Long standing involvement with broadcasting

Since the early days of television broadcasting in the mid Twentieth Century, audiovisual media has provided us with a unique and invaluable heritage of news, culture and history. For more than fifty years, Sony has been the undisputed leader in magnetic and Optical recording media and Professional hardware. Innovative formats such as 2-inch, U-Matic, 1-inch and especially Betacam SP have transformed mass media world, while audio technologies including DASH and DTRS have set up new standards in professional sound recording. Broadcasters and production companies around the world rely on the performance and versatility of Sony products to manage their immense archives, create all-action news bulletins, documentaries, movies and commercials. Businesses and consumers can get the widest choice of products and solutions from a single company!

Commitment to the preservation of broadcast archives along with FIAT/IFTA

Today, Sony is teaming up with International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) to create a radically different approach to highlight the need to preserve world audiovisual heritage. Television and radio have mapped cultural developments over the past century and the events captured within these tape and film archives make them priceless and must be protected for future generations. With the passing of time, many archives are beginning to show serious signs of deterioration which is a cause of great concern. FIAT/IFTA and Sony propose the solution - to use the manufacturing industry model in order to digitize these valuable assets. Industry approach offers many lessons on increased productivity and the effective use of both financial and direct labour resources. Working together Sony and FIAT/IFTA can take the challenge of saving the world audo visual heritage to another level. The governing role of FIAT/IFTA in the field of co-ordination, projects planning and exchange with international organizations such as UN, UNESCO, OIF, EBU, ITU, European Commission and many others is decisive and simply can't be ignored.

A regular partner of FIAT/IFTA

Sony joined FIAT/IFTA as a supporting member on the occasion of the Paris Conference in 2004. Its contribution has enabled FIAT/IFTA to invite delegates from Latin America, Africa and Asia.

In 2005 and 2006, Sony renewed its contribution to the organisation of the New York and Madrid Conferences. 

Simultaneously, Sony could participate in the FIAT/IFTA and OIF/CIRTEF efforts to help archives in Africa, Asia and in the Balkans : FIAT/IFTA redistributed old equipment to play back U-Matic and Beta archives, OIF and CIRTEF set up digitisation systems, while Sony was donating spare parts and registrable DVDs.

Focus on the "Preservation Factory" concept

Moreover, based upon the invaluable advices given by FIAT/IFTA, Sony decided to further improve its service offerings. We have created our Preservation Factory™ - a ground-breaking initiative designed to harness Sony Company's specialist resources to help to archives owners to preserve and protect their tape and film-based archives, transporting the contents into the digital age and creating new revenue streams through their on-line digital availability.

Customer satisfaction lies at the heart of Preservation Factory™. Sony is committed to providing high quality cleaning to enhance media quality and ensure authenticity of the original content, fast transfer through latest automated preservation processes and excellent cost efficiency to meet criteria set by the broadcast industry, IFTA/IFTA, PrestoSpace project and of course the client's budget.

In order to achieve business targets and ensure the highest level of service for its customers, Preservation Factory™ co-operates with many Sony organisations, exchanging skills, knowledge and expertise. We would like to mention in particular Professional Solutions Europe (PSE), a division of Sony Europe, a leading supplier of solutions for broad horizontal communications, AV/IT, as well as magnetic and optical storage.

For more information please visit:

• www.sony.net
• www.sonybiz.net
• www.sonyisstorage.com
• www.sony-europe.com/restoration

About Sony

Sony manufactures audio, video, communications and information technology products for the global consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, game and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be one of the World's Leading Consumer Brands. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 53.43 billion (yen 7,160 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005 and it employs approximately 151,400 people worldwide.

In Europe, Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 12.03 billion (yen 1,613 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, based on an average market exchange rate for the same period of yen 134 to the EUR. Sony Europe, headquartered at the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, is responsible for the company's European electronics business and registered consolidated sales of EUR 8.87 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005.

Andrew Velichko
Recording Media and Energy
Sony Europe