Kurt
Heitmann and the good people at CP Communications have established a
memorial trust fund in honor of ESPN and sports industry audio
legend Ron Scalise that will be used for the college education of his
three children: Rosario, 16, RJ, 11, and his daughter Brenna, 10. At
the request of the family this will be the only fund established to
limit confusion. For more information on donating to the fund please
click on this story.
All donations should be made out to the fund and should be sent to:
Kurt G. Heitmann
CP Communications, Inc.
200 Clearbrook Road
Elmsford, NY 10523
Third Annual Sports & Technology Research Study
The Sports Video Group and the Consumer Electronics Association has released the
third-annual “Sports & Technology Research Survey, highlighting the power
that sports content has as both a driver of HD set sales as well as other new
technologies. The survey includes our exclusive 2008 Super Bowl Briefing as
well as new data about consumer online sports viewing behavior.
Germany's 3-2 win over Turkey in the European
Championship semifinal was a thriller, but very few fans outside the
ground in Switzerland saw it, either in victorious Germany or
gloomy Turkey. The Associated Press reports that violent thunderstorm swept across Austria and knocked out power at
the International Broadcast Center in Vienna, from where television
images of the match were beamed around the world. The only broadcasters whose signal escaped the interruption were
Swiss public TV company SRG in Zurich and Al-Jazeera, said UEFA, which
couldn't immediately explain why those feeds were unaffected by the
Vienna broadcast center blackout.
With the match delicately poised at 1-1 in the second half at St.
Jakob Park in the Swiss city of Basel, screens around the world
flickered and went blank. Internet coverage also was hit by
the blackout.
"Tonight the television signal in the International Broadcast Centre
for the Germany-Turkey game has been interrupted several times in the
second half due to technical reasons which are currently being
investigated, in particular to evaluate the impact of the violent
electrical storm over Vienna at that time," UEFA said in a statement.
As the thunderstorm raged over Vienna, the images came and went several times in the closing minutes. Images returned in time for viewers to watch Lahm eliminate Turkey with a goal in the last minute of regulation time.
However, SRG spokesman Daniel Steiner, said the broadcaster has
access to an official feed in all Swiss stadiums, and they were able to
tap into that when the connection went down. The Swiss broadcaster
provided the feed to German TV station ZDF for 15 minutes, during which
time the two goals were scored.
The heavy rain, high winds and lightning also sparked the evacuation
of a fan zone in downtown Vienna and two people were injured after
being trampled in the rush to leave the area, police said.
Authorities said they gave the order to close the fan zone at 10:15
p.m. local time (2015 GMT) after the storm unleashed winds exceeding
100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour).
While the disruptive storm hit Vienna, spectators watching the game
at the ground in Basel remained dry and unperturbed throughout.
