ABU Olympics Deal with TVNZ Satellite Services Ltd

Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union Signs Olympics Deal with TVNZ Satellite Services Ltd

Istanbul, Turkey: The Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union (ABU) has chosen TVNZ to provide coverage for its members of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. In an agreement signed in Istanbul last weekend, a range of television production and distribution services are included and will be made available to ABU members across Asia. TVNZ will manage the service on behalf of the ABU and participating broadcasters.

TVNZ will produce 8 separate channels of coverage of Olympic events for distribution to the ABU, to other broadcasters and to TVNZ itself. The co-operative arrangement will enhance the scope of production and will enable production and distribution costs to be shared. The agreement utilises TVNZ resource as a producer of sports content and provider of satellite services. TVNZ will use the Intelsat satellite 709 at 85ºE for delivery of the Olympic service, primarily because of the reach, which in a single footprint covers Africa to Sydney on Australia's east coast. The satellite service will also be enhanced by the ability to deliver the signal into smaller receive antennas than was possible for Sydney 2000.

John Barton, Head of Sport at the ABU, commented: "It is tremendous for us as ABU members in each territory will be able to choose the coverage that they want and tailor it to their own particular market in a way that we would not otherwise be able to contemplate. The IOC has stated a desire to increase the availability of coverage of the Olympics and TVNZ's multi-channel coverage meets this goal."

In territories where rights are shared by more than one broadcaster the live multi channel-delivery approach allows each organisation to make its own programming choices. The winners are the viewers who rather than having a single coverage option made available, have the opportunity to view a range of Olympic events that may be occurring simultaneously. The agreement is similar to that provided for the Sydney 2000 Olympics where TVNZ was responsible for the production and distribution of coverage to 39 broadcasters in 32 territories located worldwide.

The service strengthens the Olympic Games commitment that TVNZ maintains. The broadcaster is an Olympic Games rights-holder and provider of host broadcast production services to the IOC. In Athens in 2004, TVNZ will produce coverage of the sailing. About TVNZ Satellite Services Limited TVNZ Satellite Services Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary within the TVNZ Group of companies based in New Zealand. For over 15 years, it has provided global occasional use satellite carriage and production enhancement services to news agencies, rights-holders and television broadcasters located worldwide. TVNZ is renowned for the provision of host broadcast services and for leading edge sports production both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit www.tvnz.co.nz

About Intelsat
Intelsat, Ltd. offers telephony, corporate network, video and Internet solutions around the globe via capacity on 25 geosynchronous satellites in prime orbital locations. Customers in approximately 200 countries rely on Intelsat satellites and ground resources for quality connections, global reach and reliability. For more information, visit www.intelsat.com and www.intelsat.com/resources/coveragemaps.aspx

© Scoop Media