25 February 2005

Special Olympics World Winter Games About To Open

Tomorrow (26 February) the New Zealand Special Olympics team will march into Nagano's M-Wave Arena alongside some 2,500 athletes from 80 countries as a part of the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

The Games will take place over 8 days during which an atmosphere of intense competition and excitement will be experienced by all, culminating in the Closing Ceremony on 5 March.

The host organisation for the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games will produce and provide three summary feeds to send out Games footage to world-wide viewers during the Games. The feed schedule is as follows:

Sunday, February 27: 11:00- 11:15am (JST) / 2:00- 2:15 (GMT)
Thursday, March 3: 11:00- 11:15am (JST) / 2:00- 2:15 (GMT)
Sunday, March 6: 11:00- 11:15am (JST) / 2:00- 2:15 (GMT)
Origin: KDDI Tokyo
Delivery satellite will be Asiasat-2, EutelsatW3A, IS805

For more information on reservation details and charges, please contact the following Eurovision (European Broadcasting Union) as follows:

Department: Program
Name: Christope Pasquier
Phone: +41-22-717-28-78
Fax: +41-22-717-28-80
E-mail: program@eurovision.net
pasquier@eurovision.net

Please note there will not be any satellite transmission (play-out) service from Nagano for these Games. For broadcasting stations that have covered the Games in Nagano and wish to transmit footage overseas, this footage transmission is possible only from Tokyo.

ENDS