Re Contract
Orad Hi-Tec Systems
1 July 2004
ESPN Star Sports Selects Orad systems for the new Football Season
Orad secures orders for its CyberSet virtual studio system and two 3D on-air
graphics systems
Kfar Saba, Israel - July 1, 2004 - Orad Hi-Tec Systems (Symbol: OHT), the world
leader in virtual sets, on-air graphics and sports production tools, announced
today that ESPN Star Sports, Asia's leading regional sports broadcaster, has
purchased Orad's CyberSet virtual studio system along with two CyberGraphics
systems, Orad's live 3D on-air graphics systems.
Singapore based ESPN Star Sports plans on using Orad's systems for their
extensive in-studio, pre-game and post-game shows of European football matches
scheduled to begin later this summer.
The installation at ESPN Star Sports will include Orad's virtual set 'CyberSet
NT', and two live 3D on-air systems 'CyberGraphics' play-out stations. The
inclusion of the on-air graphics system will allow ESPN Star Sports to provide
targeted sponsorship or advertisements to different markets on the live video
itself, making it an integral part of the broadcast. 'We were looking at new
ways of creating targeted advertising to various markets, and Orad was able to
provide us with the most cost effective and technologically sound solution to
meet this need,' said ESPN Star Sports Director of Engineering, Andy Rylance.
'Having evaluated the virtual set market for many years, we wanted to integrate
technology which is on par with the calibre of shows we produce for our Asian
viewers. We chose Orad's virtual set and live 3D on-air graphics systems,
because we knew that incorporating Orad into our production environment gives us
the possibility to make our shows stand out,' added Rylance.
'The fact that a broadcaster can produce a big studio look while operating in a
small studio played a vital role in ESPN Star Sports selecting our system,' said
Orad CEO Avi Sharir. 'The provision of extended marketing possibilities with
our 3D live on-air graphics system is an approach which we hope will be emulated
by additional stations in the near future,' added Sharir.
About ESPN Star Sports
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading
cable and satellite broadcasters, ESPN Inc. and STAR. It is Asia's complete
sports provider that reaches over 128 million households for ESPN and over 57
million households for STAR Sports (as of April 2004). 11 networks include ESPN
Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN
Singapore, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports
Singapore and STAR Sports S.E.A., Bringing the world's premier live sports and
leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground, the ESPN STAR
Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events
around Asia. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact
with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and
competitions. This multilingual, online platform is closely integrated with ESPN
and STAR Sports on air networks and has established the sites as the number one
on-line sports destination in their respective markets.
About ORAD
Founded in 1993, Orad is a world leader in TV production technology and rapidly
increasing its position in the Vissim industry. Orad's lines of products include
virtual sets, on-air graphics systems, virtual advertising, sports production
solutions and hardware for the Vissim industry. Orad has received extensive
worldwide recognition for its systems at a wide-range of events including the
1999/2000 Emmy Award for the 'Implementation of Real Time Virtual Imaging for
Live Events on Television'. Orad is a publicly traded company on Frankfurt's
Neuer Markt and Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange
(symbol: OHT).
www.orad.tv
For further information contact:
ORAD Hi-Tec Systems Ltd
Avi Sharir, Israel 972 9 7676 862
Shore Capital
Graham Shore, London, UK 44 20 7468 7910
Haubrok Investor Relations
Michael Kempkes, Frankfurt, Germany 49 211 30126102
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange