Bell Atlantic Digital Video Service Helps Broadcasters Deliver Next-Generation TV

Bell Atlantic Digital Video Service Helps Broadcasters Deliver
Next-Generation TV

New Service Transmits Crisper Video Signal from Sites to Studios,
Production Houses to Edit Suites

December 8, 1998

NEW YORK -- All-digital TV broadcasting, with its crisp, ghost-free pictures, is
headed for our living rooms, and Bell Atlantic is helping to deliver it.

Broadcasters can now transmit video signals in all-digital format, from the camera
that captures the image to the transmitter that delivers it, over Bell Atlantic's
high-capacity fiber-optic network.

Bell Atlantic's Serial Component Video Service collects images using digital
cameras at remote sites like Madison Square Garden and the White House and
forwards them for digital broadcast. Broadcasters also can forward images from
editing suites to broadcast centers without converting the signal from a digital to
analog format.

"All-digital TV will take television up a huge rung on the picture quality ladder,
and Bell Atlantic will help broadcasters and videographers of all kinds distribute
their work over our network," said Pat Switchenko, Bell Atlantic product line
manager for broadcast video services. "By offering a network that takes the
digital signal from the camera to the picture tube without ever being converted to
analog, we provide the vital link broadcasters need to make digital TV a reality."

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), ordered that digital
broadcasting begin in the country's top ten TV markets next May. Many stations
and networks already are pumping out digital signals, and many more production
companies need end-to-end, camera-to-site, all-digital facilities.

Bell Atlantic's new service provides a 270 megabit per second (Mbps) signal over
one-way, point-to-point fiber-optic pathways, allowing for delivery of better
quality signals for use with High Definition Television (HDTV). Bell Atlantic
already provides a series of analog and compressed and uncompressed digital
services. However, these offerings require at least some analog to digital
conversion, which impairs signal quality.

"It's not only the networks that need this service," Switchenko said. "TV
production houses that create programming and advertising, the motion picture
industry which transmits images from Hollywood to editing sites and others who
use video to communicate, train or teach have demanded it."

Customers in Boston, New York and Philadelphia have tested it on a trial basis,
with rave reviews.

Diane Krach, vice president of engineering for the Fox Television Station of
Philadelphia, Inc., said, "This new digital service meets our requirements, and
provides a high-speed, high quality broadband signal. It is beautifully clear and
clean, and presents the next level up in terms of picture quality for our viewers."
The station has signed a five-year contract with Bell Atlantic for the service, as a
result of the trial.

Boston Catholic Television Chief Engineer Mark Quella said the path between his
studio and on-location sites has been streamlined, setting the stage for future
digital standards.

By next November, broadcasters serving the top 30 TV markets must provide
digital broadcasting, according to FCC rules, and Bell Atlantic Serial Component
Video Service will be ready to handle the load, said Switchenko. "Between the
stations, production companies and others, the demand for an all-digital video link
is tremendous, and we are among the first to meet that demand."

Bell Atlantic's large business services team offers an extensive suite of
communications solutions. Whether for voice, data, images or video, Bell
Atlantic's All@once Solutions represents a tailored approach for customers. To
learn more about All@once Solutions -- a perfect fit for business -- visit
www.bellatlantic.com/largebiz, or call 1-800-846-1200, ext. 7299.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With 42 million telephone access lines and eight million wireless
customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced
wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the
world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are
also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications
markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.

Bell Atlantic® All@once® Solutions Presents

Bell Atlantic Serial Component Video Service

Technical Specifications

• Standards: Conforms to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
  (SMPTE) 259M standards

• Interface: Serial digital interface for system M (525/60) NTSC digital television
  equipment operating with 4:2:2 serial component signals

• Format: Allows stations to file program materials in a D1 serial digital component
  format (16x9 aspect TV pictures)

• One-way transport: Non-compressed single channel broadcast quality video
  signal at 270 Mbps (SMPTE Standard 259M) serial digital video format

• Video Signal: Serial Digital Interface for system M (525 line/60 field) NTSC
  digital television equipment operating with 4:2:2 serial component signals

• Audio Signal: Customer responsible for embedding audio

• Customer Transmit End: Provides electrical-to-optical conversion of the serial
  component signal

• Customer Receive End: Provides optical-to-electrical conversion of the serial
  component signal