SVG Year in Review: November

A gloomy cloud hung over the sports production industry when the calendar flipped to November and the specter of the NBA lockout became a reality with regular season games beginning to be cancelled on November 1.

The rest of the sports schedule continued to roll on, however, as ESPN opened their month with two days worth of coverage at the Breeders’ Cup and CP Communications produced the broadcast feed of the New York City Marathon for NBC Sports.

On the gridiron, NFL Network ushered in another season of its Thursday Night Football package while CBS Sports Network undertook the unique task of broadcasting a college football game from Yankee Stadium.

NBC Sports bolstered its lineup in preparation for the 2012 launch of NBC Sports Network by adding former HBO Sports president Ross Greenberg to produce Costas Now and documentaries, as well as to spearhead the announced NHL Original Productions.

National networks and RSNs across the country welcomed back college basketball, with the unofficial tip off to the season taking place in a way it never had before with the debut of the first Carrier Classic. Elsewhere in the college space, Turner Sports teamed up with NCAA.com to stream 17 fall championships live online and The Big Ten Network launched its live streaming mobile app for Apple devices, BTN2Go. SVG also held the second in its monthly webinar series, The Road to CSVS. November’s installment covered the importance of switching to high-definition broadcasting.

Fox Sports unveiled its newest venture with the first in a series of quarterly primetime network broadcasts of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Junior dos Santos’ first-round knock out victory over Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title may have lasted only 67 seconds, but the complete one-hour broadcast pulled in a whopping 3.1/5 household rating/share and 5.7 million viewers making it the most-watched UFC event ever and the most-watched professional fight of any kind in eight years.

SVG hosted its latest Sports Venue Technology Summit from Target Field in Minneapolis on Nov. 16. The event, which welcomed more than 100 industry leaders to MLB’s newest, state-of-the-art facility. CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the topics analyzed at the summit.

Just before Thanksgiving, ESPN announced a shakeup in its front office as John Skipper was named new president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks (effective Jan. 1, 2011). Skipper inherits the post from George Bodenheimer whose role shifted to Executive Chairman of ESPN.

The “worldwide leader” also broadcasted thrilling finales to both the NASCAR and Major League Soccer seasons.