Santa Monica, California's R!OT, a creative digital studio, announced that New York’s Manhattan Transfer, a part of the Livewire Television Group, became R!OT Manhattan. The company will form a synergistic relationship with the original R!OT, also a Livewire Television Group company, sharing their pools of talent and technical resources to serve the global needs of the advertising, film and television industries. Along with changing its name, the Manhattan studio will undergo a refurbishing that will include physical upgrades and high level additions to its creative staff. “Each studio will have its own personality reflective of its community, its staff and the people it serves, while providing a consistent level of talent, technology and service,” said Livewire Television Group president Larry Chernoff. The move is the first step in a planned expansion of the R!OT brand that will include the creation of R!OT media production studios in other U.S. and foreign cities. R!OT Santa Monica, meanwhile, has completed its major multi-million dollar expansion. The project began last year and involved the integration of the staffs and technical resources of the former Riot, POP and Digital Magic post-production studios, as well as the implementation of a host of new, leading-edge technologies. R!OT is currently posting the third season of THE SOPRANOS in high definition video. The studio’s visual effects department is working on several feature films, including QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, THE ONE, ROLLERBALL and THE SCORPION KING. For more information check out the company website at www.rioting.com.