QuesTec Announces Three Year
Baseball Agreement With FOX Sports Net
Deer
Park, N.Y. Monday, April 5, 1999 - QuesTec
Imaging, Inc. (QuesTec), (NASD-BB: QSTI), and FOX
Sports Net (FSN) announce an agreement
to incorporate QuesTec's patented technology and
baseball production services during FSN's
television coverage of Major League Baseball,
including FSN's Thursday night national game of
the week. This Agreement is for three years, and
includes an option for an additional two years.
FSN's combination of national and local games
will total over 1,700 telecasts in 1999, making
FOX Sports Net the leader in Major League
Baseball coverage. As part of this Agreement FSN
will assist QuesTec in a league wide installation
program of its technology. To date, QuesTec has
cabled 16 major league ballparks, and will
continue to install in each of the remaining
stadiums this season. QuesTec's goal is to have
all stadiums on-line for all home and away FSN
telecasts by mid-summer. FSN's regional markets
will begin using QuesTec's services as part of
their programming for home market telecasts and
will expand to include away productions as the
season progresses. This Agreement will generate
$5m - $8m dollars in revenues for QuesTec during
the next three years.
FOX Sports Net is the first truly national,
regional and local supplier of sports
programming, and reaches more than 62 million
homes through 22 regional sports networks. The
World Champion New York Yankees are featured in
10 telecasts on FSN's Baseball Thursday schedule.
Other highlights include: six telecasts featuring
Mark McGwire and the St. Louis Cardinals;
perennial power Atlanta Braves three times; Ken
Griffey Jr's Seattle Mariners twice; Kevin Brown
and the Dodgers four times; and last year's NL
MVP Sosa and the Cubs two times. FSN will feature
QuesTec's technology during games played in
ballparks where QuesTec's systems are installed.
"We are proud to undertake this project with
FOX Sports Net, our combined efforts will provide
fans with a unique and
informative perspective of the game."
"FOX's commitment to innovative and quality
programming create the perfect environment for
QuesTec's sports television technology",
stated Ron Klimkowski, sports marketing, QuesTec
Imaging, Inc.
QuesTec will provide FSN with a real-time video
and computer based tracking and scoring system
that creates a virtual replay for television and
a behind-the-scenes analysis tool for
commentators. QuesTec's technology will instantly
display a real-time three-dimensional view of
pitches, including the speed, movement and
location of the ball from its release-point to
the back of home plate. This real-time
three-dimensional rendering of actual pitches
graphically illustrates the difference between a
slider, curveball, forkball or fastball --
enhancing the broadcast for commentators and
viewers alike. In addition, any pitch from any
inning can be recalled and displayed at any time
during the game, or a number of pitches can be
shown full-screen in any sequence, or as a
split-screen-comparison. These features are very
effective in illustrating key pitches, key at
bats and pitcher/batter match-ups. QuesTec's
production services will raise the level of FSN's
broadcast coverage.
"This is a huge and long awaited undertaking
for our company." "We have spent more
than 16 months working with FOX Sports Net
management to develop the proper format for
integrating our technology with their baseball
coverage." "Our initial start-up
process will be slow but steady, with our primary
purpose being to provide FOX viewers with quality
information and real-time interactive
content," said Ed Plumacher, Co-Founder of
QuesTec.
This Agreement clearly positions QuesTec as the
leader in the development and deployment of
real-time virtual replay systems for sports
broadcasting. QuesTec has developed virtual
replays for baseball, golf and most recently
tennis. The
company continues an aggressive development
program for new sports through its partnerships
with Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation
of Waltham, MA, and Live Motion Company of
Wiesbaden, Germany. QuesTec's technology has been
used in thousands of sports television
productions in the United States, Canada, Europe,
Asia and South Africa. The company is currently
working to expand its operations into Australia.
QuesTec develops and markets proprietary software
systems that capture, render, and display
real-time graphic simulations that can be applied
to sports entertainment, display media, business
and industry.
For more information on QuesTec Imaging, Inc.
contact the company at (516) 243-1880, or visit
http://www.questec.com.
For information on FOX Sports Net visit
http://www.foxsports.com.
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