philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Extreme sports and drones are a natural match, but gaining approval to use the drones was a new experience for the sports network, according to Chris Calcinari, vice president, ESPN & ABC Sports remote production operations. “The whole process is so new, it almost too us up the last minute to get all the approvals signed off,” he said. The games run from Thursday, Jan. 22-25 in Aspen Colo.

The process began last fall when the Federal Aviation Administration—which is currently developing rules for the use of drones, but severely restricts use to certain commercial and government applications—approved six drone companies to provide commercial services for motion picture and television companies.

“Once we knew we had the right to do this, we started working with the vendors,” Calcineri said.