The Vancouver Organising Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has selected Tickets.com as its official supplier of ticket services within Canada for the 2010 Winter Games. The five-year partnership provides Tickets.com with Official Supplier sponsorship rights in the ‘ticket service provider’ category, in addition to the sponsorship rights to the Canadian Team participating at the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games. The majority of tickets to the 2010 Winter Games will be sold to the Canadian public through Vancouver2010.com using Tickets.com's technology. Whilst the vast majority of ticket sales will occur online, VANOC will also work with Tickets.com to offer traditional purchase systems such as telephone and local ticket outlets. Tickets.com also offers VANOC the technology and tools necessary to develop an online ticket redistribution system that will allow ticket holders to redistribute their tickets to other fans if they can't attend an event. The ticket redistribution system, which is supported by a barcode-based access control system at each venue, will expand the public's access to tickets and help ensure that venues are full at Games time.
Mobile sport goes 24/7
ESPN and MobiTV have launched ESPN Mobile TV, a 24/7 channel for wireless which offers a selection of live, simulcast sports events; breaking sports news, mobile-exclusive programming; commentary and analysis; and realtime sports scores and game updates. ESPN Mobile TV will replace the existing non-linear ESPN channel available through MobiTV. ESPN Mobile TV offers full-length live events including college football and basketball, NBA, NASCAR, MLS, Arena Football League, Major League Lacrosse and more. ESPN Mobile TV also offers content from ESPN fan favourites such as Mike & Mike in the Morning, First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Rome is Burning and Around the Horn, as well as new mobile-specific shows such as ESPN ReSet, ScoreCenter and Fantasy Football Now. Meanwhile, the NBA has launched ‘NBA 2 Go’, a sports application featuring official NBA content available on mobile carriers in the US. Developed in conjunction with Hands-On Mobile, a developer of connected games and applications, NBA 2 Go will provide NBA fans with access to daily video highlights, customised information about their favourite teams and players, and countless news stories.
Anyone for DVCPRO P2 HD?
Panasonic has reached an agreement with the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB) for the use of its DVCPRO P2 HD series with solid-state memory and newsgathering systems for broadcasting as the official video recording equipment for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Panasonic's DVCPRO HD was adopted in May 2006 as the official recording format for the Beijing Olympic Games. All international video delivered from the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) - to be completed in Beijing in June 2008 - to the rights holding broadcasters around the world will be produced and distributed in 1080/50i full HD format. HD video equipment was already used during the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games, but only on a limited scale which was about 40% of the production. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be recorded and broadcast entirely with HD systems, a first in the history of the Olympic Games. Panasonic's digital broadcasting technologies, which have been used as the official recording format in eight Olympiads, starting with the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, will continue their contribution to recording video of the Olympic Games in the HD era. Panasonic is expected to provide 250 recorders, 100 camcorders, and 1,500 monitors for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games related businesses. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has awarded the digital broadcast rights for the 2008 Beijing Olympics to CCTV.com, the online arm of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. And in other news, NBC Universal, owner of the exclusive US media rights to the Beijing Games, has launched a strategic alliance with MSN and Microsoft to create ‘NBCOlympics.com on MSN’.
CSTV teams up with USA Today
Interactive collegiate sports media service CSTV.com, a division of CBS Sports, has formed a digital marketing partnership with USA TODAY whereby several of CSTV's assets, including CSTV XXL and GameTracker will be made available on USATODAY.com. The partnership aims to allow for much greater visibility of CSTV content while giving USATODAY.com's users access to the best live coverage of collegiate sporting events on the internet. Through this partnership, USATODAY.com users will have access to a customised CSTV XXL player offering live and on-demand video coverage of college sports on the internet. Along with highlights, press conferences and coaches' shows, CSTV XXL broadcasts thousands of live and on-demand games from more than 100 top schools and conferences in 30 different men's and women's collegiate sports. CSTV's GameTracker product, which allows fans to follow live play-by-play of collegiate sporting events through a realtime statistical interface, will be offered on multiple pages, including the Sports front, college fronts and scores page, in the USATODAY.com sports section. In addition to CSTV XXL and GameTracker, CSTV plans to syndicate short-form video clips to USATODAY.com under a new co-branded sports tab. Clips including event highlights, press conferences and original video will be available to USATODAY.com users by the second quarter of 2008.
PTV/Inform gets a new name
The recently merged Premium TV/Inform Group has been rebranded as Perform following a successful five month’s trading. The company operates over 200 websites including those for over 80 UK soccer clubs, Cricket Australia, Warner Music, ITV and Turner Broadcasting and works with various rights holders, including The English Premier League, Virgin Media and the ATP Masters Series. And thanks to a deal with Tennis Australia, Perform enabled tennis fans throughout the world to watch live online action from the opening Grand Slam of the year from six Australian Open show courts for the first time, including the Rod Laver Arena and the Vodafone Arena, on Australian Open TV (AOTV) www.australianopentv.com a dedicated broadband channel on the official tournament website (www.australianopen.com). Meanwhile Perform has launched Championship League Snooker in association with Matchroom Sport, a new league that will be solely broadcast on and funded by internet distribution.
Infostrada selected for Beijing 2008
The Beijing 2008 Organising Committee (BOCOG) has contracted Infostrada Sports, S&T’s Databox sponsor, to supply all historical data and athlete biographies for use in its INFO2008 system and use its experience and expertise in helping to organise and run the official Olympic News Service. INFO2008 will follow in the tradition of other Info systems and be the main source of background and reference information for the Olympic family during the Games, including the 21,600 broadcast and print media who will cover the sport. National Olympic Committees, International Federations and the Organising Committee itself are expected to also make use of the extensive data. More than 10,000 athlete biographies and results of more than 100 years of Olympic Games history, as well as recent results on major competitions can be accessed through INFO2008. Just as critically, information including athlete quotes, news items and facts and figures from the sports competitions in Beijing will be fed into the INFO2008 system, from reporting teams of the ONS.
BT in London 2012 sponsorship
UK telecoms company BT is set to become the official telecoms partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games, according to UK press sources. Meanwhile, in other technology-related sponsorship news, T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom's business customer unit, and the BMW Sauber Formula One Team have signed a new partnership agreement. Under the deal, BMW's Formula One Team will partner with T-Systems to develop and test new ICT solutions ‘under the extreme conditions of Formula One’. T-Systems has already set up a high-performance data connection for the racing team. Additional joint research and development projects are planned in the area of data security and the logging of operating times to optimise the service life of car parts.
TOP billing for Acer in 2009
Computer manufacturer Acer is joining The Olympic Partner (TOP) Programme in 2009. The agreement with the IOC will begin on 1 January 2009 when Acer will be the official worldwide partner in the computing hardware category for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games replacing Lenova, official provider for the Beijing 2008 Summer Games.
WWE gets close up and personal
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) made the transition to High Definition (HD) television on 21 January following a $20m upgrade to its facilities and the use of two new custom-built NEP Supershooter production trucks. With an estimated 50m HDTV sets in US homes, now is the perfect time for WWE to make the move to HD, according to Mike Grossman, WWE's senior vice-president, television operations. "It seems like the technology is in place now to make the move," Grossman said. "We also waited for the technology to mature. We wanted some of the format issues to mature." The process of upgrading WWE programming to HDTV started approximately five years ago, as WWE looked to completely retrofit and renovate its already-advanced production equipment, including the production truck that is used at each televised event. Duncan Leslie, WWE vice-president for technical events operations, explained that the change to HD offered unique challenges to the technical crew. "It is challenging for us, and we've been doing this for years," he explained. "It has been immensely challenging to re-create a very technically complex show in a brand-new medium." (WWE stars John Cena and Hulk Hogan pictured above right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Kevin Winter).
Omega signs up with European athletics
According to S&T’s sister publication, SportBusiness.com, Omega, the Swiss watch manufacturer, has become the official timekeeper and data handling partner of European Athletics and its 20 championships events until the end of 2012. The deal includes the European Athletics Championships 2010 in Barcelona and the European Athletics Indoor Championships 2009 (Turin) and 2011 (Paris). Commenting on the new deal, Stephen Urquhart, president of Omega, said: "In view of Omega's longstanding relationship with the world of athletics crowned by our role as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932, we are extremely happy to bring our expertise and world wide resources to this important association." The new partnership comes at a time where European Athletics has redesigned the format of a number of its events, including the introduction of the European Athletics Championships in the Olympic year from 2012 and the revised format for the annual SPAR European Athletics Team Championships from 2009.
Page from ArkSports' Sport and Technology (www.sportandtechnology.com) on 2008-10- 6 : News - January 2008 : http://www.sportandtechnology.com/page/0566.html
The Vancouver Organising Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has selected Tickets.com as its official supplier of ticket services within Canada for the 2010 Winter Games. The five-year partnership provides Tickets.com with Official Supplier sponsorship rights in the ‘ticket service provider’ category, in addition to the sponsorship rights to the Canadian Team participating at the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games. The majority of tickets to the 2010 Winter Games will be sold to the Canadian public through Vancouver2010.com using Tickets.com's technology. Whilst the vast majority of ticket sales will occur online, VANOC will also work with Tickets.com to offer traditional purchase systems such as telephone and local ticket outlets. Tickets.com also offers VANOC the technology and tools necessary to develop an online ticket redistribution system that will allow ticket holders to redistribute their tickets to other fans if they can't attend an event. The ticket redistribution system, which is supported by a barcode-based access control system at each venue, will expand the public's access to tickets and help ensure that venues are full at Games time.
The recently merged Premium TV/Inform Group has been rebranded as Perform following a successful five month’s trading. The company operates over 200 websites including those for over 80 UK soccer clubs, Cricket Australia, Warner Music, ITV and Turner Broadcasting and works with various rights holders, including The English Premier League, Virgin Media and the ATP Masters Series. And thanks to a deal with Tennis Australia, Perform enabled tennis fans throughout the world to watch live online action from the opening Grand Slam of the year from six Australian Open show courts for the first time, including the Rod Laver Arena and the Vodafone Arena, on Australian Open TV (AOTV) 
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) made the transition to High Definition (HD) television on 21 January following a $20m upgrade to its facilities and the use of two new custom-built NEP Supershooter production trucks. With an estimated 50m HDTV sets in US homes, now is the perfect time for WWE to make the move to HD, according to Mike Grossman, WWE's senior vice-president, television operations. "It seems like the technology is in place now to make the move," Grossman said. "We also waited for the technology to mature. We wanted some of the format issues to mature." The process of upgrading WWE programming to HDTV started approximately five years ago, as WWE looked to completely retrofit and renovate its already-advanced production equipment, including the production truck that is used at each televised event. Duncan Leslie, WWE vice-president for technical events operations, explained that the change to HD offered unique challenges to the technical crew. "It is challenging for us, and we've been doing this for years," he explained. "It has been immensely challenging to re-create a very technically complex show in a brand-new medium."
