A system and method of synchronizing the processing and distribution of audio-visual assets in a distributed production studio are presented. The method addresses the processing of broadcast television, including match moving computer graphics technology, in such an environment. Audio-visual sources provide the assets while processing nodes interact with them to produce a composite output. Synchronization of the communication between, and the processing by, the sources and nodes is managed by a master controller and delay buffers located on the nodes. Assets are tagged with updatable reference-to-zero values indicative of a current transmission delay between their last source and the controller. These reference-to-zero values are used by processing nodes to determine where in their local buffer to place each asset so they emerge from the buffer to a local digital signal processor in synchronicity and that assets originally produced at a common time are executed locally at a common time.