Vyvx to Provide NBC Universal with Greater Capacity, Redundancy and Flexibility with Broadcasts
BROOMFIELD, Colo., January 4, 2007 - Vyvx, a Level 3 company, today announced an expanded multi-year agreement with NBC Universal that will support the company’s sports broadcasts and other programming. Under the terms of the agreement, Vyvx is NBC’s exclusive provider of NFL backhaul, a primary provider of NHL backhaul and will enable NBC to receive feeds from all other Sunday games for highlights on the NBC Sunday pregame program.
“Vyvx is a logical and trusted choice for NBC’s sports events collection and backhaul needs,” said Michael Meehan, vice president of Sports Operations and Production Planning at NBC Universal. “In addition to its commanding presence at sports venues and impressive track record with NBC and the industry, Vyvx worked with us to innovate a specialized, scalable solution to address our specific challenges, giving us better monitoring capabilities and control over the backhaul transmission of our programming.”
The Vyvx Broadcaster Access solution enables NBC and Vyvx to work together to develop a broadcast network for NBC’s video and data services. Vyvx provides a converged platform that transmits high quality digital video (ASI, SDI, SDTI) services, while supplying NBC more flexibility to meet their growing data transmission demands. The flexible design enables NBC to move ASI, SDI, SDTI video formats across the network, giving NBC more control over content. The solution greatly increases scalability, as the direct fiber connectivity to NBC’s control center enables capacity to be increased quickly and efficiently. Additionally, the Vyvx Broadcaster Access solution provides increased redundancy while eliminating local loop capacity constraints and the coordination with multiple vendors, which in the past could cause bottlenecks and inefficiency.
This unique solution was designed to provide high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) feeds for NBC’s newly won NFL contract to broadcast Sunday Night Football. Additionally, the solution provides for the HD and SD feeds of the day’s game highlights from other networks to broadcast during NBC’s Sunday Pre-Game show. Because the solution provides a scalable architecture that can expand based on additional content growth fueled by increased HD sports and event programming, Vyvx will also carry the majority of all NHL feeds for NBC in both HD and SD formats,
“NBC has been a valued customer for 15 years, and we are pleased to be providing expanded support for NBC’s sports broadcasting endeavors,” said Derek Smith, senior vice president of Vyvx. “This collaborative effort in support of new solutions for NBC is a prime example of our ability to innovate and be flexible on our customers’ behalf.”
In addition to its direct connections to over 100 sports venues, the Vyvx network also reaches a large number of networks, broadcasters, studios, production houses and other locations with HD broadcast and distribution needs.
About Vyvx, LLC
Vyvx provides video delivery solutions over fiber optics and satellite to global advertising, sports, news, and entertainment customers. Vyvx offers a wide range of dedicated and occasional services and its electronic footprint reaches more than 13,000 online television and radio stations, networks and cable head-ends, as well as more than 100 professional sports venues and all major media centers, movie studios and production facilities. Vyvx is a subsidiary of Level 3 Communications, Inc.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT), an international communications company, operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, connecting 180 markets in 18 countries. The company serves a broad range of wholesale, enterprise and content customers with a comprehensive suite of services including: Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, voice and voice over IP services, content delivery and media distribution services. These services provide the building blocks to enable Level 3’s customers to meet their growing demands for advanced communications solutions. The company’s Web address is www.Level3.com.
"Level 3 Communications,” "Level 3," the red 3D brackets and the Level 3 Communications logo are registered service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service, product or company names recited herein may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements that we make in this press release are forward looking in nature. These statements are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside our control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent us from achieving our stated goals include, but are not limited to our ability to: successfully integrate acquisitions; increase the volume of traffic on our network; defend our intellectual property and proprietary rights; develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and meet all of the terms and conditions of our debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
