KANGAROO TV GIVES FANS EXCLUSIVE VIEW OF CANADIAN MOLSON INDY EVENTS
TORONTO – July 6, 2004 – Kangaroo.tv, an innovative wireless viewing device that is used in conjunction with live spectator events, will provide fans at this year’s Molson Indy races with the most comprehensive live-audience experience available anywhere. Created to enhance the fan experience, Kangaroo.tv, is used by audiences seated in grandstands, private suites or anywhere else on the event site, who wish to keep up with all of the live on-track action, race data, timing and scoring and other event related audio, visual, text and graphic information all weekend long. “Kangaroo.tv offers audiences at this weekend's Molson Indy the opportunity to see, hear and experience things that until now have only been available to racing personnel and media,” says Kangaroo.tv president, Marc Arseneau. “It is a new medium that is designed to give users a totally new perspective on the event they are attending.” “There is a great deal that happens at a race that fans seated in the grandstands or walking around the site have never been able to access, or have had limited access to,” continues Arseneau. “While race teams standing in their pit boxes and media in the media center can watch real-time, closed-circuit video, timing and scoring, listen to car-to-pit communications and the actual network television broadcast if they so choose, fans in the spectator areas have had to be satisfied with what their seats provide in terms of visual range, and could listen to the track announcer on a transistor radio. Kangaroo.tv offers audiences access to all of the same information available to teams and media. It’s like standing in the pit lane and actually becoming part of the show. ” Spectators who rent Kangaroo.tv from the company’s kiosk on the grounds, are shown how to utilize a variety of user-friendly options on the device including four different video feeds (race broadcast, in-car, pit lane and instant replay), as well as access live session timing and scoring, track audio feed and well as a wealth of information on the series, event, teams, drivers, rules, safety and more. Kangaroo.tv also acts as a radio scanner providing users with the ability to scan all car-to-pit communications or monitor one or more of their favorite drivers. “Kangaroo.tv has become extremely popular in both racing and fan circles,” explains Arseneau. “We traveled with Champ Car in 2003 and discovered that teams in both Champ Car and the support events were renting the Kangaroo.tv to augment their own capabilities. Champ Car drivers were using it in-car while stopped in pit lane to watch competitors on track or to monitor lap times. Support series teams liked it because it provided live timing and scoring, something they often have limited access to. We are now providing each Champ Car team and each support series team with Kangaroo.tv each race weekend we attend.” Spectators at this year’s three Canadian Molson Indy’s starting with this weekend’s event in Toronto, can choose one of two rental packages: Kangaroo Standard which comes with an earpiece and allows the user to hear the track audio broadcast; or Kangaroo Pro which comes with a racing headset and contains all of the features of Kangaroo Standard as well as provides scanner capabilities so users can listen to all car-to-pit communications. Rental prices range from $34.95 for a day to $44.95 for the entire weekend for Standard and $59.95 per day to $69.95 per weekend for the Pro version. “We truly believe that Kangaroo.tv will forever change the way audiences view spectator events,” concludes Arseneau. “It used to be that spectators would set the VCR or run home to view the television broadcast of the event they attended to see what they may have missed. Missing any of the action is now a thing of the past. The entire event experience becomes completely self-directed with Kangaroo.tv. It’s truly remarkable to see how excited people are about it at the end of the day. It changes everything.”