TOUR DE FRANCE ADDS HD PAL TECHNOLOGY TO THIS YEAR'S RACE
SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation Provides Versus with Zoom Telestration Technology
for the 96th Tour de France
DURHAM, NC (July 23, 2009) SVG - For the third year running,
SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation has partnered with Versus to provide technology
and tools to enhance Versus' coverage of the Tour de France. This year, SportsMEDIA
is providing its latest zoom-telestration technology in native HD PAL.
SportsMEDIA's zoom-telestration system provides Versus a powerful visual and graphics
tool kit to visually identify and highlight individual cyclists, and illustrate
team strategies, during race action.
In the hand of Versus' Talent, this technology helps educate viewers to the subtleties
of cycling team strategies and how and why certain strategies are used for teams
as they advance in the field.
Given the nature of the event, aerial coverage and high camera angles are a big
part of Versus's Tour de France presentation. Utilizing headshot pointers, spot
shadows, geometric highlight effects, and traditional electronic chalk, the technology
offers on-air talent a perfect tool for identifying and analyzing individual cyclists
from within the pack and for graphically illustrating how a team executes coordinated
strategies between teammates.
The zoom feature also gives Versus' viewers never before seen close-up images of
the action; from riders advancing through or battling in the pack, to magnified
image analysis of on-course incidents.
"Promoting exciting in-depth coverage is the goal, said Don Tupper, Vice President
of Sales and Marketing for SportsMEDIA, "The overhead point-of-view allows on-air
Talent to show riders being called out during a pass or crash, while the digital
zoom technology magnifies areas of interest that would otherwise go unseen on television.
The zoom feature can support both moving video as well as a still frame".
The SportsMEDIA zoom-telestration technology being used at the Tour de France is
based on similar technology SportsMEDIA used during the Kentucky Derby, Preakness
Stakes and Motorsports.
About SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation:
SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation (www.sportsmedia.com), based in Durham, NC, is
an Emmy Award winning provider of graphics, statistics and video enhancement software
and services to producers of live television sports broadcasts. SportsMEDIA's products
and services have enhanced the production quality and the viewer's experience of
the biggest events and most valuable properties in sports programming, including
the Super Bowl, NBC Sunday Night Football, ABC Monday Night Football, the Indianapolis
500, the NCAA Final Four, the Kentucky Derby, ESPN Summer and Winter X-Games, NBA
on TNT, NASCAR and NHL. SportsMEDIA designs systems to meet the needs of the planet's
most demanding real-time client¡live television.
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For more information contact:
Patricia Hopkins, Director of Marketing,
p.hopkins@sportsmedia.com, 919-602-4392