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Panasonic And Freesat Bring Beijing To Weymouth With The First Ever High-Definition Olympics

Panasonic and Freesat, the free-to-air satellite TV service, have teamed up to help London 2012 venue, the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), support Team GB’s Olympic sailing medal hopefuls in China.

Panasonic, an Official Worldwide Olympic Partner and Technical Partner of the British sailing team, has installed a 50” Viera television, with Freesat HD built in, into the WPNSA bar area allowing sailors, family, friends and associates to experience the games with all the jaw-dropping picture clarity that HD television allows.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is the first to be broadcast in the UK in high-definition and will be available via the BBC HD channel on Freesat channel 108. The BBC will be dedicating around 300 hours of air time to HD coverage of an array of events at the games. HD provides five times more detail than standard definition televisions, meaning that viewers will see every drop of water cascading off a boat’s hull in clarity never seen before.

On Thursday 14 August, members of the sailing community including friends and family of those competing, prospective 2012 Olympic sailors and members of the sailing community will be gathering for a morning of Olympic HD sailing at the venue and to cheer on Ben Ainslie, Sarah Ayton and the rest of Team GB who will be competing in the sailing events over the course of the morning.

Media are invited to the venue on Thursday 14 August at 1000hrs to speak to supporters of the sailors about their hopes for those competing in Beijing and the experience of watching the first ever HD Olympics.

Commenting on the HD Olympics, Mark Stubbings, Chief Executive of the WPNSA said; “With the Panasonic Viera PZ81 with Freesat HD built in in the venue, we’re going to be able to get as close to the action as possible, by watching the team in full HD. Unfortunately not everyone who would liked to have gone to Qingdao to cheer on the Skandia Team GBR sailing team could make it, but watching the games in HD at the GB team HQ is the next best thing to being there in person. There are going to be some tense moments whilst we watch the team strive for glory!”

David Bonney, Sponsorship Manager at Panasonic added; "The Olympic Games in Beijing are being shot on Panasonic's high definition professional TV cameras - which capture the drama in a way previously never experienced by viewers. Of course you need an HDTV to fully appreciate this, which is why we wanted to share this experience with the sailing community on the south coast - because seeing is believing."

Emma Scott, MD of Freesat continued; “One of Freesat’s core goals is to bring HD television to all, for free. The Olympics is a truly global sporting spectacular which looks unbelievable in HD. We’re very pleased that Freesat and Panasonic are able to support WPNSA in helping cheer the sailing team on in their quest for medals.”