London, 17th June 2005 – BT Media and Broadcast (BT M&B), the digital media and broadcast services arm of BT, and Total Sports Asia (TSA), Asia’s leading integrated sports marketing company and TV rights distributor, have agreed a deal for the provision of a fully managed broadcast distribution service to Asia, for the US Open tennis championships. The dedicated uplink service and satellite link will enable TSA to capitalise on the increasing popularity of tennis and will help to deliver live coverage of the tournament to an increasingly diverse international fan base.
BTM&B’s cost effective and technically efficient solution, will integrate the TSA feed into an existing and well-established on-site operation. The comprehensive service comprising a fully redundant BT uplink unit and multiplex system, dedicated on-site Master Control Room and a team of fully qualified engineers will enable, TSA to access, monitor and switch between five separate court feeds. This eliminates the requirement for additional TSA in-house resource whilst ensuring that the broadcaster is able to provide the uncompromising coverage viewers demand of such a high profile event. Bolt-on streaming packages are also being considered by TSA in a bid to extract maximum value from the rights and increase accessibility. As a full media solutions business BTM&B is able to ingest the broadcast feed, encode it into windows media player format and pass it out to a content distribution network (CDN) for access by Asian internet service providers (ISPs).
Robert Shotliff, sales director, BT Media and Broadcast commented, “As BT continues to demonstrate considerable strength within the expanding Asian market, it’s great to see that BTM&B’s solutions are creating both efficiencies and new opportunities for broadcasters and rights holders.Furthermore, with the development of additional capabilities, such as digital ingestion, storage and streaming, the demands of the modern broadcaster and rights holder remain key drivers of innovation within our business.”
Julian Jackson, Vice President of Media, Total Sports Asia added “We chose to work with BT over many other competing companies, due to their exemplary record with the US Open previously and other major events and we are confident that our Asian clients will be very happy with the service that we know BT will provide. This partnership is strategically important for TSA, as we are also looking at developing and consolidating our content delivery business for several upcoming sports properties in Asia.”
About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.
BT consists principally of three lines of business:
-BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and related services to more than 20m UK consumers and businesses.
-BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including the provision of broadband and private circuits.
-BT Global Services, providing networked IT services to meet the needs of multi-site organisations globally. BT Global Services operates in more than 130 countries and also offers international carrier services. In the year ended 31 March 2005, BT Group’s turnover was £18,623 million with profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxation of £2,085 million.
BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.
For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt
About BT Media and Broadcast
BT Media and Broadcast (BTM&B) is the digital media and broadcast services arm of BT, which is responsible for the provision of fully managed broadcast services and the development of the commercial opportunities presented by digital content. Its international customer base includes broadcasters and content and rights owners within the television, film and media industries, along with the corporate and government sectors.
BTM&B provides bespoke satellite and fibre-based solutions, using sophisticated digital content and data management technology, to transport and manage video, audio and data. Delivering live broadcasts from major international events, providing digital terrestrial TV (DTTV) networks and direct to home (DTH) satellite platforms and storing and securely distributing video content to broadband devices are just some of the areas in which BTM&B excels. An industry pioneer, BTM&B aims to deliver the highest quality of service, flexibility and efficiency through advanced technology and industry expertise.
BTM&B is part of BT Global Services. BT Global Services is BT’s business services division, which serves multi-site organisations with European operations.
For more information, please visit: www.bt.com/media-broadcast
For further information on this release, please contact:
Paul Borge/Adam Barber
Band & Brown Communications Band & Brown Communications
T: +44 (0) 20 7419 6953/T: +44 (0) 20 7419 8631
E: paulb@bbpr.com E: adam@bbpr.com
BT Group Newsroom
T: +44 (0) 20 7356 5369
For more information on Total Sports Asia, please visit
http://www.totalsportsasia.com/
Total Sports Asia (TSA) is the largest fully integrated sports marketing company in Asia with focus in TV Rights Sales & Distribution, Sponsorship Sales & Management, Event Management, Licensing & Merchandising, Mobile Content Rights Sales, New Media and Sports Marketing Consultancy. With offices in key Asian markets such as Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Bangkok, Total Sports Asia has earned a strong reputation for successfully building and expanding international brands throughout Asia via effective integrated sport marketing programs and solutions.
For media relations and marketing enquiries, please contact
Alex Iskandar Liew
Director – Group Marketing
Total Sports Asia
T: +603-7660 9611
F: +603-7660 9622
E: alex@totalsportsasia.com
Adam Barber
Band & Brown Communications
57 Jamestown Road
London
NW1 7DB
T: +44 (0)20 7419 8631
F: +44 (0)20 7419 6969
E: adam@bbpr.com
W: http://www.bbpr.com/