Sports News Television (SNTV), the joint-venture between Associated Press (AP) and IMG Worldwide, today launched its high definition (HD) Sports News service.
The move to HD gives sports news customers more choice in how they receive content, whether in HD or SD, both in the traditional broadcast market and on digital platforms. This is part of AP’s high definition rollout, which will see all news content available in HD by the second quarter of 2012.
SNTV Managing Director Martin Kay said: “We are very excited to be the first sports news agency to offer high definition in time for a huge year in sport. We start with the Australian Open, then the African Cup of Nations, Euro 2012, the London Olympics, the Ryder Cup and the T20 Cricket World Cup.

“This is in addition to our ongoing coverage of football, tennis, golf, U.S. sports and more – it’s set to be a glorious year for sport in HD."

AP Senior Vice President and SNTV Board Director Daisy Veerasingham said: “Delivering SNTV in HD is a major milestone. The appetite in the sports industry for HD content is strong and with the major year ahead, SNTV’s customers will be getting the content they want, when, where and how they want it.”
AP’s video business transformation program
HD delivery forms a key part of a major transformation of AP’s video business. In the move to HD, AP is changing the way it gathers, produces and distributes news to its customers, involving a series of upgrades, including the introduction of more than 200 HD cameras, upgraded mobile satellite trucks and enhanced backhaul capabilities to handle the HD signal.
Video news bureaus around the globe have also been upgraded to the latest generation of video editing, compression and transmission technologies and state-of-the-art HD Master Control Rooms (MCR) are being constructed in more than 20 locations including London, New York and Washington, D.C. A new HD production system will be installed in London allowing journalist to create HD content at their desktops, The AP’s extensive video archive is also being transformed to accommodate HD with customers able to download broadcast quality and HD footage from its website.
About SNTV
SNTV is the world’s leading television sports video news agency whose sole aim is to provide the best, most relevant, comprehensive and fast sports news service. SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media, the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, with over 40 offices world-wide, and The Associated Press, the backbone of the world's information system, serving more than 6,000 media outlets globally with 83 bureaus in 67 countries.

About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the net: www.ap.org

About IMG
IMG Worldwide is a global sports, entertainment and media business, with nearly 3,000 employees operating in 30 countries around the globe. IMG’s areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging: IMG College; IMG’s Joint Ventures in China, Brazil and India; IMG Media; IMG Events and Federations; IMG Fashion; IMG Models; IMG Art+Commerce; IMG Clients; IMG Academies; IMG Consulting and IMG Licensing. More information is available at www.imgworld.com.