Message #37 From:
Stock News Bot Date: January 16, 2007 05:38:00 AM
MC News Fox Television Stations Adopt Panasonic P2 HD/P2 for All Owned-and-Operated Stations
SECAUCUS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Panasonic Broadcast today announced that it has signed a three-year
agreement with the Fox Entertainment Group, Inc. to supply P2 HD and P2
solid-state camcorders and recorders to all Fox owned-and-operated
television stations.
Fox Television Stations, Inc. part of the Fox Entertainment Group, is
one of the nation's largest owned-and-operated broadcast groups, and
comprises 35 stations in 26 markets, covering nearly 45% of U.S.
television homes. This includes five duopolies in the top 10 markets,
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Washington D.C., as well as
duopolies in Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Orlando.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Panasonic will be the
exclusive supplier of certain electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment
for Fox’s owned-and-operated
television stations. The agreement covers AJ-HPX2000 2/3”
P2 HD camcorders, AJ-HPM100 P2 HD mobile recorders, P2 Cards as well as
P2 drives and other P2 products.
John Baisley, President, Panasonic Broadcast, said, “We
are very pleased to be chosen by Fox, one of our original development
partners for P2, to supply its television stations with P2 HD and P2
equipment. This substantial commitment reinforces Panasonic’s
leadership in high definition.”
“P2 is a proven technology with extensive
customer experience, and Panasonic is deeply committed to the continued
development of innovative yet practical P2 HD solid state solutions that
deliver substantial workflow improvements and overall operating
efficiencies,” added Baisley.
Currently, five Fox stations – WNYW-TV and
WWOR-TV, New York City; WTXF-TV, Philadelphia, KRIV-TV, Houston; and
KTVI-TV, St. Louis; are using Panasonic’s P2
standard definition equipment in their news production operations.
About P2 HD
P2 HD provides the reliability of solid state production, the immediate
connectivity to existing IT infrastructures; the speed, ease of use and
portability of P2 cards; and the interoperability with leading NLE
systems. The core products within the P2 HD product line offer
solid-state high definition recording without the mechanical wear and
environmental limitations of tape, hard disk, and optical disc based
systems. P2 HD insures the highest reliability, especially in
challenging conditions of extreme temperature range, shock, and
vibration. P2 HD products provide a significant reduction in maintenance
costs, longer useful product life, and immediate access to recorded
video (no need to digitize, ingest or create proxy video files) and
metadata.
The multi-format AJ-HPX2000, the first shoulder-mount camcorder in
Panasonic’s P2 HD series, features a native HD
progressive 2/3” 3-CCD system that offers
superb recording in 1080i, 720p, 480i, 576i and in a total of 17 high
definition and standard definition formats. Designed to support
versatile compression rates, the
AJ-HPX2000 is switchable between DVCPRO HD/50/25 and DV as well as the
new AVC-Intra codec, the industry’s most
advanced image compression technology.
The AJ-HPM100 P2 Mobile features multi-format recording and playback
with a six-slot P2 card reader, versatile inputs/outputs (including
HD-SDI, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0), an SD memory card slot, broadcast-level
editing controls including a job/shuttle dial and audio faders, and a
9-inch widescreen HD LCD monitor with stereo speakers. The P2 Mobile
offers the benefits of solid-state performance with on-the-go recording,
editing and playback in the world’s leading
video formats, including up/down/cross conversion between 1080i and 720p
and between high definition and standard definition.
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of
broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic
Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North America.
The company is the North American headquarters of Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) of Japan, and the hub of its U.S.
marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on
Panasonic Broadcast products, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
