"Tapeless in Seattle,"...and Honolulu, too.

TEWKSBURY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 1995--Avid Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) and Providence Journal Broadcasting announced today the NorthWest Cable News (NWCN) in Seattle and NBC-affiliate KHNL (Channel 13) in Honolulu will soon be operating the world's first tape-free newsrooms.

Owned by Providence Journal Broadcasting, the 19th-largest U.S. broadcasting group and publisher of America's longest, continually circulated newspaper (Providence Journal-Bulletin), NWCN and KHNL will install Avid's disk-based server production system over the next few months and begin operating without tape from capture through transmission by the summer.

According to the stations' management, disk-based technology and Avid were logical, cost-effective choices. "Traditional analog systems are quickly becoming the dinosaurs of the industry," stated John Hayes, television vice president of Providence Journal Broadcasting. "Given the obvious benefits disk-based systems offer over tape, it is only natural for us to equip our facilities with proven, state-of-the-art, disk-based technology. We evaluated systems from every disk-based vendor and Avid is light years ahead of the competition. Avid is the only company that can deliver a real, integrated production system capable of handling the demand of news, today. With Avid's networked, server-based systems, we believe NWCN and KHNL will operate faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively than any other stations in the world."

While many vendors offer standalone products for recording, editing and playback, only Avid provides broadcasters with scalable, multi-user, end-to-end solutions. Said Curt Rawley, president and CEO of Avid, "We are seeing an emerging trend among start-up stations and news facilities under renovation. These broadcasters are bypassing analog systems completely and building their entire newsrooms around our disk-based technology. Like NWCN and KHNL, these stations know that by installing Avid's disk-based production systems they will enjoy unparalleled speed and flexibility throughout their entire news operations."

About the Newsrooms of KHNL and NorthWest Cable News

KHNL, a soon-to-be NBC-affiliate, will be the first of the two operations to go on-air during April 1995. The station's MediaServer will be configured with 32 hours of RAID-3 (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) storage and will service six NewsCutter editing systems, two Media Recorders for incoming feeds, two Media Recorder screening stations and two channels of AirPlay for material playback direct-from-disk.

One of several northwestern U.S. stations owned by Providence Journal Broadcasting, cable start-up NorthWest Cable News is a new 24-hour news channel for the Pacific northwest region. The facility is installing Avid's MediaServer configured with 32 hours of RAID-3 storage and will service 12 client workstations. These clients will include five NewsCutter systems, four Media Recorders for incoming feeds, one Media Recorder for screening and two AirPlay systems for playing finished stories, promos and bumpers directly from disk. For tapeless commercial playback, NorthWest Cable News is installing an additional single-channel AirPlay with a 14 hour library. The cable network expects to be on-air 24-hours-a-day by the summer of 1995.

"Our disk-based editing and playback products, tied together with AvidNet/ATM and MediaServer, will provide KHNL and NWCN with extraordinary levels of flexibility," said Tony Mark, vice president and general manager of Avid's Broadcast Group. "Should a late-breaking news story such as a major fire hit, these broadcasters will have the tools they need to air the story faster and with more creative impact than any other station. Since multiple editors can immediately begin working on the same piece of footage, production will be able to create the promo for the 6:00 newscast, while news is producing the headline story - even while the incoming feed is still being recorded. Once the story is finished, the segment will then be instantly available to AirPlay for playback directly from disk. One week later, should a fire break-out in the same area, editors will be able to call-up the previous footage on the MediaServer and add it to the new story. This is just one example of how KHNL and NWCN will be able to quickly locate material and produce the best stories possible using Avid's server production system - even under the heat of late-breaking fires."

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Avid Technology Inc., headquartered in Tewksbury, Mass., is an international developer and supplier of comprehensive solutions for capturing, creating, editing, and distributing digital media. Ranked #9 by Fortune magazine and #5 by Inc. magazine on their lists of America's 100 fastest-growing companies for 1994, Avid is a pioneering developer of nonlinear film, video and audio editing software and hardware technologies for applications ranging from desktop video and post production to broadcast news. Avid's products are sold through direct sales offices and a network of distributors and resellers around the world.

Providence Journal Broadcasting, headquarterd in Providence, R.I., is the 19th-largest group owner of television stations in the United States, with 11 company-owned and managed stations reaching approximately 6 percent of the U.S. population from Charlotte to Honolulu. Providence Journal Broadcasting owns and manages Colony Communications Inc. and its 785,000 cable subscribers and is a general partner of the Television Food Network. Launched with several other large cable operators, including the Tribune Co., the Television Food Network has over 7 million subscribers and commitments to deploy 15 million. The company also publishes the oldest-circulated newspaper in America, the Providence Journal-Bulletin.

Avid, NewsCutter and AirPlay are registered trademarks and Media Recorder, AvidNet and MediaServer are trademarks of Avid Technology Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Avid Technology

Julie O'Brien, 508/640-3071

or

Donna Danis, 508/640-3131

or

Schwartz Communications

Deirdre O'Connell or Michelle Goodall, 617/431-0770