Alcatel has signed an agreement with Eurosport, a leading producer and distributor of sports-related contents and programming. Thanks to this agreement, Eurosport will contribute to Alcatel's turnkey new media enablement activities by supplying a wide variety of expertise and professional services, focused on live sporting events.

Beyond traditional TV broadcasting, broadband Internet and mobile networks are set to become attractive content distribution vehicles to extend the reach and impact of major sports events - enlarging the experience of fans and creating new value for rights holders, content owners and service providers.

The unique combination of Alcatel's "triple play" service creation and delivery expertise and Eurosport's production capabilities will benefit sports enthusiasts around the world by allowing them to access the excitement of live sports events through mobile phones and broadband Internet.

As an initial example of this cooperation, Alcatel - the official New Media Provider of the 32ND America's Cup - designed and developed an America's Cup new media service portfolio that includes Virtual TV and Live Sailing, two innovative new services for viewing this exciting sailing race. These services were launched during the recent Louis Vuitton Acts 4&5 in Valencia (Spain). Under Alcatel's leadership, Eurosport assisted in the production of the Virtual TV service, by producing live texts of commentary, short animated highlights of the racing, and virtual racing archives.

Looking forward, Alcatel and Eurosport have agreed to cooperate on the evolution of the Virtual TV and Live Sailing services and the development of additional new media services, including interactive games.

"This agreement between two best-in-breed companies is a very exciting initiative," said Etienne Fouques, President of Alcatel's mobile communications activities. "It reinforces Alcatel's turnkey new media solution for covering major sporting events. We are confident that this agreement will benefit sporting enthusiasts all over the world, as well as event organizers, the participating teams and all the key stakeholders involved in the success of a sporting event."

"We are very proud to have concluded this agreement with Alcatel. Eurosport's know-how will help enable sports enthusiasts to more enjoyably follow live events via their mobile handsets or the Internet," said Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport's Managing Director of Broadcast. "This truly is a very exciting initiative."

About 'Live Sailing' 'Live Sailing' offers animated images and news updates of the races on mobile handsets (GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 3G/UMTS mobile Java? handsets).'Live Sailing' animations include different camera angles during races, trajectories, wind direction, distances between boats and the finish line, and archives of previous races.

About 'Virtual TV' 'Virtual TV' brings the excitement of the 32ND America's Cup live to broadband-connected Internet users on their personal computers. 'Virtual TV' streams a real-time 3D animation of every regatta live, provides the latest news during races, live comments of the key moments, a comprehensive schedule for the event and also includes a searchable archive of the past Acts of the 32ND America's Cup.