ESPN Radio Introduces Content and Associated Delivery System
for HD Radio™

Broadcasting UEFA Euro Cup 2008 Soccer Matches to Launch New HD Radio Network

ESPN will launch the ESPN HD Radio network on Saturday, June 7 to coincide with the start of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament.  ESPN Radio will make available compelling sports content for the 1,714 stations broadcasting with HD Radio technology across the nation via a ground-breaking, internet/satellite-based delivery system. HD Radio technology is transforming AM and FM broadcasting with a vastly increased number of channels, drastically improved sound quality, and an array of new data services.  

Using a specialized ESPN HD Radio network appliance, subscribing stations will be able to customize and program their own ESPN HD Radio stations. The network appliance (content server) will allow a station staff member to pre-program their station(s) on the internet from one easy-to-use interface. The content server will allow affiliate stations to pick and choose from a wide array of compelling sports content options -- both live and pre-recorded -- providing a simple one-box solution for generating localized HD Radio programming from an up-to-the-moment menu of content.

In addition to providing conventional audio content, the content server will also give HD Radio stations unique sports data-casting abilities such as bottom-line data, clock and score information and other non audio services specifically designed for the HD Radio system. Stations can also simplify the process of localizing content and commercials with automatic settings on the ESPN HD Radio content server.

ESPN’s HD Radio networks will debut June 7 with the live broadcast of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament made available to its ESPN HD Radio FM affiliates. Live play-by-play of the Switzerland-Czech Republic match begins at 11 a.m. ET.
 
These broadcasts will be available to any listener of an ESPN HD Radio FM affiliate who has an HD Radio receiver. HD Radio multicasting is new technology whereby stations can broadcast multiple programs in high quality in the same frequency. ESPN Radio’s FM affiliates can take advantage of additional marquee and exclusive programming provided by ESPN, by airing these programs on their HD Radio HD2/HD3 multicast channels.

“Offering content by utilizing new technologies and new distribution channels is part of our overall strategy of serving the sports fan,” said Traug Keller, senior vice president, business units. “Euro 2008 on HD Radio multicast broadcasting is an opportunity to deliver world class soccer to our ESPN Radio listeners while still providing regularly scheduled ESPN Radio programs on the main channel.”

Euro 2008
Play-by-play: Andy Gray, Adrian Healy, Robbie Mustoe, Derek Rae and Tommy  Smyth.
  
Euro 2008 will take place in Austria and Switzerland from June 7 to June 29, 2008. A total of 16 national teams – the two host nations and 14 other qualifiers – from around Europe participate in the tournament with the winner representing the UEFA at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.  Euro 2008 will feature Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

ESPN Radio’s coverage will include all group stage matches plus the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the one-match championship final at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria, on June 29.

WHAT IS HD RADIO BROADCASTING?
HD Radio broadcasting is dramatically higher quality audio, far more programming choice and compelling new wireless data services brought to you by your local AM and FM radio stations.

Today, thousands of radio stations are upgrading their broadcast technology; more than 1,700 are currently broadcasting with digital HD Radio technology, with more than 700 also offering new HD2/HD3 multicast channels. Your favorite station remains in the same place on the radio dial, but when you have a new digital HD Radio receiver, your AM sounds like FM and FM sounds like CD quality. In addition, the wireless data feature enables text information – sports scores, sports news, weather or traffic alerts – to be broadcast directly to your receiver’s display screen. And, FM HD Radio stations are starting to “multicast,” offering more than one stream. A single station can offer several audio channels as well as on-screen data simultaneously. A station can run one channel of music and one of sports news, or sports news and sports talk.   

Approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October 2002 as the only system for digital AM and FM broadcasting in the U.S., HD Radio technology is developed and licensed by iBiquity Digital Corporation and supported by the leaders of the broadcasting, consumer electronics and automotive industries.

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