The Audio Engineering Society convention in New York City drew thousands of attendees, served as the launch point for a new DTV Audio Initiative (of which SVG is a part), and gave Qualis Audio a opportunity to describe how it helps sportscasters more easily monitor stereo and mono downmixes.

It might have been a compact show at the Javits Center this year, but AES 2009 had its share of interesting new products. Here’s a look at some of them.

There is much technical and marketing work to be done before 3D begins appearing in homes, but Nagravision has rolled out a prototype electronic programming guide that promises to give viewers a comfortable viewing experience.

Forty members of the Sports Video Group gathered in Manhattan on Oct. 13 for the inaugural edition of the Schubin Café, held at Hill Country restaurant. One of the best television engineers in the business, Mark Schubin opened the event with a presentation detailing the IBC Convention this past September in Amsterdam. In addition to discussing some of the products showcased at the event, he explained why the show is so popular, recapped some of the biggest stories of the event, and even offered a primer on eye-lens focus and other issues in 3D broadcasting.

The Dallas Cowboys will host this year's SVG Venue Technology Summit on Nov. 11, giving SVG members, sponsors, and guests the opportunity to learn first-hand about the sports industry's biggest technology showcase. This year’s event will feature in-depth panels and workshops including presentations from industry leaders. Click above to learn more and register today!

The 2009 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony, slated for the evening of Dec. 15 at New York's Hilton Hotel, will once again honor industry luminaries, past and present. Hosted by CBS Sports lead play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, this year's ceremony will be a perfect ending to the 2009 League Technology Summit event. To learn more about this year's inductees, how to attend the ceremony, or how to become a sponsor of this important event please click on the headline above!

When England plays Ukraine Oct. 10 in the World Cup qualifying rounds, the game will make history as the first time the English national team has played an international match not shown on television. Instead, it will be available on the Internet and in cinemas around the UK.

CBS Sports’ season-to-date coverage of the SEC On CBS has earned a national household rating/share of 3.8/9, up +36% from a 2.8/6 last year. This 3.8/9 is the highest season-to-date rating for college football at this point in the season on CBS Sports in 10 years, since a 4.2/10 in 1999.

Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, which built the Texas city’s 71,500-seat National Football League stadium, may need to refinance $1 billion in debt and pay as much as $142 million ahead of schedule on bonds and interest-rate swaps. The agency, operator of Reliant Stadium for the NFL’s Texans, must pay $117 million over the next five years after JPMorgan Chase & Co. demanded accelerated retirement of variable-rate bonds due in November 2030, said J. Kent Friedman, the authority chairman.

The WatchPoint Content Management System (CMS) from TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, won a TV Innovation Award in the category of Content Storage. The awards, organized by IMS Research and presented at the Television 3.0 Conference & Expo, recognize the most forward thinking companies who are creating products and services that are driving this new TV paradigm, which is often referred to as TV 3.0.

Nucomm, part of The Vitec Group’s RF Extreme business unit, is showcasing its ProQ Digital IFB (Interruptible Feedback) System at HD World 2009 (Booth 1008). The ProQ Digital IFB system is comprised of the ProQ DTV IFB Receiver and ProQ Low Latency Audio Multiplexer (LLAM). The system is ideal to provide a low latency IFB audio path to the ENG/OB users.

Ericsson and TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, will debut new solutions for programmers, broadcasters and operators at the HD World & SATCON Conferences and Expositions in New York, October 14-15. The demonstrations showcase the continuing technology innovations that have made TANDBERG Television a market leader for high quality video transport and content management solutions.

The National Football League will wrap up its observance of Hispanic Heritage Month during ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast, in which the New York Jets will visit the Miami Dolphins. The NFL is using viral video, releasing four 30-second spots featuring a Hispanic Jets fan against a Hispanic Dolphins fan in four contests, representing the four quarters of a football game.

NBC Sports and Universal Sports will broadcast the 2009 International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series under terms of a partnership between U.S. Figure Skating and NBC Sports. NBC will air 12 hours of live and same-weekend taped coverage of five Grand Prix events and the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, while Universal Sports will present more than 50 hours of coverage.

The National Football League’s strong ratings have already been mentioned several times in this space, but Stuart Levine of Variety points out that NFL pregame and postgame shows are performing solidly, as well. Fox NFL Sunday and NBC’s Football Night in America continue to experience ratings growth.

Telemundo was named the exclusive Spanish-language media partner for the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee, and it will work with the liaison between the National Football League and the local community in the planning and executing of Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, as well as the Pro Bowl, which will be held in the same venue Jan. 31, Multichannel News reported.

Online sports specialist Perform, which streamed Saturday’s World Cup qualifier between England and Ukraine via the Internet, as well as providing a digital feed to six Odeon theaters, said the match was only watched by fewer than 500,000 viewers, Steve Clarke of Variety reported. The match was initially sold for £4.99 ($7.90), rising to £11.99 ($18.90) on the day of the game.

Comcast SportsNet ramps up coverage as the Phillies once again take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS with a trip to the World Series on the line. Throughout the Phillies 2009 postseason run, Comcast SportsNet will continue to provide extended Phillies coverage, including Phillies Pregame Live and Phillies Postgame Live for every Phillies postseason game featuring highlights, exclusive interviews with players and managers, plus insider analysis with former Phillies pitcher Ricky Bottalico and other special guests.

The Chicago Cubs baseball franchise filed for bankruptcy-court protection Monday to complete the $845 million sale of the team to the family of financier Tom Ricketts. The Chapter 11 filing, made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., was an expected step in the sale process. The team's current owner, Tribune Co., has been operating under Chapter 11 protection since December 2008.

ESPN's new city-centric properties are doing a little piggybacking on its network of radio affiliates, developed last decade. The sports media giant launched ESPNChicago.com last spring, premiered ESPNBoston.com and ESPNDallas.com in September, and expects to debut sites targeting New York City and Los Angeles in 2010.

While fewer fans attended Houston Astros games at Minute Maid Park this season, the team also had fewer television viewers. An analysis of ratings of Major League Baseball teams by SportsBusiness Journal shows the Astros reported a 2.9 average household viewing rating on Fox Sports Houston, down by six percent from the 2008 season. That translates into viewership in 61,000 households, a decline of 3.2 percent.

The Chicago Cubs baseball team filed for bankruptcy on Monday as part of the team's planned sale to the Ricketts family by the Tribune Co, according to court documents. The Cubs bankruptcy is aimed at shedding any claims on the team related to the bankruptcy of Tribune Co, a media conglomerate.

There is much technical and marketing work to be done before 3D begins appearing in homes, but Nagravision has rolled out a prototype electronic programming guide that promises to give viewers a comfortable viewing experience. “The key principle is that, when viewers are navigating 300 2D channels, they will want a 2D guide but, when they switch to a 3D channel, they will want a 3D version,” says Frank Dreyer, Nagravision global team lead of consumer electronic creative.

Al Sharpton urged the N.F.L. in a letter released Monday to reject the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s potential bid to buy the St. Louis Rams. He also asked for a meeting with N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The Cincinnati Bengals, in first place in the AFC North and one of the NFL's biggest surprises with a 4-1 record, are facing a blackout for Sunday's home game against the Houston Texans. According to the Bengals, they will need "a significant increase" in the pace of ticket sales this week to avoid being blacked out.

We're one step away from the 105th World Series. It's a big step, too.Coming up now are a pair of League Championship Series that have Game 7, high drama, confrontation, history, intrigue, emotion, second-guessing, controversy, celebrity stargazing and serious frequent-flyer mileage written all over them.

Of all the professional golf tournaments that take place around the world each year, it's the four Majors that have the unfailing ability to appeal to just about everyone. From professional and amateur golfers of every ability, to a surprisingly large audience of enthusiastic onlookers, who have never touched a golf club in their lives, literally everyone becomes a golf enthusiast, even if it may only be for the few days of these big time events.

Another week, another $3 billion acquisition for Cisco Systems. On Tuesday, Cisco announced that it would pay $35 a share, or $2.9 billion, for Starent Networks, which makes products that help wireless telecommunications companies ship large volumes of data to phones and computing devices.

If Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable is implicated by police in their investigation of an alleged assault on an assistant coach, he will be subject to NFL discipline. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that workplace violence is specifically identified in the league's personal-conduct policy, and if Cable is charged with any crimes, he could be punished.

9 to 5 Mac reports that it has received a tip claiming that Apple is in the process of developing an application to bring FM radio functionality to the iPhone and iPod touch. The functionality would reportedly be similar to that found in the fifth-generation iPod nano, which offers the ability pause radio and tag songs for use in iTunes.