NEW YORK, May 17, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Narrowstep, Inc., the TV on the Internet company, announced today that its Production Services division has been appointed to handle global distribution for sailing's prestigious Swedish Match Tour this year.
The $300,000 contract also involves establishing an online channel for the series, which takes the top sailors in the world in head to head competition, from California to Japan, through some of Europe's top sailing locations. The new channel, Swedish Match TV, will be available from the official Tour website and will feature highlights of all the rounds from last year's competition and detailed coverage of this year's events as they occur, made available to a global audience using Narrowstep's TV Station in a Box technology.
Narrowstep Production Services's SportshowsTV (STV) subsidiary, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in March, won the contract against strong international opposition due to the company's experience in filming major international sailing events and, crucially, because of Narrowstep's ability to enable the Swedish Match Tour (SMT) to create and manage its own TV channel.
STV has a long and accomplished history in sailing coverage, and has become a leader in the field through its internationally screened TV program World Yachting. It now has been contracted by SMT to cover all nine events this year, commencing with the Congressional Cup in California which was held between April 19-24, 2004.
STV has covered many of the world's high profile sailing events over the years including The Rolex Fastnet Race, The IMS Offshore World Championships, The Clipper Round The World Yacht Race, Antigua Sailing Week, The Women's Match Racing World Championships, The Omega Asian Yachting Circuit, and The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. STV is also the TV partner and rights holder for the Professional Windsurfers Association World Tour.
Cliff Webb, Narrowstep COO and former Managing Director of STV said, "We are naturally delighted to be appointed to the Swedish Match Tour, which is regarded as the premier professional racing circuit in the world. We're coming in with a whole new look and feel to the coverage that will help lift the profile of the Tour even higher."
Swedish Match Tour President, Pierre Tinnerholm said, "The addition of Sportshows TV to the Swedish Match Tour is one of many changes we've made to the tour this year. We're confident their productions will help present a stronger tour to the world market and help it grow."
The Swedish Match Tour, renowned as the major leagues of sailing, runs a series of nine of the world's leading professional match racing events and makes for some of the fiercest competition on water, with a total prize purse of over $1 million. Top skippers and crews compete in identical event-supplied yachts on short courses, in shore-side venues, and challenge even the most experienced sailors. The series commenced with the recent Congressional Cup, held off Long Beach, California, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious match racing events.
Notes to Editors:
The Swedish Match Tour is currently in the midst of its 2003-'04 schedule. Three events have been completed: Danish Open, Investors Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, and Nippon Cup. The schedule resumes with the Congressional Cup in late April and continues through the Swedish Match Cup in July, where the Champion of the Tour will be crowned.
The 2004-'05 schedule begins with the Portugal Match Cup the last week of July and continues through to the Swedish Match Cup in 2005. The next Tour is tentatively scheduled to visit many of the events that comprise the 2003-'04 schedule.
May 24-29 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10978 ACI HTmobile Cup, Split, Croatia June 8-13 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10979 Match Race Germany, Lake Constance, Germany July 5-11 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10980 Swedish Match Cup, Marstrand, Sweden July 26-31, 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=11120 Portugal Match Cup, Cascais, Portugal Aug. 11-15, 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10973 Danish Open, Copenhagen, Denmark Oct. 16-24, 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10974 King Edward VII Gold Cup, Hamilton, Bermuda Nov. 15-21, 2004 http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/default.asp?m=da&id=10975 Nippon Cup, Hayama, Japan
www.swedishmatchtour.com -- http://www.swedishmatchtour.com/ www.sportshowstv.com -- http://www.sportshowstv.com/
For further information on Sportshows TV or Swedishmatch TV, please contact Andria Allan, Director of PR and Marketing on mailto:aallan@narrowstep.com, aallan@narrowstep.com or Tel: +44 207 208 5525, Mob: +44 7810 283098.
For information on the Swedish Match Tour, please contact Sean McNeill, Head of PR & Marketing on mailto:smcneill@f10marketing.com, smcneill@f10marketing.com +1 401 846-8812