Visionaries in Focus: Meet Rob Amaro, Head of TVU Sports

In an effort to delve deeper into the minds shaping the future of broadcasting technology, TVU Networks created Visionaries in Focus, a monthly series where we highlight employees and partners of TVU.

2023 was a monumental year for TVU, especially when it comes to sports. Many teams of people across the globe for TVU made that possible, but one person has been making waves in a short stint of time.

For our first of the series, we sat down with Rob Amaro, our Strategic Accounts Director for the Sports Division. With a career that spans across leading brands and a personal life filled with bold adventures, Rob’s journey is as compelling as his vision for the sports industry. Join us as we explore Rob’s insights and the forward-thinking approaches that contribute to the evolving landscape of sports broadcasting.

Can you share a standout sports moment or personal achievement that has left a lasting impact on you?

“Before transitioning into the business world of sports, I spent many years in front of the crowd as a collegiate athlete. Getting a chance to be on a team that advanced to the College World Series in Omaha was pretty special as it is one of the biggest goals for any college baseball player.”

Rob, what first ignited your passion for sports broadcasting? How does that passion align with your role as our Director of Sports?

“My family has worked in professional baseball for nearly 100 years – playing, coaching, scouting, announcing – so I’ve always had a passion for following sports. Over the past five years, we’ve seen explosive growth in broadcasting/streaming of sports content – amateur and professional – so it feels like a great opportunity to help TVU pursue more business relationships with Sports clients.”

Can you recall a moment in your role where you felt a strong sense of accomplishment or pride, knowing that TVU solutions played a key role in enhancing a client’s sports broadcasting experience? If so, could you share that particular achievement and how it made you feel?

“As I approach my first full year with TVU, I hope to have many more of these experiences. But one that comes to mind is how we supported MLB Network’s remote production of pregame shows for Home Run Derby and World Series Game 3.

Since it was a baseball-related program, there was immediate interest for me. But the partnership between TVU, T-Mobile, and MLB Network to make this a successful show was very exciting and a great opportunity to showcase our 5G capabilities in sports. I am proud and very appreciative of all the efforts from my internal support, product, and sales ops partners who helped make this a great experience for the client.”

In your opinion, what challenges are sports organization facing the most right now?

“What’s happening with regional sports networks for professional sports is creating a lot of uncertainty for teams, networks, and production companies in terms of distribution strategy.

Additionally, consumers are being pulled in so many directions with content being available to them on social media platforms, streaming services, traditional television programs, and more.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract an audience, so these organizations are challenged to be innovative with their content strategy.”

Looking ahead, as AI emerges as a prominent trend in the sports industry, how do you envision its role evolving in sports productions over the next 5 years? Are there specific aspects or applications of AI that you find particularly exciting or transformative for the industry?

“AI has been around for awhile, but with products like ChatGPT they have gone mainstream. The great thing about TVU is that we have been working in AI for years. Long before I even joined the team. So we are having lots of conversations with teams and companies who are looking for AI to improve their workflows and solve problems. It has been cool to see a network come to us with an idea or request and then we were able to make it happen, especially involving AI.

As for how teams and any major sports media network who are expanding their use of it… Right now, we have started to see a wide range of use cases especially around monetization. There is a desire to produce more content. The distribution rights I mentioned above has led to certain teams producing many more games and shows to manage throughout the year.

We know AI solutions will help clients easily produce, distribute, and monetize their content. It will be a game-changer especially if that means freeing up staff to do other tasks during a production.”

Looking to meet with Rob about your workflows and challenges? Fill out the form here.