--Company also Providing Expanded ITV Coverage of Masters, PGA Championship, British Open
US satellite-TV provider, DirecTV, says that it will provide expanded and exclusive interactive TV coverage of golf's US Open Championship this week and this weekend, via a four-screen "HD Mix" mosaic channel and a red-button service. According to the company, its interactive TV coverage of the event will, for the first time, be available for all four days of the event (June 18th-21st), and will be the only service to offer three extra channels of coverage (much of which will be live), in addition to ESPN's and NBC Sports' regular TV coverage (which will air on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday and Sunday respectively). "The US Open Experience provides the most in-depth TV coverage for DirecTV customers and golf fans," Eric Shanks, DirecTV's EVP of entertainment, said in a prepared statement. "We are happy to be back again working with ESPN and NBC Sports to add a new dimension to the entire championship."
According to DirecTV, the Mix channel will offer, in addition to the main ESPN or NBC Sports feed, three feature channels that will follow a group of golfers around the course, focus on particular areas of the course, and provide in-depth coverage via live updates, highlights and interviews. Each of the extra three channels will be offered in both standard- and high-definition and will be fully produced by NBC Sports or ESPN with its own dedicated production crew and announcers, the company says. Viewers equipped with interactive TV-enabled receivers will be able to use their remotes to switch between the four channels' audio feeds, or to select one of the channels to view in full-screen mode. The Mix channel will also offer a real-time leaderboard. In addition, viewers who press the red button will be able to access information on the championship's top five leaders; view a more elaborate leaderboard that will allow them to select any listed golfer in order to access his hole-by-hole stats; participate in a five-question daily trivia contest on the history of the US Open; and access a "Tune To" menu that will allow them to tune directly to the Mix Channel (701) or any of its four constituent channels (702-705).
DirecTV says that the US Open is one of four major golf events--the others being the Masters, the PGA Championship and the British Open--for which it is offering expanded interactive TV coverage this year.
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