As Europe’s leading satellite operator, Eutelsat today announced its Official Sponsorship of the XX Winter Olympics in Torino 2006. Within the framework of this partnership Eutelsat will also provide the TOROC (the Torino Organising Committee of the XX Winter Olympics) with a package of 50 video channels that will be broadcast for the duration of the Games to competition sites, Olympic Villages and Media Villages. This will enable the Olympic community to benefit from live events coverage and to access broadcasts by leading international television channels.
For the XX Winter Olympics in Torino Eutelsat is pleased to have been appointed to manage an exclusive satellite network for the Olympic community that represents one of the largest private television networks put in place for an international sporting event. The network has been designed to provide athletes, judges and referees, members of the IOC, National Olympic Committees and Federations as well as journalists and media operators at competition, training and accommodation locations with exceptional levels of information through 50 digital video channels. Twenty Olympic Live channels will be provided by the TOBO (the Turin Olympic Broadcasting Organisation) with live coverage from each of the 13 competition sites. Another 30 television channels will enable the Olympic community to follow coverage by national and international television channels. The package will be delivered direct to 5,000 plasma screens and monitors located at the competition sites, three Olympic Villages and seven Media Villages during the Games. Eutelsat will multiplex, encrypt and uplink these services through the facilities managed by its Italian subsidiary, Skylogic Italia, in Turin.
“As a privileged media for broadcasting the world’s great sporting moments, satellites occupy a special place in the Olympic Games by enabling people around the world to share the emotions and record-breaking achievements of leading sportsmen and women” said Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat CEO. “Next to human achievement, the Olympics are also the opportunity for innovative new technologies to demonstrate their new levels of performance. We are committed to mobilising our expertise in order to provide the XX Winter Olympic Games with impeccable quality and efficiency for delivering Olympic content and all satellite broadband services required by the Olympic community.”
“The partnership with Eutelsat is a key milestone in our objective to integrate into our team of sponsors leading companies who bring expertise and added value to our organisation”, said Paolo Rota, TOROC CEO. “The key word for Olympic technology is reliability and the experience of Eutelsat is a guarantee for state of the art solutions for our broadcasting needs. Of course, the Olympic Games move solutions forward and drive the organising committees to find their partners among the most innovative companies, and that’s what happened between TOROC and Eutelsat”.
Eutelsat’s satellite coverage of the Olympics will span the Opening Ceremony on 10 February 2006 to the closing ceremony 17 days later. Eutelsat will also deliver satellite services for officials, athletes, and attendees at the Paralympics that follow the main Olympic event, from March 10 to 19. The Paralympics is a sporting competition for disabled athletes competing in five disciplines, including alpine skiing, biathlon, ice sledge hockey, cross-country skiing, and wheelchair curling.
About Eutelsat
With capacity commercialised on 22 satellites Eutelsat is one of the world’s leading satellite operators. The coverage provided through its in-orbit resource extends from the Americas to the Pacific, serving more than 150 countries or up to 90 per cent of the global population. With a powerful network of partners who include leading telecommunications operators, the company provides satellite capacity and value-added services for video broadcasting, interconnection of corporate networks and mobile fleets, data distribution and broadband Internet services. From its HOT BIRD orbital position at 13 degrees East and five other orbital positions, Eutelsat broadcasts more than 1300 television and 700 radio stations to an overall audience of 110 million cable and satellite homes.
About Skylogic Italia
Opened in 2002, Eutelsat’s multimedia platform in Turin is designed to offer European and national broadband programmes satellite services in complement to terrestrial broadband access solutions such as ADSL and cable. Operated by Skylogic Italia, a 100% owned subsidiary of Eutelsat, the Turin platform is equipped to offer a range of broadband services, from multicasting audio, video and data, broadband Internet access (as a two-way satellite service or in hybrid mode with requests sent through dial-up modem), and for interconnecting remote sites with secure virtual private networks.
About the Winter Olympics
Winter sports were added to the Olympic Games in 1908 with figure skating. Ice hockey debuted in 1920. In 1924 the first separate Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France. Beginning in 1994 the Winter Olympic Games were scheduled to be in different years from the Summer Games, so now there is an Olympic Games every two years, alternating winter and summer.
For more on the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, visit
http://www.torino2006.org
Facts and Figures of the XX Winter Olympic Games
17 days of competitions: from February 10 to 26, 2006;
15 sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, Nordic combined, curling, freestyle, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, ski jumping, Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, short-track, skeleton, luge and snowboard;
7 competition sites: Torino, Bardonecchia, Cesana, Pinerolo, Pragelato, Sauze d’ Oulx, Sestriere;
3 Olympic Villages: Torino, Bardonecchia and Sestriere;
82 titles at stake;
246 medals to be awarded;
80 National Olympic Committees;
2,550 athletes;
1,400 coaches and national team officials;
2,300 representatives of the IOC, National Olympic Committees and Federations;
650 judges and umpires;
9,600 journalists and media operators;
6,000 guests of sponsors.