Crosscreek Television Productions has built Voyager 9, a new remote-production unit that will meet the production needs of ESPN’s Southeastern Conference coverage for both ESPN networks and its syndication partners. “It’s a beautiful thing,” says Crosscreek CPresident/CEO Spruce McCree of the truck. “Now we have two HD trucks, and our flexibility has gone through the roof.”

Filmwerks International will continue to power up major sporting events over the next few weeks, including the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, and the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. But it’s also improving technical capabilities with a new golf-course–friendly cable ramp and a new sound-attenuated generator that can lessen generator noise at golf tournaments.

Helping to pave the way to more efficient, cost-effective, and simplified approaches to building and refurbishing digital facilities, a joint European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Task Force is finalizing a set of recommendations to help update synchronizing and time labeling standards for moving-picture, broadcast, and related content. The Request for Standardization report, which is to be issued at IBC 2009, will be available online just prior to the show at www.smpte.org and www.tech.ebu.ch

Today’s sports fans want their favorite content at their fingertips at all times — on whatever device happens to be within reach. At SVG’s third-annual D-Sports Conference, set to take place September 22 in New York City, sports production professionals will gather to discuss not only what those devices are, but how to get content to them, understand who is using them, and tackle the ever-changing digital frontier. The Closing Bell session of July’s Sports Asset Management event provided a sneak preview of the hot topics lined up for D-Sports. On the podium, and in this week’s SVG Audible, MLB.com SVP of multimedia and distribution Joe Inzerillo and NBA director of broadband products Eric Weinstein discuss the future of digital sports production — and the challenge of bringing content from the television screen to every other type of screen.

The 2012 London Olympic Games are three years away, and so far, construction is on track. Work has begun on all of the permanent venues in Olympic Park, but there are still questions surrounding a temporary arena that would house three sports, including boxing. Moving boxing from the ExCel Centre in the Olympic Park to Wembley Arena would increase travel time for the athletes to more than 40 minutes, which is too much, according to the International Boxing Association.

The Sports Video Group is pleased to announce that NewTek has renewed its premier sponsorship. NewTek designs innovative and affordable video and 3D products.

The Sports Video Group is pleased to welcome our newest corporate sponsor, SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation. Based in Durham, NC, SportsMEDIA is an Emmy Award-winning provider of graphics, statistics, and video enhancement software and services to producers of live television sports broadcasts.

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, will debut what it calls the cable industry’s first device-aware back-office for multiplatform TV at Cable Television Laboratories’ CableLabs Summer Conference August 9-12 in Keystone, CO (for CableLabs members only), and at IBC2009 at the RAI Centre in Amsterdam Sept. 11-15.

Txtstation and Click Effects teamed up on an application that will allow professional sport teams and stadium owners to integrate the two platforms for real-time mobile interaction. The application will enable SMS promotions from Txtstation to be fed directly into CrossFire from Click Effects, including voting and polling features and text-to-screen tickers.

SVG sponsor Signiant will hold a Webinar on Thursday, August 13, at 9 a.m. EST that will discuss a number of the company’s sports related projects, including NBC Olympics, the World, Cup, NFL, and more. lt will wrap up with a live question & answer session.

WABC-DT inked an agreement with system manufacturer 1 Beyond to deploy nine OctoFlex Rugged electronic-newsgathering-truck systems, each using Grass Valley Aurora HD editing and file-management software in a rack-mount enclosure specifically designed for ENG vans.

The first major use of the MediorNet real-time HD distribution and routing system L.A. Live purchased from Riedel Communications was for a somber event: last month’s memorial service for Michael Jackson, which was held in the Staples Center.

The New York Times reports that the National Football League is using a new camera to create a broad, unified campaign to promote the N.F.L. brand, the 2009 season, the league’s youth programs and other initiatives. To be broadcast during the first preseason game this weekend between the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans, the campaign includes a series of spots featuring football players filmed with a Phantom HD digital video camera. Made by Vision Research, the camera shoots a thousand frames per second and creates high-resolution, slow-motion imagery that is 10 times as slow as any slow-motion video shot by N.F.L. Films, the league’s video unit.

The PGA of America will add Twitter to its bag of clubs for coverage of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, MN, Aug. 13-16 by TNT and PGA.com. All TNT announcers and PGA.com on-camera talent will tweet commentary during the tournament, as will local PGA of America club professionals.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago wants to give fans of the National Basketball Association’s Bulls, the National Football League’s Bears, the National Hockey League’s Blackhawks, and Major League Baseball’s Cubs and White Sox Inside Access.

ESPN finalized a multiyear rights deal for live multiplatform coverage of the Australian Football League in the United States and Canada, which includes up to three live matches in each round of the home and away season for the remainder of this season.

World Wrestling Entertainment posted across-the-board gains in its second-quarter financial results, with revenue rising to $138.8 million from $129.7 million in the second quarter of 2008, operating income surging to $28.1 million from $12 million, and net income jumping to $19.9 million, or $0.27 per share, versus $7 million ($0.10).

O21 Television can today announce that it has been awarded the contract to provide outside broadcast facilities for the Scottish Premier League by Sky. The contract begins this month and covers the provision of outside broadcast facilities for Sky’s coverage of 30 SPL matches. An established outside broadcast provider in both UK and European markets, O21 Television will provide a high definition unit and a tape truck from its large fleet to cover the SPL matches.

Broadcast Pix has promoted Lisa Trabucco to serve as director of operations and human resources and hired Bob Poucel as support manager. Trabucco and Poucel will work out of the Broadcast Pix main office based outside of Boston.

Madison Square Garden promoted Stacey Escudero to the newly created position of vice president of business public relations for MSG Sports, where she will be tasked with developing and executing media strategies and creating targeted PR campaigns that elevate the visibility of MSG Sports and back critical marketing partnerships, focusing on trade, business, and consumer press initiatives.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, and Orlando Magic were the National Basketball Association’s early winners in terms of national TV appearances, with 10 apiece, closely trailed by the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Chicago Bulls with nine each, reports R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News.

WideOrbit, which provides business-management software to media companies, acquired the assets of Google’s radio automation business, including Google Radio Automation, Maestro, and SS32 automation products.

Direct-selling giant Amway bought itself the naming rights to the new arena in Orlando, FL. The home of the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic, set to open in the fall of 2010, will be named Amway Center.

U.K.-based broadcasting-services company Gearhouse Broadcast has been using a Snell Kahuna standard-definition/HD multiformat production switcher for HD sports productions since 2006, including the FIFA World Cup finals, the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, Formula One racing events, and the Australian Open tennis championship.

Satellite-TV provider Dish Network filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking at least $1 million from ESPN, alleging that the sports programmer breached its contract by not extending the same carriage terms it provided to Comcast and DirecTV, Todd Spangler of Multichannel News reports.

When Dodgers pitcher Tommy John damaged his ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm in 1974, few thought he'd ever pitch again.

Twitter went silent for a few hours on Thursday, and popular Tweeters had plenty to say about it.

“If the NFL is the ‘No-Fun League,” the AFL was the ‘All-Fun League,’” Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wrote in his column on the demise of the Arena Football League.

Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy is making strides in his recovery from lung cancer, having been declared cancer-free, but there is no timetable for his return to the New England Sports Network booth or certainty that he will return, his son, Jared Remy, told Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein of The Boston Globe.

If the on-air personalities at Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network continue to turn a blind eye to the members of the New York Yankees who have been connected with the use of performance-enhancing drugs, then David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox deserves the same treatment this weekend, writes Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News.

Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners will host the first Mariners Social Media Happy Hour prior to the team’s game against the Chicago White Sox Tuesday night, Kailani Koenig-Muenster of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

Cris Collinsworth has some pretty big shoes to fill in NBC’s National Football League booth: John Madden’s. Following Madden’s sudden retirement, Collinsworth will leave NBC’s studio and become its No. 1 analyst during NFL telecasts, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports.

Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis claims that an imposter posted a string of comments on Twitter critical of the lack of progress in his contract negotiations with the team, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald reports.