Food Lion MVP Classic Broadcast in High Definition
First College Basketball Tournament to Air in HDTV

Charlotte, NC --- The amazing clarity, wider view and spectacular sound of High Definition television will punctuate the fever and excitement of college basketball this weekend as the Food Lion MVP Classic is broadcast in HDTV. This will be the first time that college basketball will be shown live across the nation in HDTV.

Participating in this year's Classic are the University of North Carolina, College of Charleston, Princeton and UNLV. The games will be played in the Charlotte Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on December 3 and 4. The tournament will be simulcast in both an analog and digital transmission.

WRAL Digital will produce the HDTV feed along with partners Harris Broadcast Communications Division and RAYCOM Sports. Straight from the assembly line, the brand new WRAL/HD Vision HDTV production mobile will be used to cover the event. Digital stations across the country will pick up the HDTV signal and run it on their digital channels.

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From Seattle to Washington D.C., viewers will watch history in the making as the first live basketball sporting event is shown in HDTV. "We are really excited to break in the new production truck with NCAA basketball," said Jim Goodmon, CEO and President of CBC. "It is sporting events, such as the MVP Classic, that will really demonstrate what an incredible picture the public can now receive with High Definition television." As the nation's first experimental station, WRAL has been testing DTV capabilities since July of 1996.