On Nov. 11, SVG’s second-annual Venue Technology Summit grew to the scale of the new Cowboys Stadium. Greeted by 160-ft.-wide, high-definition renderings of the logos of SVG and its event sponsors, more than 200 SVG members were treated to a day of information and education throughout the sparkling new facility in Arlington, TX.

Cowboys Stadium can accommodate up to eight mobile-production units in its truck bay, cinderblock proof that today’s venues must be friendlier to broadcasters — and to more broadcasters — than ever before. At SVG’s second-annual Venue Technology Summit, held Nov. 11 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX, the battle between architecture and broadcast took the podium for the first of the day’s four panel discussions.

Venue control rooms are being asked to produce more content than ever, from multicamera high-definition scoreboard shows for multiple sports to Web-specific on-demand features. At SVG’s second-annual Venue Technology Summit, held Nov. 11 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX, several venue–control-room designers and operators took the stage to discuss the latest trends and challenges in today’s venue–control-room design.

Leading experts in sports-venue-display technologies took the stage at the 2009 SVG Venue Technology Summit Nov. 11 at Cowboys Stadium to discuss a changing display environment that continues to grow more complex for venue personnel but more rewarding for fans and sponsors.

In sports television, few individuals are lucky enough to make a name for themselves in a single profession. Barry Frank has made his name in three, forever changing the business in the process.

Calrec’s Omega with Bluefin console has undergone a 50% expansion of digital-signal-processing (DSP) capacity. According to a company announcement this week, the number of 240 discrete signal paths has increased from the previous 160, within the same physical dimensions.

A number of forces are driving down the footprint sizes of audio-mixing consoles, particularly costs and the need for more and smaller OB vehicles. Console manufacturers get the message and have responded.

Like every other product based largely on silicon chips, audio consoles have been getting smaller, though not necessarily because they can. The growing number of smaller remote-production vehicles need more-constricted footprints for their mixing desks, and even larger trucks have become crowded with gear. Broadcasters also continue to look for more cost-effective audio-mixing solutions for outside broadcast, and smaller consoles are appealing for their often smaller price tags, and lighter desks also contribute to the bottom line by helping reduce fuel costs.

The Yankee Stadium truck compound proved to be quite a squeeze during the World Series, with mobile-production units from Fox, ESPN, MLB Network, and MLB International on-site. Filmwerks custom-built a 32-ft. trailer that hauled twin 500-KW generators, providing a small enough footprint to park inside the limited space available.

The prayers of many cricket fans in England were answered on Friday Nov. 13 with the publication of a report recommending that the country’s home Ashes Test matches be guaranteed free-to-air TV broadcast from 2016.

London Olympic organizers are working to reduce the travel time for athletes in the two sports whose venue for the 2012 Games is being changed to save money. Paul Deighton, chief executive of London organizing committee LOCOG, said Tuesday that he is confident a solution will be finalized by the end of the year for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. The committee has proposed moving the two sports to Wembley Arena — adjacent to Wembley Stadium on the northern outskirts of London — rather than build a temporary venue near the main Olympic Park complex in east London…

ESPN’s same-day coverage of the World Series of Poker Tuesday Nov. 10 was far from a raw deal for the network, attracting more than 2.1 million viewers, an average of 1.806 million households, and a 1.8 household rating.

ARCTEK HD is an industry-leading provider of High Definition satellite transmission services. Formerly ArcTek Satellite Productions, the name is new, but the company’s roots and experience go back to the mid-1980s.

Mobile Television Group (MTVG), a Denver-based company that helps to produce live sports and entertainment events across the country, installed a second Grass Valley Kayenne multiformat video-production center on its 10HDX truck, which was designed to simulcast dual-feed shows in both standard-definition and HD (720p or 1080i).

Eurovision Americas will set up shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 12-28, offering production and transmission facilities for use by rights-holders and non-rights-holders.

HTN Communications launched its redesigned Website, which offers easier user functionality and allows clients to view services offered, navigate the company’s network venue map for transmission originations, or submit transmission-service inquiries.

Ericsson and its TANDBERG Television unit are using TelcoTV 2009 in Orlando, FL, to showcase their solutions for delivering HD content and multiplatform TV, including the new iPlex UltraCompression-2 multiformat HD/standard-definition encoder/transcoder.

General Cable’s Gepco International unit debuted its HDR1 high-density distribution rack, an updated design of its original HDR with a new, electrically isolated, one-rack-unit six-position design.

Live, from New York, it’s the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 7D digital SLR cameras! The two Canon U.S.A. cameras were used to film the opening title sequence for NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

Chyron established a new European headquarters at Power Road Studios in Chiswick, Greater London, which will house the graphics provider’s creative-services, product-management, sales, and support teams and serve its customers in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

ESPN was awarded broadcast rights for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games and London 2012 Summer Olympic Games in South America by the International Olympic Committee, marking the first time the cable sports programmer will air the Olympics for Spanish-speaking fans in the region.

Great American Ball Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds, now boasts a new HD-production workflow following a collaboration between EditShare, a provider of cross-platform collaborative editing and shared media storage and video-management firm Dixon Sports Computing.

National Basketball Association fans looking for a companion while tuned into live games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, or NBA TV need look no further than NBA.com, which announced the launch of its NBA TV Companion.

The new Amway Center arena, set to open its doors in Orlando, FL, next fall, will feature an integrated scoring, video, and advertising-display system from Daktronics, with installation set to begin in early 2010.

The Consumer Electronics Association announced some changes for its upcoming 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show, to be held in Las Vegas Jan. 7-10, reports Steve Smith of TWICE.

Avail-TVN and NFL Network extended their relationship, adding 17 million video-on-demand-enabled homes and incorporating advanced asset- and metadata-management services, Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports.

There is no New York Mets offseason for SportsNet New York, as the regional sports network will ignite Mets Hot Stove Nov. 12 at 7 p.m., followed by new series Mets Yearbook at 7:30 p.m., reports Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News.

Former Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen has bounced back nicely from his firing, working as an analyst for NFL Network, calling college football for ESPN and ABC, and working with the former on pregame shows for Monday Night Football.

The Philadelphia Phillies may have lost the 2009 World Series to the New York Yankees, but when it comes to brand exposure during Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball’s championship, Phillies.com was the big winner, Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life reports.

Putting people to work was a major selling point that helped local officials vote in favor of building the Marlins a new ballpark.

As the NBA’s Miami Heat ushered in the 2009-10 season versus the New York Knicks during the home opener on Wednesday, Oct. 28, fans in attendance at the AmericanAirlines Arena were treated to an upgraded and improved fan experience. Now, they'll have that same captivating experience every night.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, is using a variety of monitoring gear from Wohler Technologies within a completely upgraded HD digital production system. Newington, VA-based Communications Engineering supplied and installed the gear.

Disney and ESPN are working to rebrand the Disney World’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL, under the cable sports network prior to ESPN’s The Weekend Feb. 25 and 26, Michael Grotticelli of BroadcastEngineering reports.

With the advertising success enjoyed by the National Football League, the prospect of two extra regular-season games would seem to be enticing. Not so, writes David Goetzl of MediaDailyNews.

Versus and The Golf Channel might be overseen by NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol if discussions between Comcast and NBC Universal wind up resulting in a merger, Richard Sandomir of The New York Times writes.

Who will be performing during halftime of the Super Bowl? That’s right, according to the New York Post.

Versus already carries the National Hockey League, but Nov. 14-15, the Comcast-owned cable network will cover a different type of skating, R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports.

NFL Network’s eight-game primetime slate kicks off Thursday night, when the Chicago Bears visit the San Francisco 49ers, but the news is both good and bad for the National Football League’s cable channel, reports Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News.

The National Football League is coming to Oregon, as cable operator BendBroadband reached a carriage agreement with NFL Network, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reported.