Cable, as its local partner in Colorado to provide studio production facilities, linear master control origination and distribution services. Universal will be fully operational at the CMC on January 1.
Universal said the move to Denver, which will create 44 new jobs, will allow it to tap into the expertise CMC has acquired through the technical innovations it has developed and implemented for other national and regional sports networks, including the NHL Network, the channel of the NHL ice hockey league, and the Pac-12 Networks, the channels of the Pac-12 US college sports conference.
“Moving our production and broadcast operations to Colorado will create exciting new opportunities for our network,” David Sternberg, chief executive of Universal Sports, said. “CMC’s advanced technological capabilities, combined with the incentive programme offered by the State of Colorado, helped to make our relocation decision an easy one.”
Sternberg added: “The proximity of CMC’s facility to many of our distribution partners, advertisers and Olympic sports programming suppliers makes it an ideal location for our production and operations team, and will enable us to continue delivering world-class sports programming to our viewers across the country.”