'Who's Who' of Broadcast Industry Aligns With Sony to Advance Digital Television; Sony Strikes Major Deals with CBS, NBC, Fox, Tribune, CNN, Court TV, Rainbow, CBC, RAI.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 1999--

Strategic Relationships With IBM, Avid, Sun, Discreet Logic, SGI,

Pluto, FAST, Leitch, Panavision, Sierra Design, Lucasfilm

Position Sony DTV Technology for Widespread Acceptance

Sony comes to NAB '99 having recently begun relationships with several major figures in the broadcast and production industries.

Through sales, collaborations and strategic alliances, Sony has bolstered support for key technologies and product lines, including the 1080P/24 segmented frame and MPEG-2 transport technologies, as well as the HDCAM(R), Betacam SX(R) and DVCAM(R) families of digital production equipment.

"We are erasing the dividing lines between companies and formats and taking full advantage of the best technology available through our collaboration with other industry leaders," said Michael Vitelli, executive vice president of Sony Electronics' Broadcast and Professional Company. "Open, flexible, easy-to-use and powerful: that is how we are defining digital at Sony."

Defining Implementation

Sony has demonstrated the power and acceptance of its digital formats through recent sales to top-tier broadcasters, including CBS, NBC, Fox, CBC, RAI and Tribune, according to Vitelli.

"The overwhelming support for Betacam SX over the past year, with multi-million dollar sales to CBS, CBC and Fox O&Os, underscores the industry acceptance of both the 1/2-inch videotape format and our MPEG strategy," Vitelli said. "These two components will continue to play an important role in our product development for the next several years."

NBC has recently announced the air date of the first broadcast of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in high definition -- April 26, 1999 -- which will be made possible through Sony's HDCAM equipment and the work of Sony Systems Integration.

Tribune has built on a previous decision to establish Betacam SX as the group-wide standard VTR format by announcing Sony's NewsBase(TM) as the group-wide news server system. NewsBase's ClipEdit(TM) and SXNet(TM) technology will allow Tribune stations to save, transfer and share video clips using the installed Betacam SX VTRs in an MPEG environment with no degradation in video quality.

RAI has also decided to create an MPEG platform for all station operations with the purchase of a complete digital production system based on an MPEG framework. The system will be installed over the course of 1999 and feature the latest in Sony production equipment.

Defining Collaboration

Sony is making it easier for customers to make the purchasing decisions of the newborn DTV era by tying together the top names in video technology under the framework of common transport platforms, including MPEG and 1080P/24 segmented frame.

For example, Sony and Avid announced an alliance to pursue the development of new post production and broadcast news products. The two companies will work together to create an Avid non-linear editing system that will interoperate with Sony's new line of MPEG-based broadcast equipment.

Additionally, Sony's NAB booth will feature an exhibit showing Sony product operating with servers and non-linear editors from a wide variety of popular video component manufacturers. Leading manufacturers including Avid, Quantel, FAST Multimedia, Sun Microsystems, Leitch and Vibrint have announced endorsement of MPEG-based systems for future product generations.

Further, the Pro-MPEG Forum plans its first demonstration of MPEG interoperability with 22 major equipment manufacturers showing equipment integration spanning from acquisition through transmission.

Sony is also collaborating with Laser Pacific in a specific system design of the first 24P post production system to be installed at Laser Pacific. Sony and Laser Pacific have worked together in reaching out to a broad range of manufacturers, each of whom brings key elements to implement a fully-functional 24P post production system. More than 20 manufacturers have announced their support of Sony's 24P system, many of whom will introduce their own 24P-related products at NAB'99.

Earlier this week, Sony and IBM announced a new joint worldwide marketing agreement to offer a comprehensive solution for management of digital content and intellectual assets. The system will be based on IBM software products and Sony's asset management hardware. The first customer is CNN, which will digitize 100,000 hours of archive material.

"Working with leaders in various core technologies provides the proper backdrop for our own innovations in hardware solutions," Vitelli said. "The industry is moving beyond a point where any one company can change the face of DTV alone.

The innovations will come from all corners and, in working together on transfer platforms, we will allow our customers to take advantage of the best in new technology to build the DTV solutions that make sense for them."

Editor's Note: More information about Sony products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sony.com/nab, or readers may call 800/686-SONY. Additional press information is available at http://www.sony.com/news.

The Broadcast and Professional Company of Sony Electronics is a leading U.S. provider of video and audio equipment for the broadcast, production, business, industrial, government, medical and education markets. Sony offers a wide array of products and systems for image capture, production and display. Sony also provides specialized equipment and systems for data recording, duplication, electronic photography/publishing, videoconferencing, high-definition video, interactive and security applications. Sony Electronics' annual sales exceed $10.5 billion. The company has more than 25,000 employees in the U.S. and Mexico.