It’s going to be the ultimate football weekend for Canadian football fans. TSN will air not only the 2009 Grey Cup on Sunday but also 12 hours of pre-game coverage on Saturday that will include the XLV Desjardins Vanier Cup, the Canadian collegiate football national championship. Three production units from Dome Productions and TSN VP of Production Mark Milliere will be at the center of all the action.

Football has settled into a comfortable routine of players, managers, fans, and national associations demanding action on tough issues like video technology and the world governing body’s refusing to make any dramatic changes. But, in the wake of the Thierry Henry handball during the France-Republic of Ireland World Cup playoff, FIFA has called an extraordinary meeting of its Executive Committee to discuss thorny subjects.

Since acquiring SportVu in December 2008, STATS Inc. has worked with a number of broadcasters around the world to incorporate its player-tracking technology into soccer broadcasts. The motion-capture technology allows the network to create unique graphics illustrating such statistics as player speed and distance traveled. Last week, for the first time, American audiences were treated to those graphics when STATS’ player-tracking technology made its North American debut during ESPN’s production of the MLS Cup.

Fox Sports audio consultant and senior mixer Fred Aldous still gets a few chances to mix music, the route that got him into the game — so to speak — in the first place. One of those chances will be at the annual United Way NFC Thanksgiving game to be played in Detroit on Thursday Nov. 26. At halftime of the game between the Lions and the Packers, viewers will get to hear a Motown 50th Anniversary Tribute, which will feature six up-and-coming talents from the current roster of Universal Motown Records performing classics from Motown’s All-American songbook.

Next year’s World Cup looms large over the Soccerex 09 Convention, which takes place this coming weekend in Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa is the host nation for the 2010 football tournament and this is reflected in the Soccerade Festival (November 28-29) and accompanying exhibition and networking event (November 1-2), with contributions from Sepp Blatter, the African Union of Broadcasting and TV Globo.

The in-car camera that allows NASCAR, Formula One, and Indy Racing League fans to get closer than ever to the action is at the top of the list of developments that fundamentally changed the way TV sports are produced and also deliver new thrills for TV viewers. The opportunity to be involved in such ground-breaking achievements was something John Porter probably didn’t envision in 1974 when, at age 26, he left his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, for Australia.

Resisting pressure from the Minnesota Vikings to back down, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission this week unanimously agreed to use financial incentives and threatened penalties to try to keep the team in the Metrodome for two years beyond the end of its current lease. The Vikings’ response: “We’ve got to move on.” But, they added, that doesn’t necessarily mean move away.

The New York Islanders and Txtstation have announced a partnership that will bring real-time mobile interactivity to Islander fans throughout the current NHL season. “Txtstation’s mobile features have been embraced by thousands of NHL fans in other venues throughout the country,” says Michael Falato, VP of sales and business development for Txtstation.

SportsMEDIA Technology is providing the clock and score system, virtual graphics, official in-game statistics systems, real-time data interfaces, talent prompter and display systems, on-site support, and Web distribution for broadcasters presenting the inaugural season of the United Football League.

Canon U.S.A. added to its second-generation line of cost-effective HDgc portable HD lenses with the introduction of its KJ22ex7.6B, which was designed as a multipurpose telephoto lens and provides a wide angle of almost 65 degrees in the 16:9 HD image format.

NewTek’s TriCaster received the 2009 Readers’ Choice Award for Best Portable Encoding Appliance from Streaming Media at a special reception at Streaming Media West 2009 Nov. 19.

The new Snow Leopard OS X operating system for Apple Mac computers is now supported by Avid’s Media Composer and Symphony software.

Grass Valley says its Kalypso HD switcher and Kayenne Video Production Center switcher are both suited to the demands of live production of 3D telecasts, adding that Kalypso HD switchers have been used on three major sports productions thus far.

Beginning January 25, 2010, the Ericsson name will be used for all of the company’s TV solutions, including the formerly named TANDBERG Television. “Television is a cornerstone of Ericsson’s multimedia strategy,” says Staffan Pehrson, president of TANDBERG Television and VP and head of solution area TV for the Ericsson Group.

Alaska TV, a broadcaster in Spain, deployed an Artist digital-intercom-matrix system from Riedel Communications in its production facility in Madrid.

When Jay Leno and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filmed a skit for Leno’s “Green Car Challenge,” three in-car Toshiba HR1S mini HD cameras married to three Link L-1500 1.4-gigahertz microwave systems were provided by Aerial Video Systems.

For a limited time, Litepanels is offering a free set of conversion/diffusion gels with new 1×1 fixture purchases (except the Low-Profile). From November 15 to December 31, 2009 purchasers of any daylight (5600K) 1×1 Kit will receive one each Full-, 1/2-, 1/4-, 1/8-CTO, Opal and Half White Diffusion gels.

The Sports Video Group is pleased to announce that Dome Productions has renewed its mobile sponsorship. One of North America’s leading production facilities providers, Dome Productions offers mobile production trucks and fly-packs (high definition and digital), telecommunications services (transmission via fiber and satellite, satellite media tours, and playouts), and full turnkey host broadcast services (complete management of design, production, engineering, and operations).

T-VIPS has appointed Sports Logic, LLC as an authorized reseller of T-VIPS products in the U.S. Joe LoGrasso, T-VIPS Americas, VP and GM, says Sports Logic, run by industry veterans Dave Shaw and Craig Taylor, has the experience and focus needed to serve market needs.

The Sports Video Group is pleased to announce that Abekas has upgraded its sponsorship to the premier level. Abekas designs, manufactures, sells, and supports a complete line of digital video/audio delay devices, digital video disk recorders, digital video special effects systems, and video editing tools for use in the worldwide professional television marketplace — encompassing the production, post production, broadcasting and computer video markets.

Spanish-language network ESPN Deportes will switch tongues, providing Portuguese-language telecasts of more than 40 live matches from 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa in the United States, complementing its Spanish-language news and information coverage of the tournament, which will be held June 11-July 10.

ESPN earned an 8.9 rating and drew an average of 8.791 million households and 12.1 million viewers for its Monday Night Football telecast, in which the visiting Tennessee Titans toppled the host Houston Texans 20-17.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ 24-20 victory over the host Chicago Bears on NBC’s Sunday Night Football beat out fare including ABC’s American Music Awards, CBS’ 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race, and Fox’s The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, and Family Guy to occupy the No. 1 broadcast spot on Sunday night.

The president of Europe’s football league, Michel Platini, says soccer is a “human game” in which mistakes are inevitable. For that reason, he is opposed to using video technology to aid referees in decisions. The systems typically use a combination of video servers and slow-motion replay controllers to analyze plays.

No one was hurt in a dramatic crash that occurred during shooting for ESPN film X Games 3D: The Movie, when stunt motorcyclist Todd Potter crashed through a barrier and into a Polecam being operated by John Gillan.

ESPN is finally focusing on the “football” part of Monday Night Football, writes John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal.

MLB Network’s Baseball’s Seasons episode Wednesday night, devoted to the 1969 New York Mets, will include a clip never before seen on television, reports Phil Mushnick of the New York Post.

“Durante el invierno el béisbol viaja al Caribe.” That is the tag line for ESPN Deportes’ marketing campaign supporting its coverage of winter baseball from the Dominican Republic, and its English-language translation is, “During winter, baseball travels to the Caribbean,” Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports.

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, had the “ride of his life” Sunday, as he made a run with the Team USA bobsled team in Lake Placid, NY, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Surveys are really like a bad reality show or a train wreak, we just can't help but read them and this latest one from Frank N. Magid Associates is really something. Beyond the usual suspects, like only 63 percent of HD owners believing they are watching HD, is the fact that 13 percent of the respondents said they'd never heard of Hi-Def. We'd just love to hear how this question was phrased, because even the most introvert technophobes that we know have heard of HD. In fact we just can't think of a scenario where someone who lives on the grid wouldn't know what HD is.

CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson was voted the top football broadcaster by reporters and editors from SportsBusiness Journal and The Sporting News in their Top 25 Football Broadcasters list.

Sportsman Channel will launch on the Comcast Digital Preferred tier in Houston Dec. 1, Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports.

The National Hockey League began offering highlight packages produced by NHL Network to regional sports networks, John Ourand and Tripp Mickle of SportsBusiness Journal reported.