Cbs Joins With Sony To Broadcast More Nfl Games In Hdtv

[Gregg Lengling]

Three Games to Air Each Sunday in High Definition Format with 5.1 Channel Audio


Also to Include HD Broadcasts of AFC Playoff Games


CBS Sports announced today that Sony Electronics will sponsor the high definition (HD) broadcast of three NFL games each Sunday of the regular-season on the CBS Television Network during the 2004 NFL season. Sony also will sponsor CBS Sports' HD broadcasts of this season's AFC playoff games, including the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 23, 2005. By broadcasting three games each week, CBS anticipates that most American households will have access to at least one CBS HD NFL game each week.


CBS Sports' NFL HDTV broadcasts will feature the highest definition television format - 1080 lines of picture resolution - along with 5.1 channel digital surround sound. The unified productions for both the standard definition and HD telecasts will feature the same announcers, camera angles, replays and graphics.


"CBS Sports and Sony partnered for the first NFL HD broadcasts in 1998. Now our relationship will take CBS's NFL HD broadcasts to new standards of quality and an unparalleled sports viewing experience," said CBS Sports President Sean McManus. "Multiple NFL HD games each week add even greater luster to CBS Sports record of leadership in high definition sports broadcasting."


"As the industry leader in both HD displays and production, Sony is pleased to join CBS to deliver the ultimate sports viewing experience in high definition. We know that once consumers catch a game in high definition their expectations will be forever changed," said Mike Fidler, senior vice president of Sony Electronics' Home Products Division. "Watching the NFL in high definition on a Sony HDTV will give fans a stadium experience without having to leave the living room."


CBS Sports is the industry leader in HDTV broadcasts. In 2004, CBS Sports will broadcast 39 weekends of premiere event sports programming in high definition, including an unprecedented 10 PGA TOUR events. Historically, CBS Sports and Sony were responsible for the first ever broadcast of a professional football game in high definition format on Sunday, November 8, 1998 when the historic broadcast featured the AFC East Division co-leaders, Buffalo Bills against the New York Jets, live on the CBS Television Network. The game was the first of four high definition games presented by CBS Sports during the 1998 season. CBS also broadcast the 2001 and 2004 Super Bowls and all of the 2003 and 2004 AFC Playoffs in HDTV.


CBS Sports' coverage of the 2000 Masters® was the first golf tournament ever presented live in HDTV on network television. CBS Sports also presented the first HDTV broadcast of a PGA TOUR event at the 2001 Sony Open. For the last five years, CBS has aired HD productions of the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and Championship Games, the Masters® Tournament, college football and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.


CBS broadcasts, on average, 25 hours per week of High Definition programming, more than any other broadcast network, and more original HD programming per week than any other network, broadcast or cable or satellite. One hundred and eighty-one of CBS's owned and affiliated stations are currently broadcasting in digital, covering approximately 97 percent of the nation.


CBS Television is comprised of the CBS Television Network — with over 200 owned and affiliated stations reaching virtually every television home in the United States; the Network's programming arms CBS Entertainment, CBS News and CBS Sports; and CBS Enterprises, a global leader in distribution.