BT Broadcast Services Teams Up With NASCAR.COM to Offer Live In-Truck Video

WASHINGTON, April 13 -- NASCAR.COM, the official site of NASCAR, has teamed up with BT Broadcast Services, the Americas Inc. to bring, for the first time online, live in-truck video and audio from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.

NASCAR.COM will offer fans Live Ride-Along Video feature on the website, where fans can tune into team communications and follow the selected races live from inside the cab of up to four participating drivers.

BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) is responsible for the signal acquisition of the footage from the four selected trucks on the race-course which is multiplexed onsite and delivered to BT's Washington, DC facilities via satellite on PanAmSat. The video and audio footage is encoded using BT Mediastream and streamed at 300kb/s in Real Player and handed off to AOL for distribution over the Internet.

"This is a first for the web. Historically, this type of live in-car video feed has been limited to TV broadcasts -- we are delighted to be pioneering its introduction with BTBS and to be the first to be offering it online to NASCAR fans," said Scott Bailey, vice president, general manager, NASCAR.COM.

"Being able to bring live content of this nature to the web is quickly becoming a must. Users want to interact and feel as though they are actually at the race," said Bill McNamara, general manager for BT Broadcast Services, the Americas. "Our experience with live events combined with our unrivalled global infrastructure means we can bring our customers' content to the platform of their choice live or on demand or both."

The 'Live Ride-Along Video' feature will be available for twelve of the twenty-six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Races, including the Easycare Vehicle Service Contracts 200, the Kroger 250, the Tailgate 200, the MBNA America 200, the O'Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline Maxlife, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 200, the New Hampshire 200, the Kroger 200, the Chevy Silverado 150, the Darlington 200 and the Ford 200.

BT Broadcast Services is one of the largest satellite and fiber broadcast service providers in the US and Britain, offering a fully integrated service via 24-hour booking centers in the US and the UK. Customers can arrange all their transmission requirements with a single phone call.

About BT Broadcast Services (www.bt.com/broadcast)

BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) is one of the world's leading suppliers of global broadcast solutions, providing a comprehensive range of terrestrial and satellite based multimedia transmission solutions as well as content and customer management services. The group offers flexible, cost effective tailor-made services to an international client base including broadcasters, news agencies, production companies, special event organizers, and large corporations around the world. BTBS delivers technically advanced services based on the latest video and Internet technologies, including video streaming, digital terrestrial television, high speed Internet access via satellite and digital business TV.

The group is part of BT Global Services, BT's business services and solutions division, serving customers worldwide. As an information and communications technology service provider, BT Global Services provides integrated data and value-added services to meet the European needs of global multi-site corporates and the global needs of European corporates.

For more information about BT North America Broadcast Services' comprehensive services and capabilities, please visit www.bt.com/broadcastamericas.

About NASCAR.COM

Turner Sports Interactive acquired all of NASCAR's interactive rights in October 2000 and became the exclusive producer of NASCAR.COM in January 2001. NASCAR.COM is one of the fastest growing sports sites on the Web, consistently ranking among the top three sport sites on the Internet. In 2003, NASCAR.COM was awarded an Emmy(R) by the National Television Academy for its TrackPass with PitCommand application. Along with NASCAR.COM, Turner Sports Interactive is the exclusive producer of PGA.com. They acquired the PGA's interactive rights in June 2002 and immediately assumed exclusive production of PGA.com