Supercars Media has implemented a new remote production model for its TV broadcasts, shifting operations for the Darwin Triple Crown from the event site to NEP's Andrews Hub in Sydney. This change, in collaboration with NEP, leverages fiber optic connectivity to transfer over 140 video feeds, 120 audio feeds, and eight data channels from Darwin to Sydney for production. The new hub model aims for enhanced efficiencies and will be used for the remainder of the Supercars season.
This shift marks a significant move for high-tier sports broadcasting in Australia, proving that low-latency remote production is viable even across massive geographic distances. By centralizing the heavy technical stack in Sydney, Supercars reduces the logistical overhead and costs associated with transporting massive outside broadcast units. This evolution mirrors global trends in REMI (Remote Integration Model) workflows seen in F1 and the NBA, allowing rights holders to reinvest savings into viewer-facing enhancements like 4K UHD and HDR. The success of this Darwin debut serves as a performance benchmark for NEP's IP-based infrastructure during high-speed, high-bandwidth live events. Industry participants should monitor whether this reduces production downtime and improves signal reliability in remote racing environments.
NEP's Andrews Hub has been operational since February 2018 and represents one of the largest centralized IP production facilities in the world. The hub connects to more than 29 sporting venues across Australia via a high-bandwidth distributed production network, with some venues linked at 50 Gbps carrying uncompressed signals and others at 10 Gbps using VC-2 compression. NEP Australia completed an on-air test in January 2018 producing a Hyundai A-League soccer match in Brisbane from a temporary facility in Sydney, 560 miles away, using SMPTE ST 2110 for uncompressed HD transport. That initial proof of concept established the technical foundation that Supercars now relies on for its Darwin-to-Sydney remote production at roughly four times the distance.
The Andrews Hub underwent a major upgrade in late 2021, adding all-4K HDR capability and expanding its control room count. NEP announced in December 2021 that the second-generation Andrews Hub would support all-4K HDR broadcasts through the largest set of facilities worldwide built for tier-one live sports coverage, with four new control rooms, upgraded network operations centres, dedicated HDR grading suites, and new commentary positions added. The upgrade also introduced a "hybrid grip" trailer concept, a single-trailer unit with on-board streaming technology that brings automated Andrews Hub workflows to smaller remote events, reducing the logistics footprint for productions that still need some on-site presence.
The underlying transport architecture connecting venues to the Andrews Hub was built by Telstra Broadcast Services, which rolled out fiber-optic links to all 29 venues selected by NEP. The Sydney and Melbourne hubs are connected via a 320 Gbps entry point into the Andrews Hub control area, with additional dark fiber and Optus connections providing access to venues outside the primary distributed production network. For the Supercars Darwin deployment, this infrastructure means the 140 video feeds and 120 audio feeds travel over a network originally dimensioned for concurrent multi-sport production, providing headroom that smaller remote productions would struggle to match.
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