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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: SVG and more than 275 sport industry professionals came
together on Sunday night at the
On Sept. 9 the Sports Video Group will hold its second-annual Sport Technology Reception at IBC. This year's event will honor SFP and France Televisions for their pioneering HD production work on this year's Tour de France. The event will be held in the Business Club Lounge of the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sept 9.
| Full Story On June 26 the Sports Technology Alliance, formed by Sports Video Group and top
professional and collegiate sports leagues, went to Washington, DC to meet
with senior officials at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
and on the Hill. The goal? To ensure that government officials are
aware of the dangers allowing unlicensed portable consumer devices into
the current “White Space” spectrum poses to not only the quality of TV
productions but also the quality of competition and both athlete and
fan safety.
| Full Story David Donovan, president of Maximum Services Television, argues that the time is now for action in Washington, DC, if the sports production community expects to win the fight against White Spaces spectrum pollution. While two bills have been introduced attacking the spectrum another piece, introduced by Rep. Billy Rush (D-IL), supports the wireless microphone and TV industry. Read on for more information.
| Full Story Baseball broadcasters are warming up with the players in Florida and Arizona for the upcoming MLB season. SportsTime Ohio (STO) will broadcast eight preseason Cleveland Indian games on WKYC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland while the YES Network, home of the New York Yankees will blast out 16 games. But neither will do HD despite strong HD plans for the upcoming regular season.
| Full Story NESN, which broadcasts the Boston Red Sox, will get into spring
training with NMT’s DX7 truck, outfitted with six Sony BVP-900 hard
cameras and three Sony BVP-950 handheld cameras complete with Fujinon
lenses. Mike Narracci, NESN senior coordinating director shared his
thoughts on the upcoming season with SVG Editorial Assistant Andrew
Lippe. The Red Sox ballpark is located just outside of Ft. Myers, FL,
in the City of Palms Park. The Sox first home pre-season game is Feb.
28 against the Minnesota Twins. | Full Story
Major league baseball spring training is underway for 2007 and regional
sports networks are gearing up for their own version of spring
training. SportsNet New York, which broadcasts the New York Mets, will
get into regular-season form with NEP Supershooter 8, outfitted Sony
BVP-900 hard cameras and Sony BVP-950 handheld cameras complete with
Canon 70X1 studio lenses as well as 20x1 handheld lenses. Curt Gowdy,
Jr., SportsNet New York vice president and executive producer spoke
with SVG Editorial Assistant Andrew Lippe about the ramp up to the
regular season. | Full Story
The year of 2007 is shaping up to be the year of mobile video as
companies like Qualcomm, AT&T, and Verizon, together with dozens of
broadcast and cable networks that include CBS, ESPN, Comedy Central,
Fox, MTV and NBC, will deliver nearly 30 channels of video to
cellphones and other mobile devices that contain a MediaFLO receiver
chip. Gina Lombardi, MediaFLO president, discussed the possibilities and challenges with SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer. | Full Story
Continental Airlines Arena is home to the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. The venue is also the playground for concerts and wrestling events. “The multimedia productions department works in conjunction with the teams, and arena attendees to entertain and inform the fans at Continental Airlines Arena,”
said Richard Carlino Director, Multimedia Event Productions at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. | Full Story
Aquila Productions in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has completely rebuilt
the broadcast studio and control center at Rexall Place, home of the
National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers, with a suite of
enterprise-class broadcast television technology from Harris
Corporation and information technology company. | Full Story
The Ottawa Senators since their return to the NHL in 1996 they have consistently been a Stanley Cup Contender.
The Senators current scoreboard is a
four sided video scoreboard, with only 8x10 foot LED screens. “Our video scoreboard is six years old,” said
Glen Gower, Director of Game Entertainment, Ottawa Senators Hockey Club.
” We need to upgrade to bigger screens."
The HSBC Arena, home to the Buffalo Sabres are of the NHL’s elite teams this season. Led by a potent offense and strong goaltending they had three representatives at Wednesday’s All Star Game, in
The Pengrowth Saddledome, home to the NHL’s Calgary Flames prides itself on hockey tradition. “We are one of the only buildings in the league that tries to do a full hockey telecast,” said Carlo Petrini Broadcast, director and producer, at Pengrowth Saddledome. “We show every penalty, every goal replay, people are surprised by how much we do.” | Full Story
When fans of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks file into the United Center it is up to Sergio Lozano, the director of scoreboard of operations for the United Center, to orchestrates a multitude of graphics and videos and keep fans engaged in the action. “We incorporate graphics, and elements that set us apart from norm,” he says, adding that an Avid Adrenaline and Media Composer system ensure high-quality work. | Full Story John Leach, director of game operations for the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, home of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and WNBA's Charlotte Sting, says his scoreboard production videos should be “compelling enough to capture attention.” With the help of four Ikegami cameras and a Daktronics LED scoreboard he and his team (a full time director, manager, coordinator and associate producer) do just that. | Full Story When Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic or Denver Nuggets guard Allen Iverson make magic it’s up to Scott Jensen, Senior Avid video editor/graphics DJ Kronke Sports Enterprises, to ensure that fans keep on top of every play. Fortunately, like the players and coaches, he has all the right gear. "Kronke Sports Enterprises has provided my crew with all the tools we need and made Pepsi Center a killer place to work in,” he says. | Full Story
When Jonny Greco, Cleveland Cavaliers director of video production, and
his production crew sit down to create content and entertainment for
fans at the Quicken Loans Arena he has three goals: “We want to educate
the fans on our team and our city and, most of all, create an
enthusiasm that leads to a home-court advantage.” While Lebron James gives the Cavaliers an advantage on the court
Panasonic and Sony SD cameras capture images to capture on-court action
while Grass Valley handheld cameras are used for roaming the stands along with Fujinon lenses.
“We pride ourselves on covering it all,” says Greco. | Full Story
Is HD the road the financial Nirvana? That
was the focus of the HD World Conference and Exposition keynote address
from David Hill, DirecTV Entertainment president and Fox Sports TV
Group chairman, kicked off the HD World Conference and Exposition.
“At
DirecTV we’ve definitely drunk the HD Kool-Aid,” he said. “In the
middle of 2007 we’ll have more HD capacity than any other satellite or
cable operator in the world. And we don’t believe it’s a passing fad.”
| Full Story Is HD the road the financial Nirvana? That was the focus of the HD
World Conference and Exposition keynote address from David Hill,
DirecTV Entertainment president and Fox Sports TV Group chairman,
kicked off the HD World Conference and Exposition. “At DirecTV we’ve definitely drunk the HD Kool-Aid,” he said. “In the
middle of 2007 we’ll have more HD capacity than any other satellite or
cable operator in the world. And we don’t believe it’s a passing fad.”
While DirecTV looks to drive revenues with HD tiers and by pulling away
cable subscribers hungry for more HD services HD is even more important
for cable networks. Why? Because cable ad revenues have fallen back to
a zero increase as the ability for cable to deliver to narrow audiences
is being confronted with online services that can give advertisers more
value. | Full Story
Glenn Adamo, a decision-maker at the National Football League and one
of the founding fathers of the NFL Network, is not the typical
hard-nosed football executive. A genuinely thoughtful person who is
known in the industry for being a nice, happy guy, the vice president
of media operations for the NFL considers himself blessed to wake up
every day and do what makes him happy.
“I work really hard, I give everybody’s an honest day’s work and more,
and I’m a man of my word,” Adamo says. “My thing is the glass is a lot
more than half full, but we can only see half of it. The reason I’m
happy is because I’m accomplishing what I set out to.” | Full Story
When Dave Glover, a sports technoogy consultant and former vice president at Avid Sports was recently named CEO of Game Plan Technologies, provider of a video editing and analysis system for athletic teams, it signaled a shift in momentum in the marketplace. Keeping its costs low through a software-only solution, Game Plan
caters to large sports like football and basketball at the high school
and Division II and III college level, as well as volleyball, soccer,
softball, and a range of other sports in those markets. Glover sat down with SVG and shared
his vision for the company and trends he sees developing in the
industry.
| Full Story ESPN’s decision to shift its mobile efforts out of the MVNO world and towards a licensing deal that leaves the dirty work of selling phones and subscriptions to the likes of Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon will also change the day-to-day duties of Manish Jha, Mobile ESPN SVP and GM.
SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer was able to grab a few minutes with Manish Jha, Mobile ESPN SVP and GM, shortly after the announcement to discuss the future of ESPN’s mobile efforts.
| Full Story Sports technology professionals involved in content creation and distribution will come together at New York City's Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006 in New York City for the first-annual SVG League Technology Summit. The one-day event will bring together top league and team executives with their broadcast, broadband, mobile partners and technology providers to discuss the latest techniques for maximizing the quality of the fan experience at the arena, at home, and on the road.The one-day event will bring together top league and team executives with their broadcast, broadband, mobile partners and technology providers. "This Summit will deliver the clearest picture of where our industry is going and what the content providers view as their priorities and new directions," says SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer. "The leagues, teams, their distribution partners and the remote production community are building the business of sports with advanced technologies and we'll discuss all of them." | Full StoryThe Sports Video Group today announced it will hold the industry's first-annual League Technology Summit on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006, at New York's Hilton Hotel. The one-day event will bring together top league and team executives with their broadcast, broadband, mobile partners and technology providers.
"This Summit will deliver the clearest picture of where our industry is going and what the content providers view as their priorities and new directions," says SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer. "The leagues, teams, their distribution partners and the remote production community are building the business of sports with advanced technologies and we'll discuss all of them." | Full Story
Dave Zur, vice president of operations at Denver-based Altitude Sports Network, was at a young age when he realized he had a knack for grasping music, specifically, rock and roll. "I wanted to be a hard-rock bass player," he says of his days growing up in Parma Heights, Ohio. Today that dream is still alive every Wednesday night when he takes the stage as part of "Dellusions of Grandeur," a rock-and-roll band.
But while his band may be a dellusion of grandeur the same can't be said of his career in the sports industry as he made the move from freelancer to internal operations and engineering. | Full Story
Sports Video Group invites its members and their guests to a free, exclusive, up-close look at the Snell & Wilcox Kahuna production switcher at Bexel NY, 625 West 55th Street, New York City, Tuesday, August 22.
Capable of SD, HD or simulcast operation, the Kahuna production switcher also has the unique capability of effectively fusing mixed SD, 720p and1080i sources into one's choice of outputs. The one-hour session includes a special presentation by Ken
Schneider, Kahuna Program Manager and Tedd Tramaloni, president of Great Bay Teleproductions. To register for this free event please contact Andrew@sportsvideo.org. | Full Story Those who rely on wireless audio production and communication devices face a daunting challenge if the U.S. government passes proposed legislation to allow unlicensed devices into licensed spectrum. While many see the passage as a foregone conclusion, hope remains that the industry can slow or stsop the legislation if it makes its point clearly enough. | Full Story
As HD sports productions increasingly become the norm at national and regional sports networks so is the demand for quality Surround Sound productions. The challenge? Ensuring that those who make a living sitting behind the audio console in a remote production vehicle have the skills to put together a Surround Sound experience that meets the needs of the network.
“We need to get more people on what I call the A list so we aren’t scrounging around on Wednesday for a Friday setup,” says Ron Scalise, ESPN remote operations audio project manager. “Most of the stick and ball stuff today is HD.” | Full Story
The World Cup is winding down this week but that doesn’t mean HBS (Host Broadcast Services), the company responsible for the multi-lateral and unilateral World Cup feeds and ensuring that every electronic media outlet is happy, will slow down.
The company is already gearing up for the 15th Asian Games to be held in Qatar this December and then it’s time to get serious about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Francis Tellier, HBS CEO, took a few minutes to speak with SVG about the 2006 World Cup just prior to the Germany/Argentina matchup. | Full Story
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