RCA Sponsors HDTV Broadcast Of College Hoops Championships

Scores With ""Slam Dunk Of Savings"" On Digital TV Products

30-Mar-00

With production costs underwritten by THOMSON multimedia's (SICOVAM: 18453) (NYSE: TMS) RCA brand, Wisconsin, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Florida basketball fans in many of America's largest media markets will be able to enjoy the climactic conclusion of this year's men's college basketball tournament in digital high-definition television (HDTV). CBS Sports' live coverage of both the semifinal round on Saturday, April 1, 2000 and championship game on Monday, April 3 will be broadcast in 1080i, the optimum HDTV format featuring a digital picture of unsurpassed quality plus stadium-like surround sound. These two HDTV broadcasts will be produced and transmitted independent of, and in addition to, the network's regular analog coverage. The high-definition games are expected to reach nearly half the US population and will be broadcast through CBS affiliates in New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, DC; Detroit, Michigan; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; St. Petersburg, Florida and dozens of other cities.Web surfers who visit www.rca.com this week will also find a special feature on the ""Road to the RCA Dome,"" the downtown domed stadium in Indianapolis that hosts the championship game. Fast facts on the tournament's history, a ""virtual tour"" of the RCA Dome, and a copy of the tournament bracket is available for sports fans.""This tournament ranks as one of our greatest sports spectacles, and watching it in digital HDTV is literally the next best thing to sitting courtside,"" said Michael D. O'Hara, Thomson's Senior Vice President, Americas. ""For college hoops fans, April 1-3 will mark the culmination of the 1999-2000 season. For RCA, it represents the beginning of a spring offensive aimed at offering consumers a wide array of top-quality digital television products at increasingly affordable prices.""Consumers interested in stepping up to digital TV will want to consider the ""RCA Slam Dunk Savings"" promotion. Through April 23, consumers can purchase the RCA MM36100 36-inch High-Resolution Monitor and the RCA DTC100 set-top digital TV receiver for $2,499 - a savings of $449 - and also receive a free DIRECTV Plus satellite dish antenna with free DIRECTV installation for qualified customers. This specially-priced combination of the digital TV set-top receiver and Hi-Res Monitor is available nationwide at RCA electronics dealers (prices may vary by dealer) and online at www.rca.com. With a suggested retail price of $649, RCA's DTC100 has already captured more than three-quarters of the US digital TV set-top receiver market. This versatile and attractively priced product receives over-the-air analog and digital broadcasts, as well as standard and high-definition services from the DIRECTV system. RCA also offers a fully-integrated 61-inch HDTV projection television that allows viewers to watch over-the-air analog and digital programming from local broadcasters and digital satellite providers.Scheduled to reach retail locations this summer are two products from Thomson that promise to make early-generation HDTV more affordable: a 38-inch direct-view digital HDTV receiver with a suggested retail price of $3,999 and a 34-inch model carrying a suggested retail price of $3,499. In both instances, these High-Definition Televisions are priced approximately 50 percent below the cost of HDTV models a year ago.About THOMSON Multimedia The world's fourth largest producer of consumer electronics with sales of Euro 6.7 billion ($6.4 billion US) in 1999 and 55,000 salaried employees in more than 30 countries, THOMSON multimedia has four principal activities: Displays and Components, Consumer Products, New Media Services, and Patents and Licensing. The group engineers, manufactures, and markets display components and consumer products such as televisions, VCRs, camcorders, digital decoders, DVD-Video players, audio and communications products, as well as professional video equipment. THOMSON multimedia is the parent company of the US-based Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Visit THOMSON multimedia on the Web at http://www.thomson-multimedia.com/.

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