Riedel Communications intercom systems are playing a larger role in NHL facilities as a number of arenas and Versus, the NHL’s top broadcast partner, have adopted Riedel Artist intercom systems. The partyline and matrixing systems range from 32x32 inputs and outputs to upwards of 128x128. The NHL-related users include Madison Square Garden in New York City, Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix, HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA, and the Versus Network in Stamford, CT.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler expressed his concerns on the white spaces issue in an OP-ED piece in Saturday’s New York Times. “Unlicensed devices, like wireless laptops and remote-controlled toys, operating in the white spaces will probably cause havoc to TV viewers, theater goers and sports fans. They could potentially render digital television sets and the government-subsidized converter boxes inoperable,” says Nadler “While we should encourage technical developments, we should urge the F.C.C. to proceed with caution.”

On2 Technologies Inc, a provider of video compression technologies, released the Hantro 8190 multi-format configurable hardware RTL video decoder. Offering mobile phone and device designers a highly optimized hardware decoder, the Hantro 8190 supports the hugely popular Adobe Flash video format plus a wide range of popular and emerging formats used for mobile video, Internet video, broadcast video and video-conferencing.

At the 2008 NAB Show, Calrec Audio will announce a major technology initiative developed with partner Ross Video Ltd. The collaboration allows remote control of fader modules on any Calrec console. On a basic level, this protocol enables a vision mixer to take control over the serial interface to autofades on the Calrec desk. Also expect to see a new Offline Editor for emulation of a Calrec console PC application on any other PC, such as a laptop.

Snell & Wilcox will head to NAB with a number of new products and enhancements to existing products, including improvements to its Kahuna production switcher lineup.

McCune Audio Video Lighting, recently decided to begin replacing its entire stock of wireless audio equipment with Sennheiser wireless, a decision made after extensive testing of all the wireless equipment on the market, is noteworthy.

FOR-A Corporation of America, a manufacturer of video and audio systems for the broadcast and professional video industries, will introduce MediaConcierge, a comprehensive content management system for use by broadcast television stations and video production houses worldwide at NAB 2008 in Las Vegas from April 14-17, 2008 (Booth #SU5220)

SportsNet New York is looking for a looking for a Senior Director Of Engineering. Interested individuals should send their resume and cover letter with salary requirement by email to Scott Weinfeld or fax your resume to (212) 485- 4803.

Damon Phillips has been named vice president, ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband sports network. In this role, he will guide the strategic product vision, overseeing the programming and production of ESPN360.com, which is available at no additional charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. Phillips will be based in Bristol, Conn., and report to John Zehr, senior vice president, digital media production, and John Papa, vice president, strategic program planning.

Kirk Arnold has joined Avid Technologgy as executive vice president and general manager of Avid's Professional Video business unit, reporting directly to Avid Chief Executive Officer Gary Greenfield. In this role, Arnold will be responsible for all of Avid's products and services for the professional video market - broadcast television, post-production and media enterprises.

NBC Universal has added Oxygen, the newly acquired female-targeted network, as an additional Olympic platform to provide significant weekday coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA, will for the first time, offer all 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, from the first round of the tournament through the Men's Final Four and Championship in San Antonio on its NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) service.

Digital Rapids, a developer of scalable solutions for content ingest, encoding, transcoding, protection, streaming, delivery and playout has unveiled a significant new version of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager family of automated media transcoding software.