Television and Entertainment
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS (their first since Super Bowl XXVI in 1992). Play-by-play announcer Greg Gumbel became the first African-American announcer to call a major sports championship. He was joined in the broadcast booth with color commentator Phil Simms. Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein roamed the sidelines. Jim Nantz hosted all the events with help from his then-fellow cast members from The NFL Today: Mike Ditka, Craig James, Randy Cross, and Jerry Glanville. The desk reporting was done aboard the famous Buccaneer Cove pirate ship at the endzone of Raymond James Stadium.
The broadcast featured the brand-new EyeVision instant-replay system, which provided rapid-fire sequential shots from a series of cameras positioned around the top of the stadium. It allowed for bullet time effects, similar to those used in the movie The Matrix.
It was extremely unusual for CBS to debut a major new technology system at an event the size of the Super Bowl. The EyeVision system proved its mettle when it helped to uphold a replay challenge on a Jamal Lewis fourth quarter touchdown. EyeVision was also used during the broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXV half-time show, which was directed by Saturday Night Live director Beth McCarthy-Miller.
CBS also produced a separate HDTV broadcast of the game in the 1080p format, with Kevin Harlan and Daryl Johnston announcing. It was the second year that the game was televised in both standard-definition TV (NTSC) and HDTV.
As previously mentioned, this was the first Super Bowl to be aired on CBS in nine years (XXVI). Following the 1993 season, Fox bought the rights to air the NFC package leaving CBS without the NFL for the next four years until 1998, when they began broadcasting the AFC package, bringing an end to NBC's 33 year stint.
Along with being the first African-American to be the play-by-play announcer for a Super Bowl, Greg Gumbel also became the third person to both host a Super Bowl pre-game show and call the game. Gumbel was the host during his first stint with CBS for Super Bowl XXVI and he was the pre-game host for Super Bowls XXX and XXXII when he was with NBC. He joined Dick Enberg and Al Michaels.
Read more about this topic: Super Bowl XXXV
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more television addicts, more baseball and football addicts, more movie addicts, and certainly more alcohol addicts in this country than there are narcotics addicts.”
—Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)