London, United Kingdom / Zug, Switzerland, 1 November 2007 – Host Broadcast Services (HBS), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Infront Sports & Media, has won the prestigious ISEMS Award for its 2006 FIFA World Cup™ host broadcast operation; one of the nine award categories for excellence in specific areas of sports event management.

The award was presented at a Gala dinner at Wembley Stadium. The SportBusiness ISEMS Awards are one of the highlights of the International Sports Event Management and Security 07 Conference, held in London this week.

Infront was responsible for the sale of the global broadcast rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Its subsidiary, HBS, was established in 1999 as a dedicated and highly specialised host broadcast organisation, responsible for the production of all FIFA World Cups™ from 2002 onwards. It has become a respected industry leader and has introduced a series of innovations that have led to more exciting coverage for broadcasters and viewers. HBS now provides its services and expertise to other major events, either independently or through joint-ventures.

With digital broadcasting, broadcasters’ expectations are rapidly changing. Enhanced feeds - such as the multi-feed concept pioneered by HBS for the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ in Korea / Japan - and additional services help broadcasters keep costs under control at the same time as producing sophisticated packages tailored to their audiences at home. Services introduced by HBS include a Media Server for selecting and downloading material; a Clips Compilation Channel; dedicated Dolby Surround Sound and CD quality audio on commentary circuits.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup™ was the most widely covered sports event in the world ever; in part thanks to innovative production which helped to drive sales in new distribution channels, including the internet and on mobile phones. More than 300 broadcast partners were serviced by HBS. 100 countries were covered by 50 licensees in the mobile telephony and world-wide-web sectors alone.

The fact that this was the first FIFA World Cup™ to be covered entirely in HDTV opened the door to many innovations, including the use of HD video based “Pan & Scan” technology which helped to ensure a clear picture for tiny handsets.

Francis Tellier, CEO of HBS, said in his acceptance speech: “This award confirms that our choice “to go full HD” was the right one. Through comprehensive cooperation and R&D contracts with the major equipment suppliers and service providers, we were able to deliver to all broadcasters and licensees a level of service never experienced before.  Without a shadow of doubt, the production and new media coverage that HBS supplied acted as an “accelerator” throughout the broadcast industry. Broadcasters, Licensees and consumers were absolutely thrilled.”

Philippe Blatter, President and CEO of Infront Sports & Media added: “We are proud that the outstanding production capabilities of the Infront Group – through HBS - have been recognised and we see this Award as an encouragement and as a challenge to push the envelope even further in future”.

Kevin Roberts, Editorial Director of SportBusiness Group and Programme Director of ISEMS 2007 said: "The judges were delighted by the quality of the entries in the Host Broadcaster category. HBS was selected  because of its success in developing a range of technical, managerial and logistical solutions to the challenge of delivering the world's largest single sports event in a manner which met the specific and widely differing needs of broadcasters in more than 200 territories worldwide. In doing so they demonstrated the innovation and pursuit of best practice which the SportBusinessISEMS Awards set out to recognise. We look forward to an HBS entry for the 2008 Awards."

For further information please contact:

Joerg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG.
Tel: +41-41 723 1515
Fax: +41-41 723 1516
press@infrontsports.com

www.infrontsports.com

Nicola Taylor
Director, Communication
HBS-France
Tel: + 33 1 55 19 20 10
Fax: + 33 1 55 19 20 03
info@hbs.tv

www.hbs.tv