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Thursday March 25, 7:16 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies Sign Agreements With PVI for 1999 Baseball Season
Teams Report New Advertisers And Increased Revenue; Local And Selected National Games To Carry Virtual Ads
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1999-- Princeton Video Image Inc. (NASDAQ: PVII - news, www.pvimage.com - news), the global leader in virtual advertising solutions for television, announced that the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies have signed new agreements under which PVI will provide virtual advertising services for 1999 regular season home games.
According to PVI, this is in addition to the previously announced agreement with the San Diego Padres, who have already sold out their virtual advertising inventory. PVI's cash revenue from these three local teams is expected to be up more than 40% over last year.
''The increase in revenue is clear evidence of the effectiveness of virtual advertising and the renewal of these agreements underscores this trend,'' said Dennis Wilkinson, PVI President and CEO. '' We anticipate further news about PVI and regular season baseball in the near future.''
Mr. Wilkinson said that new advertisers have already signed up for the 1999 season, including Toyota, Amtrak, and the Pennsylvania Lottery.
This year marks the first full season that the Phillies will use PVI's Live Video Insertion System (L-VIS(TM)) in the broadcast of all home games, and the fourth season that PVI has provided virtual advertising services for the Giants.
''Since the Giants began utilizing L-VIS to create virtual signage in 1996 we have seen tremendous growth in interest from both regional and national advertisers,'' said Jason Pearl, Director, Corporate Sponsorship for the San Francisco Giants. ''The team enjoyed our first electronic imaging sell out during a game at the end of the 1998 season and we expect to sell out all of our spots for the 1999 season over the next few weeks.''
Mr. Pearl continued, ''L-VIS continues to provide incremental revenue opportunities for the team. Last season the Giants worked with the San Diego Padres on an agreement allowing each franchise to send L-VIS images back to its home broadcast market. Through this agreement, we created six additional games for the Giants to sell. In addition, through an agreement this season with ESPN, the Giants will utilize L-VIS for ESPN broadcasts out of 3Com Park providing national advertising opportunities for our sponsors and advertisers.''
''Our long time customers are taking advantage of the PVI service and new customers are very excited about using the service for the first time,'' said Dave Buck, Vice President, Advertising Sales for the Philadelphia Phillies. ''The flexibility that the PVI service provides to advertisers is an important and essential selling feature.''
Princeton Video Image, Inc. has developed and is marketing a real-time video insertion system that, through patented pattern recognition technology, places computer-generated electronic images into television broadcasts of sporting events as well as other programming. These electronic images range from simple corporate names and logos to sophisticated 3-D images and animated effects. PVI has provided video insertion services for nearly 1,000 live telecasts worldwide, including broadcasts of Major League Baseball, National League Football, professional soccer, motorsports, and other live events. The Company is headquartered in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with offices in New York City, Mexico City, Brussels and Johannesburg.
Any statements contained in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, those relating to market acceptance, dependence on strategic partners and third party sales, contractual restraints on use of PVI's technology, a rapidly changing commercial and technological environment, competition, possible adverse regulations, need for additional financing, intellectual property rights and litigation, and other risks identified in PVI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results, events or performance may differ materially. PVI undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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Contact:
Media:
Roher Public Relations, New York
Christina Friedkin
(212)-986-6668
Investor:
Morgen-Walke Associates, Inc.
Cheryl Schneider/Tessa Lavender
(212) 850-5600 |
