Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

MLB Network has selected Cisco Telepresence (News - Alert) for its television programming and live telecasts from ballparks around Major League Baseball, Cisco has announced.

With Cisco (News - Alert) TelePresence, life size, high-definition images and spatial discrete audio allow for real-time, face-to-face interactions between the employees as well as partners and customers.

MLB's (News - Alert) new afternoon talk show, "Intentional Talk," hosted by Chris Rose and Kevin Millar, (Monday - Friday 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET), will now make use of Cisco TelePresence. New Jersey Cisco TelePresence will connect Millar in Texas and Rose in California to each other and to other content, when not airing from MLB Network's Studio 42 in Secaucus, the company stated in a press release.

“Cisco is excited to step up to the plate and play ball with MLB Network,” stated Diane Dudeck (News - Alert), senior director, worldwide media and sports & entertainment marketing, Cisco in a company press release.  “Forward-thinking cable networks such as MLB Network recognize the power and scale of network technologies to power critical video components of their programming.”

MLB Network has deployed robotic cameras in Major League ballparks across the country since 2009, and these are powered by Cisco network technology solutions. Now featured in 29 ballparks, these systems reside in either center field, behind home plate, or in dugouts. For live interviews and action before and after games, the systems are used extensively across the network. Video from the ballparks travel over the Cisco network from every site back to MLB Network's studios, the company has stated.

Recently, Global Crossing, a global IP, Ethernet, data center and video solutions provider, announced that it will now be offering Cisco’s complete line of high-quality and easy-to-use virtual telepresence meeting solutions. The new offer, called "Global Crossing (News - Alert) Telepresence together with Cisco Services," bolsters Global Crossing's recently launched telepresence initiative. Telepresence is an expansion of Global Crossing’s fully managed high-quality video collaboration service that brings geographically dispersed people and their ideas together more efficiently.