Vincent Garcia

Deputy Sports Editor

After witnessing years of success from other conferences’ networks, such as the Southeastern Conference’s SEC Network and the Big Ten’s Big Ten Network, many wondered which Power Five conference would follow suit. With multiple schools in the ACC asking for the creation of a network, citing it could provide substantial revenues and exposure for their programs, plans to create the channel began to come to fruition.

On Jul. 21, 2016, ESPN announced its intentions to launch the ACC Network (ACCN), a full-time cable channel that would solely be dedicated to the conference, in 2019. As preparations began to start the channel in the coming years, a launch date of Aug. 22, 2019 was set in stone by partners ESPN and the ACC.

With the network set to launch in less than four months, some fans may wonder how they’ll access Florida State’s events across the network. That’s where Seminole Productions comes into play.

Established in 1987, the school’s professional production group came to fruition when Mark Rodin, then an undergraduate student studying at FSU, was asked to help the football program out.

As a student helping assemble highlights and other projects for both the team and boosters at the time, the program asked for Rodin’s assistance as it began to transition from relying on film to video content. While the team needed to see all 22 players with numbers on camera, an issue arose when the only piece of equipment capable of handling the task came with an exorbitant price tag.

However, Rodin was able to turn the problem into a solution that the school would adopt and never look back from.

“Back then, the only camera that would do that was a professional-grade betacam television camera… a $50,000 camera,” Rodin said. “So, I told them if they’re going to spend that kind of money, we might as well do all of the production in house, and they loved the idea.”

Since then, Seminole Productions has continued to grow over the years while providing more and more services to the university under the management of Rodin, who has served as Executive Director of the group for 32 years since its inception.

The production group provides visual communications support for FSU, the government and other agencies throughout the state, as well as production and direction of in-game entertainment video board productions for all FSU facilities equipped with video and ribbon boards.

For Kirby Kander, the production group’s Senior Director of Live Events, Seminole Productions has been hard at work in doing so. As a member of an ESPN ACC Network leadership panel, which meets regularly to address the needs and expectations of the network, Kander says the production group is hard at work to showcase athletic events at an industry-standard level.

“We are completely overhauling the infrastructure and router to be able to support multiple productions occurring simultaneously,” Kander said. “We have upgraded and expanded our camera equipment, related graphics, and replay equipment to be industry standard for linear productions.”

According to TheACC.com, the network is planned to televise over 450 live sporting events, including 40 regular-season football games, 150 men’s and women’s basketball games, and 200 other regular-season contests from a wide range of the conference’s 27 sponsored sports. Shortly after the channel’s launch, the first live event it will show to fans across the country will be a season-opening football game between Georgia Tech and reigning national champion Clemson.

According to GetACCN.com, providers currently listed to carry the channel include satellite television provider DirecTV, fiber-optic networks Verizon FIOS and Google Fiber, and online streaming service Hulu, among others.

Additional providers are available based on customers’ locations, and for those who cannot access the network in their area or through their television provider, Rodin says fans can potentially change that by going to this website and requesting those services.

In order to provide these services for ’Noles fans, Seminole Productions, with funding by Florida State athletics, recently underwent a six-million-dollar facility upgrade that will bring everything from new equipment to a total of four control rooms, editing suites and engineering areas.

With these control rooms in the works, the plan is for Seminole Productions to have the ability to simultaneously broadcast two live FSU sporting events at once, as it did this past weekend with the Seminoles’ baseball and softball teams’ series against Wake Forest and Duke, respectively.

Although Seminole Productions certainly benefits from staffing 16 knowledgeable full-time employees and professional freelancers, students play a key role in carrying out the group’s production and video work for athletics, something that Rodin feels is essential for the success of the group.

“Students are in key positions all over,” Rodin said. “We have some freelance people, but students are heavily involved… it’s important for the network to be successful to have students involved.”

Through its ties with the FSU College of Communication and Information, students are significantly involved with Seminole Productions. There are two classes that run as part of Seminole Productions – a multi-camera class where students work with the group’s live event crew, and an advanced feature production class where students work with the group’s post-produced shows, such as the Willie Taggart Show and Seminole Sports Magazine.

For students like Alexandra Wendling, the knowledge and skills she’s learned through workshops and volunteering over 250 hours of her time with Seminole Productions highlight the positive impact the group has had on her college career.

“I initially joined Seminole Productions to do sideline reporting but found a love for the behind the scenes aspects, especially graphics,” Wendling said. “My experience behind the scenes helped me understand the process and communication between reporter, producer and audio, which helps me present myself professionally on camera.”

With the ACC Network set to showcase the conference’s talent throughout each of its sports in just a few months, Rodin feels that the exposure the channel will bring to ACC athletics is a major benefit, especially for programs like Florida State.

“The main thing is exposure,” Rodin said. “It’s going to help the department overall, which then helps the visibility of the school overall. I think it’s exciting when softball and soccer win national championships, and it gets the whole community involved.”

While sports like football and basketball draw in large crowds and attention, Rodin feels that the network will provide a variety of balanced coverage for both sports like these and others that may not attract as much coverage despite their success.

“I think it’ll be a good mix,” Rodin said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for sports that never really get television exposure to finally get some.”

As the final push in preparations for the launch of the network take place, some may wonder where the network will stand down the road. Rodin believes it will provide ACC schools like FSU the ability compete even better with programs in conferences like the SEC and Big Ten with networks of their own.

“As a whole, you need something like this to help level the playing field against some of the conferences that already have [a network],” Rodin said. “I think in five years… you’re going to have very competitive games and matches on the network that you want to see, because the teams are top teams in the country.”

Whatever the future holds, fans and supporters of Florida State should be excited for the launch of a network that will bring both excitement and improvements to athletics in one of the country’s premier conferences.