Ascot Racecourse Limited (“Ascot”), together with Sony United Kingdom Limited, today announced a major technology agreement with Sony, making Sony the third major company to form a strategic founding agreement with Ascot. The announcement closely follows the informal opening of the racecourse on Saturday May 27 following its major redevelopment.
The renovated Grandstand will include 1,000 indoor and outdoor High Definition TV (HDTV) screens from Sony. The displays will deliver betting information and High Definition content, in addition to promotional material. The purchase of the screens enables the Ascot venue to be ready to offer high definition output as networks adopt the broadcast technology
The agreement structure (also called “Founding Partners scheme”) has been introduced by Ascot as an opportunity for major organisations with compatible and complementary international profiles to gain a close association with Ascot. Allied Irish Bank (GB) and Cisco Systems have both also been announced as participants.
Ascot Racecourse has been closed for redevelopment since September 2004 - the most extensive project of its type ever seen in Europe. The official reopening by Her Majesty the Queen will take place on June 20th, the first day of Royal Ascot 2006.
Douglas Erskine-Crum, Chief Executive at Ascot Racecourse, said: “As we near the formal opening of our redeveloped racecourse next month we are thrilled to announce this new and important agreement with Sony. We chose Sony for two reasons, firstly, we knew that they would have the ability to deliver on a project of this size and secondly they showed us outstanding products with a proven track record.”
“High definition digital signage is growing in importance for world-class venues and Ascot are the first in their field to adopt high definition screen solutions,” comments Paul Hennessy, Director Sony Professional Solutions UK. “Digital signage is an elegant and impactful way to put across information. It’s a perfect solution for the new and improved Ascot facilities as the quality of the on-screen information for race goers will be far superior”.
Sony is a leader in digital signage supplying products for some of the largest venues in Europe major retailers. With the Retail, Transport & Venues division, Sony has created a team of specialists with the skills and experience to provide digital signage and network video monitoring solutions to commercial customers such as shopping malls, stadiums and transport operators.
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