November 5, 2003
NFL Network launches with AP's ENPS
The National Football League has launched NFL Network, the first 24-hour, seven-day-a-week cable and satellite television network dedicated solely to the NFL. ENPS, AP's news production system, is being used to produce the flagship nightly program NFL Total Access at the network's hub in Los Angeles, bringing audiences unprecedented behind-the-scenes perspective on the league and its teams.
NFL Network will feature all elements of the sport, with close-up views of players, fans, owners, coaches, officials, teams and the league itself regular staples of the programming. Initially, it is available on DIRECTV's basic service, reaching more than 11.8 million homes on Channel 212.
The new network will air original programming, show pre-season, and NFL Europe games and provide access to its 100 million-foot library of NFL Films. Its vision is to give football’s millions of fans a network to call their own using the NFL’s 84 year history and the latest technology.
"ENPS is an incredibly effective tool in putting together a television show," said Eric Weinberger, Coordinating Producer for NFL Total Access. "We depend daily on ENPS and have the confidence that the system will be able to handle any need that arises."
ENPS also controls a Pinnacle Deko character generator and interfaces with Avid Adrenaline non-linear editors alongside Thomson Grass Valley's Profile Servers and NewsQPro application. The network will use QTV's WinCue application for teleprompting, driven by ENPS. More than 50 products from 32 companies integrate with ENPS via the MOS protocol, and the ability of ENPS to connect journalists with a variety of resources and systems is transforming the traditional television production process.
AP provides technology for many of the world’s largest and most demanding broadcasters, and the ENPS system is now used by more than 44,000 reporters, writers, editors and producers in 42 countries.