BT Broadcast Services Producing the Webcast for Oscar.com, the Official Website of the 77th Annual Academy Awards(R)

BT Broadcast Services Producing the Webcast for Oscar.com, the Official Website of the 77th Annual Academy Awards(R)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For the 3rd consecutive year, Oscar.com has chosen BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) to produce the live video webcast element of the Academy Awards Ceremony, to be held on Sunday, February 27th, at 5:00 PST. A regular provider of occasional use broadcast services to ABC/Disney, BTBS was selected to roll out the live online coverage of this year's Oscar(R) ceremony following the success of last two year's events.

During the live event, BTBS will provide the signal acquisition and encoding for the online pressroom interviews, the backstage interviews with the winners of each Oscar category, as well as the red carpet interviews and the Governors Ball. Prior to the Awards, BTBS will encode the movie trailers for all the nominated films, with those trailers appearing on http://www.oscar.com/ for users to watch.

Harry Lin, Vice President, ABC.com, which operates Oscar.com, said: "BTBS has consistently proven to us their ability to handle live events in a professional, efficient and cost effective manner. We chose BTBS again as their expertise is second to none. They have played a key role for us and have contributed to the great online success of the past two online Academy Awards events."

BTBS will provide signal acquisition from back stage of the Kodak Theatre to BTBS' Los Angeles and Washington DC, Media Centers for monitoring purposes. BT will encode the signal in the media format chosen by Oscars.com at the Washington DC, Media Center for delivery to the Akamai network for distribution on the Oscar.com website. The viewers will also be able to view the Academy Awards coverage on-demand.

Bill McNamara, general manager for BTBS, the Americas, said: "We are known in the industry for delivering the highest quality coverage through our high- end facilities and experience with live events. "We continue to consistently deliver top results for our customers and that's why Oscar.com has chosen us again to deliver the webcast component of the Academy Awards."

Notes to editors:

About BT


BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include IT and networking services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.

BT consists principally of three lines of business:

* BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and related
services to more than 20m UK consumers and businesses.

* BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to
more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including
the provision of broadband, private circuits.

* BT Global Services, providing IT and networking services to meet the
needs of multi-site organisations globally. BT Global Services operates
in more than 130 countries and also offers international carrier
services.



In the year ended 31 March 2004, BT Group's turnover was 18,519 million pounds Sterling with profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxation of 2,013 million pounds.

BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.

For more information, visit http://www.bt.com/aboutbt

The BT Boilerplate is available to download as a PDF

About BT Broadcast Services


BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) is the media and satellite services arm of BT, which designs, develops and manages global broadcast, content management and communications systems. Its international customer base includes broadcasters, content owners and distributors, large corporations and government organizations throughout the world.

BTBS provides customized satellite and fiber-based solutions, some of which utilize sophisticated digital content and data management technology, to transport and manage video, audio and data. Delivering live broadcasts from major international events, providing digital terrestrial TV (DTTV) networks and direct to home (DTH) satellite platforms, storing and securely distributing video content to broadband devices, enabling retail digital signage and designing and managing major corporate communications infrastructures are just some of the areas in which BTBS excels. An industry pioneer, BTBS aims to deliver the highest quality of service, flexibility and efficiency through advanced technology and industry expertise.

BTBS is part of BT Global Services. BT Global Services is BT's business services division, which serves multi-site organizations with European operations.

About Oscar.com

Oscar.com is a co-production of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC.com


Source: BT Broadcast Services

CONTACT: Cheryl Gale, +1-617-475-1571, Cheryl@bbprus.com, or Liz
Swenton, +1-617-475-1572, Liz@bbprus.com, both of Band & Brown, for BT
Broadcast Services

Web site: http://www.bt.com/aboutbt
http://www.oscar.com/


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