The YES Network, cable TV home of the New York Yankees, is having a spring training of its own, giving production crews a chance to work in HD for all spring training games, a unique offering that spares HD viewers at home from blurry SD spring training games. “Eventually, we want to do everything in HD, and the natural migration now is to do spring training,” says Ed Delaney, VP Operations, YES Network.

Orad Hi-Tec Systems is heading to the Olympics following a $1.4 million deals with CCTV, China’s largest TV network and the largest TV network in the world in terms of viewer numbers, for 3D graphics systems. Orad’s systems will be located in CCTV’s main production center as well as in the Olympics IBC center. Orad’s Maestro system will be integrated into the Sobey newsroom system and will provide CCTV with fast news graphics and highlights from the Olympic games.

National Mobile Television is now offering a new self-contained transmission and signal management system that is only six-foot tall but offers gigantic improvements in signal routing and processing. Known as HDTX, NMT says the six-foot tall unit is one of the most powerful self-contained transmission and signal management infrastructures in the country.

CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports, CBS College Sports Network and the NCAA, has dropped its registration requirements for NCAA March Madness on Demand, giving immediate access to the video player to a large network of sites across the Internet. |

Broadcasting & Cable offers up an article that discusses the current problems plaguing the testing of White Space devices at the FCC. The FCC is planning to extend lab testing that is rumored to be going very poorly for the likes of Microsoft and Phillips. When, if ever, the lab testing ends the Sports Video Group and its members plan on extending the opportunity for field trials to the FCC. But David Donovan, MSTV president, thinks the FCC has more pressing issues.“I think the FCC’s time would be better spent doing technical work on the DTV transition rather than trying to push technology that simply does not work in the lab, let alone in the real world,” Donovan said.

DNF Controls announced three key personnel developments that significantly strengthen the company's domestic and international sales capacity. The company has hired Linda Rico and Maya Shendelman into newly created U.S. sales representative positions, responsible for developing relationships with new and existing customers and assisting them with all their sales needs. In addition, Robert Goldsobel, DNF's inside sales manager for global sales, will now operate out of Raleigh, N.C., assuming additional sales support activities for customers in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania.

Ikegami HDL-50 one-piece POV cameras have been a part of some of this year's biggest sporting events, including Super Bowl XLII and NASCAR coverage on Fox, ESPN, and Speed.

Edgar Shane has been promoted to JVC Professional general manager, Engineering. Prior to being named General Manager, Engineering, Shane was Senior Product Manager for JVC's Display Products division. In this position, Shane worked closely with JVC factories on new product development, market positioning and competitive analysis. The company says he also played an important role in new product launch initiatives to coincide with marketing efforts and training and sales support.

Software Generation Ltd (SGL), a provider of content archive and storage management software for media and entertainment, has been selected by PBS station, KNME-TV as a major part of the network's New Mexico Public Television Digital Conversion Project. The SGL FlashNet installation was carried out by SGL's US partner, CUC Systems.

Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com), developers of ultra high-performance, software-based solutions for networked storage infrastructure and media management, will unveil the new MAXedit Server Edition, a cost-effective, server-based workgroup editing solution at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2008 convention being held from April 14-17 in Las Vegas.

FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Deborah Taylor Tate will speak on Tuesday, April 15 during The Regulatory Face-off at the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Sony Creative Software announced that Les Stroud, the host and creator of Discovery Channel's popular series Survivorman, will give the keynote presentation at its "Full HD - Over the Top" user group event to be held Monday, April 14 from 6:30 - 9:00 pm in room N250 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.