DIRECTV Partners With South by Southwest (SXSW) for First-Ever National Broadcast of the World-Famous Music Festival Exclusively on DIRECTV's Channel 101
DIRECTV Presents SXSW Live Featuring an All-Access Pass to the Nation's
Greatest Music Festival
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- For two decades, the SXSW music
festival in Austin, Texas has been the industry's best kept secret for
breaking new acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt.
That's all about to change as DIRECTV, the nation's leading satellite
television service provider, teams up with music/entertainment guru Blaze
TV to bring the nation's biggest music showcase to national television for
the first time in DIRECTV Presents SXSW Live. Exclusively on DIRECTV's
Channel 101 (The 101), the special will be broadcast live March 15-17 and
feature unprecedented access with upfront performances and
behind-the-scenes footage from the three day musical extravaganza.
Last year's event featured more than 1,400 bands played at 60 venues in
downtown Austin, Texas. This year proves to provide more action with
appearences by Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller, The Stooges (with Iggy
Pop), David Byrne, Ozomatli, Taylor Hicks, Amy Winehouse, Buzzcocks,
Interpol, Razorlight, Hot Hot Heat, The Bravery and Booker T.
Blaze TV is working with SXSW to custom-build two state-of-the-art
venues exclusively for the SXSW special on The 101. The Lone Star Lounge,
with a traditional Texas feel, and modern music club The Bat Bar will be
built from the ground up in Austin solely for the live televised
performances. Each venue will be filmed using the most up-to-date
technology, including multi-camera HD with 5.1 surround sound.
"SXSW has been the music world's best kept secret. It's to the music
industry what Sundance is to the film business. You can't move in Austin
when SXSW is on, because of the packs of record company reps and producers
thronging the venues ... and the list of bands who have been discovered
there reads like a Who's Who," said David Hill, DIRECTV'S President of
Entertainment. "So we figured that for our customers, the mix of hot
established bands and the hot new young bands would make for sensational,
unique music programming, the likes of which has never been seen before."
"Blaze TV and SXSW share the same vision for creating content of the
highest caliber," stated Roland Swenson, managing director of SXSW. "And
that coupled with the media power of DIRECTV will change the face of the
festival by bringing it to the masses."
"We are delighted to take part in SXSW, one of the world's truly great
festivals," offered Blaze managing director Conor McAnally. "With the
innovative production approach we will be taking, we are excited to be able
to share the extraordinary performances which SXSW inspires with audiences
through DIRECTV."
About SXSW
The SXSW Music and Media Conference showcases hundreds of musical acts
from around the globe on over 50 states in downtown Austin. SXSW is the
largest single music festival in the U.S., attended by record company and
music media executives from all over the world, thus giving attending acts
an unparalleled, showcase platform. By day, conference registrants do
business in the SXSW Trade Show in the Austin Convention Center and partake
of a full agenda of informative, provocative panel discussions featuring
hundreds of speakers of international stature. SXSW 2007 will take place
March 14-18, 2007. For more information, visit http://2007.sxsw.com/music.
About Blaze TV
Blaze TV, a division of Shout! Factory, was founded in the UK in 1999
to create, produce and market music and entertainment programming to a
range of broadcasters throughout the world. Its first major project was CD
UK, a live weekly hour-long popular music show which has aired for almost
400 episodes. Blaze opened a Los Angeles office in 2005 and began to
produce CD USA for DirecTV in January 2006. The show is now on-air weekly
in nearly 100 countries. Working with artists as diverse as U2, Mariah
Carey, Eminem, Madonna and Metallica, Blaze TV has produced major specials,
including a two-hour concert and live Q&A session surrounding the release
of David Bowie's Reality album. Under the guidance of producer/director
Conor McAnally, Blaze TV has won 22 major awards to date, including five
British Academy Awards and four Royal Television Society Awards.
About DIRECTV, Inc.
DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading satellite television service
provider, presents the finest television experience available to more than
15.6 million customers through exclusive content, industry-leading customer
service (which has surpassed cable for six years running) and superior
technologies. Each day, DIRECTV subscribers enjoy over 250 channels of 100%
digital picture and sound; exclusive programming and the most comprehensive
collection of sports programming available anywhere including NFL SUNDAY
TICKET(TM), and MLB EXTRA INNINGS(TM). DIRECTV (NYSE: DTV) also leads the
digital television technology revolution with exclusives such as NFL SUNDAY
TICKET SuperFan(TM), US Open Interactive and YES Network Interactive and
will soon have the capacity to offer up to 150 national channels in HD. For
the most up-to-date information on the Company, please visit directv.com.
Media contact: Dru Libby
310-248-6143
dlibby@bwr-la.com
