NBC to Present Winter Olympics in HD in Conjunction with HDNet

New York (November 29, 2001) -– NBC, in association withHDNet, will broadcast selected events at the upcoming 2002 OlympicWinter Games from Salt Lake City in high definition, Gary Zenkel,Executive Vice President, NBC Olympics, announced today.

"NBC’s high-definition Olympic broadcasts from Salt Lake willdeliver the world’s premier television event to NBC affiliatestations’ digital television homes using the world’spremier television technology," Zenkel said. "We are pleased to be ableto tap into the experience HDNet has in covering sporting events inhigh definition." The NBC HDTV Olympic programming will also beavailable on HDNet’s Channel 199 on DirectTV.

The HDTV broadcasts will be offered as a separate and distinct feedfrom NBC’s standard-definition broadcasts of the Games on NBC,CNBC, and MSNBC. The HDTV broadcasts will air portions of the previousday’s competition and will be available to the growing list of 32NBC DTV affiliate stations that currently cover more than 42% of thecountry.

Jack Sander, Executive Vice President, Media Operations, Belo Corp.and Chairman, NBC Affiliate Board, said: "We support and applaud NBCfor this innovative effort. NBC has worked with the affiliate board allthe way and we appreciate the involvement. We believe this allows forthe growth of high-definition television while protecting the coreOlympics, NBC, and local stations throughout the country. Since thesetelecasts can be seen on all local digital channels, and local stationswill have sales inventory to sell, we are full partners in thiseffort."

Mark Cuban, co-founder and Chairman of HDNet, said: "For the firsttime ever in the United States, NBC and HDNet will provide audiences anOlympics viewing experience that only the incredible picture qualityand widescreen capabilities of HDTV can deliver -– it’slike being there.

"Anyone who doesn’t have an HDTV and HD receiver should addthose items to their holiday wish lists, because the homes with HDTVswill be the most popular houses on the block during the Olympics."

HDNet, the leader in high-definition broadcasting, produces andtelevises more hours of HDTV programming each week than any othernetwork. Available on DirecTV channel 199, HDNet’s programminglineup includes National Hockey League and Major League Baseball games,as well as a variety of other sporting events, concerts, movies,documentaries and specials. Co-founded by Mark Cuban and GeneralManager Philip Garvin, HDNet has produced and broadcast anunprecedented number of live HDTV sports and entertainment events fromits special HD mobile production trucks.

The high-definition Olympic broadcasts will air daily from 3-11 p.m.ET and will be replayed from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. ET and again from 7 a.m.to 3 p.m. ET. The broadcasts will feature the Opening and ClosingCeremonies from Rice-Eccles Stadium, figureskating, and short-trackspeedskating from the Salt Lake Ice Center, speedskating from the UtahOlympic Oval, ski jumping from Utah Olympic Park, and hockey from the ECenter. The high-definition format will be 1080i with Dolby Digital 5.1Surround audio.

NBC is only the second Olympics rightsholder worldwide to provideviewers high-definition broadcasts. NHK, Japan’s Olympicbroadcast rightsholder, first aired high-definition broadcasts fromselected venues at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

In addition to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, NBC currently providesHDTV broadcasts of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" five nights a week,"Crossing Jordan" Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT as well as other selectsporting events and specials. "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" was thefirst regularly scheduled television series to be broadcast inHDTV.

The 2002 Olympic Winter Games from Salt Lake City will be heldFebruary 8-24 and will be the first Winter Olympics in the UnitedStates since the 1980 Lake Placid Games, 22 years ago. The Salt LakeOlympics are the second Games in an unprecedented five consecutiveOlympics to which NBC owns the U.S. broadcast rights. The unprecedentedfive consecutive Olympic Games are the 2000 Summer Games from Sydney,the 2002 Winter Games from Salt Lake City, the 2004 Summer Games fromAthens, the 2006 Winter Games from Torino, Italy, and the 2008 SummerGames from Beijing. "The Complete Olympics" from Salt Lake City will beavailable exclusively on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and online atNBCOlympics.com.