NBC Chooses an Integrated Avid Workflow to Broadcast 2004 Olympic Games

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Aug 16, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Massive deployment to Athens includes more than 35 Avid systems

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that NBC has chosen an integrated digital workflow made up of more than 35 Avid^® systems for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, August 13-29. This massive deployment of Avid systems allows NBC to edit, share, and store an extensive amount of stories every day during the 17-day telecast.

"In Greece, we are doing three times more the amount of programming than we did for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and seven times more than the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In order to handle this dramatically increased volume, we need solutions that are reliable, integrated, and able to handle quick turnaround," said David Mazza, senior vice president of engineering, NBC Olympics. "We get that with Avid systems. We have installed the largest most integrated Avid workflow to date for NBC Olympics - particularly with the addition of the Avid Unity^™ MediaNetwork system. The system's ability to integrate all of the Avid solutions on a combination of shared-storage networks and Gigabit Ethernet plays an integral role in helping NBC succeed in delivering the most Olympic programming ever."

The 75,000-square-foot International Broadcast Center (IBC) has five nonlinear edit suites outfitted with two Avid Media Composer^® Adrenaline^™ systems each connected to Avid Unity LANshare shared- storage networks. The edit suites are routed via Gigabit Ethernet to the IBC's Graphics Center, which incorporates numerous facilities and systems, starting with a large Avid Unity MediaNetwork system with the capacity to handle eight terabytes of storage. Connected to the Avid Unity system are three Media Composer and six NewsCutter^® edit systems, Avid Nearchive^™ storage, two TransferManager systems, a MediaManager system, and one PortServer Pro system.

At the venues, NBC is also using nine more Avid Media Composer Adrenaline seats connected to three Avid Unity LANshare systems and four Avid Xpress^® Pro systems for mobile editing, as well as an iNEWS^™ system for scripts, prompter and news wires. During the 17-day telecast, the IBC houses more than 2,500 NBC team members responsible for delivering more than 1,200 hours of programming.

"There are several new things happening at the Athens Olympics," said Philip Paully, director of graphics engineering and operations at NBC Olympics. "First, the Graphics Center's Avid Unity system ingests all the venue meltdown reels then catalogs and titles them in a way that allows other Avid systems in the IBC to access them. This means anyone at an Avid workstation from inside the IBC can access footage from any of the 625 games being played in Athens. Second, we have added Digidesign's new ICON integrated console environment for audio sweetening, which allows mixing, recording, editing, and processing - complete with integrated video and delivery - within a single environment. And third, instead of spending an excessive amount of money on one-off proprietary systems, NBC is using the Avid Unity MediaNetwork system to integrate its workflow with solutions from several other vendors."

David Schleifer, director of Avid Broadcast and Workgroups, said, "For the third consecutive Olympic Games since 2000, NBC has chosen Avid solutions to broadcast one of the most popular and complex television events in the world. Not only is this the ideal application for our core products - especially our infrastructure and media networks - it also underscores our commitment to delivering proven solutions that broadcasters can count on to do their job, day in and day out. We are honored that NBC continues to rely on Avid to help it bring the industry's most creative and professional live sports programming to millions of viewers around the world."

About NBC

NBC's unprecedented 24-hour, around-the-clock coverage of the 2004 Olympic Games from Athens will total 1,210 hours on seven NBC platforms - NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo, Telemundo and NBC HDTV affiliates - offering more Olympic coverage than the combined total from the last five previous Summer Olympics. Over the 17 days of the Athens Games (Aug. 13-29), NBC's coverage averages more than 70 hours per day and offers the most in-depth Olympic coverage in history. For the first time in U.S. broadcast history the networks of NBC provides some coverage of every one of the 28 Summer Olympic sports. Telemundo's Spanish-language broadcast is the first non-English language Olympic broadcast in U.S. television history. NBC owns the exclusive U.S. media rights for five consecutive Summer and Winter Olympics from 2000 through 2012 and has exclusively broadcast every Summer Olympics since 1988.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more information about the company's Oscar^®, Grammy^®, and Emmy^® award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.

^© 2004 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice. Avid, Digidesign, Film Composer, Pro Tools, Adrenaline, Avid Xpress, Avid Unity, Media Composer, Nearchive, and NewsCutter are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. iNEWS is a trademark of iNews, LLC. Avid received an Oscar statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer^® system for motion picture editing. Digidesign, Avid's audio division, received an Oscar statuette representing the 2003 Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development, and implementation of its Pro Tools^® digital audio workstation. Oscar is a trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Grammy is a trademark of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc.
Amy Paladino, 978-640-3051
amy_paladino@avid.com
or
Weber Shandwick
Laura Shea, 617-520-7015
lshea@webershandwick.com

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