Sony and NTN join forces to produce programming on Sony Video 1 jumbo screen in Times Square on New Year's Eve

Business Wire, Dec 28, 1994

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 28, 1994--Leading interactive television programmer NTN Communications and the Sony Video 1 network are teaming up to produce a New Year's Eve program that will be broadcast in New York's Times Square, prior to the celebrated "dropping of the ball."

NTN is the developer of a variety of entertainment programs played in more than 2,000 hospitality locations across North America, as well as via on-line and cable systems. Sony Video 1 is the 750 square-foot Sony JumboTron screen mounted on the fourth and fifth stories of One Times Square at 43rd and Broadway.

On New Year's Eve, the top 25 music videos of 1994 will be broadcast on Sony Video 1 to an estimated 400,000 onlookers, 8 p.m.-1 a.m. EST. Accompanying the videos will be trivia questions, provided exclusively by NTN, relating to the artists. The event will also be simulcast on New York's WNEW-FM and will originate from Times Square and the Hard Rock Cafe on West 57th Street.

The event is potentially the first of several ventures between the two companies. Future programming, which will take advantage of NTN's vast sports and trivia content, could include a series of daily trivia questions or interactive sports programming such as the highly popular "QB1," to be broadcast on Sony Video 1.

NTN Communications Inc., based in Carlsbad, is the industry's premier producer, programmer and broadcaster of interactive television games and shows. NTN owns and operates the only interactive television network in North America that broadcasts seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to 2,000 hospitality businesses, such as bars, restaurants and hotel lounges, in the United States and Canada.

NTN sub-licenses its programs to a variety of interactive delivery systems reaching home viewers as well. More than 7 million participants a month compete on the NTN network for prizes while selections are tabulated instantaneously, with ongoing scores shown throughout the broadcast. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Sony Video 1 and JumboTron are registered trademarks of the Sony Corp. All rights reserved.

CONTACT: Bender, Goldman & Helper, Los Angeles

Karl Fields or Jenny Roelle, 310/473-4147