Elon Communications professor Max Negin is working as a digital media manager for NBC in London for the Summer Olympics.
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For the third time in four years, Assistant Professor Max Negin in the School of Communications has taken his turn as part of NBC’s Olympic Games production crew—this time as a digital media manager in London for the XXX Summer Olympiad.
NBC’s entire operation is now tapeless, which means, Negin says, video files of the events are constantly streaming into the NBC broadcast area. Negin’s job is to help facilitate the transfer of footage from the massive database where it’s stored to editors, who use it to create features that air on the network.
Negin also oversees the delivery of the finished packages from editors to the tape room for playback across daytime, prime time and late-night schedules.
Negin arrived in London July 20—a week before the Game’s opening ceremonies—so he could be trained on the new technology developed by Avid for a Media Asset Management system and so he could help prepare a group of interns for the process of logging and clipping incoming media.
“As the Games have progressed, I have continued to hone and develop this cutting-edge process of working in a tapeless environment,” Negin says. “This is the first time NBC has attempted a completely tape-free acquisition of feeds and delivery of media.”
Negin has previously worked for NBC during its coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Negin won a 2010 National Academy of Arts & Sciences Sports Emmy Award for his efforts as part of the studio team for NBC’s coverage from Vancouver, where he served as a digital replay operator.
Negin teaches Digital Media Convergence, Sports Broadcasting and Sports & Media, among other courses, in the School of Communications. He also advises the student-produced TV program “Elon Phoenix Weekly,” a half-hour show highlighting Elon athletics that airs on Saturday mornings on ESPN2.
Professionally, Negin has worked as a digital replay operator and editor for HBO, FOX and ESPN. He also spent three seasons as the video coordinator for Phillies TV and two seasons as the broadcast coordinator for the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s won two other Emmys for his work as a video coordinator with the Philadelphia Phillies and for promotional writing for Fox 29 in Philadelphia.