After a tornado struck downtown Atlanta last Friday night during the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament Raycom Sports, which was televising the event, found itself at the center of its own storm: moving to a new venue in the dark of night and spending a Saturday morning contacting 60 local stations concerning schedule changes. “It was a very tough thing to get through,” says Raycom Sports Executive Producer Jimmy Rayburn. But with a lot of hard work, tireless energy, and some good old-fashioned luck Raycom Sports persevered.

While WWE fans count down the days until WrestleMania 24 later this month the WWE itself is in the midst of turning its entire organization over to high definition. Off the heels of moving its three brands, Raw, Smackdown, and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) and PPV events to HD the WWE facility in Stamford, CT, will now operate a server-based HD production and digital system.

When the NCAA Men’s Final Four showdown in San Antonio plays out April 5 and 7, the CBS Sports crews that have been chasing the 65 teams around the country since mid-March will have become experts at IP-based intercom. The network chose Intracom’s VCOM system, an all-software IoIP (intercom-over-Internet Protocol) consisting of a server-side Virtual Matrix summing/mixing engine and client-side control panels for multi-channel/multi-access intercom operations.

Sports fans are using the Internet at greater rates than ever before to watch games and follow their favorite sports teams, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The Third Annual Sports and Technology Study: Future of Sports Content Consumption, conducted by CEA and the Sports Video Group (SVG), shows that nearly four in ten (38%) sports fans will download and watch a game at no cost over the next two years, an increase of 10 percent from 2007. Networks are offering fans the ability to watch games online – including the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – in response to fans’ increased appetite for online sports.

Corplex, a remote production services provider and Uplit, a satellite communications company have both joined the Sports Video Group as a mobile corporate sponsors. SVG would also like to welcome back VER as they have renewed their sponsorship.

Mira Mobile Television has begun construction of a new 53 foot HD expando designated M7HD. Designed to serve MIRA’s core business segment, regional/national network sports and corporate productions, M7HD will have the most extensive technical core of any HD truck in MIRA’s fleet.

ESPNEWS, will debut a new high-definition studio and an entire new look on Sunday, March 30 at 8 a.m. ET with the first hour simulcast on ESPN HD. In addition, twice later that day – at 11:30 a.m. and at 11:30 p.m. – ESPNEWS HD will be simulcast for 30 minutes on ESPN2 HD.

NVISION’s is enhancing its Synapse line of broadcast modules with Synapse Cortex software, a single application that configures, controls, and monitors a network comprised of NVISION’s Synapse broadcast modules. Offered free of charge, Cortex includes all the functionality of three previous Synapse applications, set up, back up, and control panel configuration, as well as several new features, such as Control Monitoring and an all-new graphical user interface (GUI) for ease of use during set up of more complex modules.

FSN Southwest and the Dallas Mavericks will provide a look into the future of sports television on March 25 when they team with PACE to produce the first-ever NBA regular-season game live in 3D HD secured through PACE Fusion 3D and the third ever live sporting event presented in the innovative format.

OmniBus Systems, the provider of comprehensive broadcast automation and content management solutions, launches Colossus v.3.5, the latest version of the Colossus multi-channel automation system.

XOrbit, a manufacturer of broadcasting automation, management, and distribution solutions launched Xilex, a revolutionary new process to embed closed captions directly to MPEG video files. Xilex inserts captions directly into SD, HD, program, and transport stream MPEG files without the need to encode physical media. Programs can be captioned in a fraction of the time of the former, tape-based process.

Genesis Networks, a provider of next-generation global video transmission services, has established an independent point of presence (POP) in the United Nations' Studio H broadcasting facility, located in the core of the U.N.'s New York City headquarters. The Genesis installation provides news bureaus covering U.N. events with a reliable and cost-effective means of delivering news feeds to their global affiliates.

Wireworks Corporation, the innovator of audio/video cabling systems, features the DT12 Audio Cabling System at NAB 2008 (Booth C7924). Consisting of a DT12 sports broadcast breakout box, trunks and tails, the DT12 Audio Cabling System is designed for rigorous sports applications and is suitable for a wide range of indoor and outdoor sporting events, such as basketball, golf and football.

WASP3D, the real-time 3D television graphics solution entered into an agreement with UK based IQ Broadcast Limited as its channel partner for United Kingdom. IQ Broadcast will be responsible for selling and marketing its products in the United Kingdom while also providing training and product support in collaboration with WASP3D. The agreement would immediately expand the availability of WASP3D solution to television broadcasters across Britain.

Score Media Inc. will offer basketball fans the ability to watch its exclusive NCAA March Madness coverage free On Demand from Rogers Personal TV. Starting March 21, action from all 63 tournament games will be available to digital cable customers after they air on The Score, with select games and highlights available as early as 24 hours after the live broadcast.

Clear-Com Communication Systems introduces Version 5.0 of its Eclipse Digital Matrix high-performance intercom system at NAB 2008 (Booth C5908). Acting as a central switching unit for communications across a broadcast operation, Eclipse Digital Matrix Version 5.0 links Clear-Com’s V-Series Panels and CellCom wireless beltpacks and headsets for cost-effective and universal access to communication in the studio or out in the field with more connectivity options than ever before.

RF Central, a digital microwave technology provider, is presenting the best of both worlds for transmission capabilities through the introduction of its RFX-ENG-II Dual Band package, which makes its debut at NAB 2008 (Booth C6622). Presenting a state-of-the-art system capable of originating either 2 GHz or 7 GHz COFDM digital transmissions from one unit, the RFX-ENG-II is ideal for ENG news operations where broadcasters require use of both 2 GHz and 7 GHz bands.