Preseason football games are useful labs for coaches and players, as they try out their on-field decisions. But plenty of testing is being done behind the scenes and off the field as well. ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew uses its preseason broadcasts to try out the newest playmakers on the MNF roster, starting with two new high-speed cameras that will make this season’s coverage sparkle -– in up to 600 frames per second.

SVG's fearless leader has taken his fearlessness overseas, roaming the halls of the International Broadcast Center – and the streets of Beijing – to give SVG readers the inside scoop on the latest broadcast news from the Summer Olympic Games. Ken's very own BOB (Beijing Olympic Blog) is only a few hours old, but already he's captured some choice images of local cuisine and equated a snack of fried scorpions with soft-shell crab.

We managed to snag a few minutes with the very busy Manolo Romero as he oversees Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, and even Romero, who says he is very hard on himself, is enjoying the current technical success. "I would give it an 8 or 9, especially in light of doing full HD in all areas, surround sound, and what is to date the largest video server in the industry," he says.

Olympic audio is utilizing 35 UPMAX:neo software-based upmixing systems during the telecasts. The system, a hybrid of Linear Acoustics’ UPMAX upmixing codec and a “tweaked” broadcast version of DTS NEO:6 codec, points the way for live 5.1 sports broadcasts integrating archived and prerecorded material that have mono or stereo soundtracks.

The Indianapolis Colts are known for their high-powered offense and quarterback Peyton Manning's almost machine-like ability to produce touchdowns. So it is appropriate that, from the outside, the Colts' new home, Lucas Oil Stadium, resembles a factory. Inside, the $700 million, 63,000-seat facility has features that Colts fans will marvel at.

Ultimate Fighting Championship events have become a must see spectacle for those interested in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Zuffa, the promotion company that represents the UFC will once again turn to Alliance Digital to provide five Avid Adrenalines for UFC 88 in September. The Avid Adrenalines are essential to the UFC’s adoption of a tapeless workflow. “We are moving forward with the Avid EVS tapeless workflow. It gives us the flexibility to change a lot of things that we would not have been able to do in the past,” says Curtis Edge, the director of post production for the UFC.

Vizrt will introduce Escenic Content Studio, a all-in-one solution for online content production. Escenic Content Studio is now fully integrated with Vizrt video asset management tools Viz Video Hub 1.2 and Viz Ardome.

After eight months of testing, a plan to employ unused TV channels to provide cheap, high-speed wireless Internet networks still faces determined opposition and an uncertain future, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FCC will have the final say in the battle between the broadcasters -- which fear interference on the airwaves they'll still be using -- and the companies that want to share the television airwaves, using them for high-speed wireless service that could spur the development of new wireless gadgets.

The New York Times says that after a string of disappointing years in prime time, NBC executives had high hopes for a turnaround with the Beijing Olympics; but those hopes were tempered by a string of concerns. The Beijing Games have become the hottest event of the summer, with numbers that so far have been certifiably big — far beyond the network’s expectations.

RF Central is rolling out its new RFX-PRX-II portable handheld COFDM monitor/receiver at IBC. Ideal for a wide range of applications including ENG confidence monitoring and security surveillance, this lightweight palm-sized receiver (available in 2 GHz and 5.8 GHz) is packaged in a compact housing that spans just 16 x 12 x 3.8 centimeters. To ensure durability, the system is fully ruggedized using an ABS plastic shell.

Riedel Communications relocated its US headquarters to a new facility in Glendale, California. Riedel, which in the past shared offices both on the East and on the West Coast with other companies, moved to their new 3,200 square foot building in Glendale, CA, close to its former Burbank address. “It was obvious that we needed to take a step forward. Having our own building allows us to optimize our business processes, to have a central warehouse with a significantly larger stock and do repairs directly here in the US”, said Kelly Fair, Riedel’s Sales Manager.

The Networks of NBC Universal have reached 180 million total viewers, 30.6 million average viewers in primetime and a rating of 17.7 rating/30 share, each posting significant gains compared to Athens in 2004. NBC's primetime Olympics telecasts doubled the combined results of ABC, CBS and Fox in average viewers on each of the seven nights of Olympic coverage to date.

Using YouTube videos and old-fashioned lobbying, Google launched a campaign Monday to mobilize public support for opening up unused portions of the TV spectrum for unlicensed Internet devices and expanded broadband access.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Tuesday it hired sports talk personality Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, former star of the "Mike and the Mad Dog" show, for a five-year contract to headline a new sports talk channel available on both Sirius and XM satellite radio.

If you think that "football is life," Sprint is making it much easier to get your fix at all times. On Monday, the carrier and the National Football League released a new application that brings the pigskin right to your cell phone.

Sunday night's preseason game in Indianapolis between the Colts and the Buffalo Bills will only be available on television to those who subscribe to the NFL Network.

The vision Comcast has for the future of TV isn’t locked up somewhere inside its brand-new, glass-encased headquarters in downtown Philadelphia. The rough cut of the cable company’s ideas are already playing out on the Internet, at Fancast.com.

Charles Barkley is a great basketball analyst and talk-show guest, but his golfing apparently needs some work.

As the line drive jumps off the bat of J.D. Drew of the Boston Red Sox, you leap up from your "Monster Seat" on top of Fenway Park's Green Monster wall in anticipation.

Fewer Americans are reading newspapers -- they are getting their news online instead -- but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to the Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news-consumption habits.

At the dawn of high-definition television about 10 years ago, any number of serious and well-respected technologists were expecting its quick demise.

David Katz is heading into a Web site battle against Internet sports powerhouses like the ones run by ESPN, Yahoo, Fox Sports, Major League Baseball and AOL. At least he knows the enemy.