JEFFERSON-PILOT COMMUNICATIONS TO CONVERT NEWS OPERATIONS AT ITS THREE TELEVISION STATIONS TO PANASONIC DVCPRO P2
TV stations WCSC, WBTV, WWBT to Purchase 45 P2 Cameras in Upgrade from DVCPRO25
LAS VEGAS, NV (April 17, 2005) – Panasonic Broadcast announced today at NAB 2005 that Jefferson-Pilot Communications Company (Greensboro, NC) will convert news acquisition at its three broadcast stations to the DVCPRO P2 solid-state memory recording system.

The group’s “Phase One” purchase includes 45 cameras—39 of Panasonic’s new AJ-SPC700 low-power, shoulder-mount DVCPRO P2 camcorders and six of the company’s trailblazing AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 hand-held cameras, the world’s first 1080i/720p/480i multi-format camcorder. Jefferson-Pilot has also purchased 28 AJ-PCD10 drives. The equipment will be divided among stations WCSC-TV (Charleston, SC), a CBS affiliate; WBTV-TV (Charlotte, NC), a CBS affiliate; and WWBT-TV (Richmond, VA), a NBC affiliate.

For the past several years, the stations have used Panasonic 25Mbps DVCPRO equipment for newsgathering. WCSC-TV produces an average of 30.5 hours of local news weekly, WBTV-TV an average of 27.5 hours, and WWBT-TV an average of 33 hours.

Jefferson-Pilot’s Vice President, Engineering/TV W.Henry Boze said, “Selecting P2 for news was an easy decision. We’ve very comfortable with the DVCPRO format, and Panasonic has been an excellent partner and vendor. We anticipate substantial savings on the maintenance costs associated with tape formats, as P2 has no moving mechanisms. The format will integrate seamlessly with our NLE systems and, what’s more, we can utilize our existing DVCPRO tape-based equipment as we move towards a full transition to tapeless operations.”

He added, “We’re captivated with the versatility of the HVX200 and its ability to shoot in solid-state and
Mini-DV. It’s a relatively inexpensive solution to use either as a ‘stinger’ cam or even to do some HD production work. It maintains the DVCPRO format, so it will work well with any of our editing equipment. And its price/performance potential is quite impressive.”

Boze said that editing at the three stations will be done on GVG News Edit systems.

Jefferson-Pilot Communications Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation, an insurance and financial services company. Beginning with its first radio station in 1934, JPCC now boasts 18 radio stations, all in top 50 markets; 3 television stations in major southeastern markets including North Carolina's first TV station; and Jefferson-Pilot Sports, a TV production company that facilitates the broadcast of Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference football and basketball throughout the Southeast. Visit the company on the web at www.jpc.com.

Panasonic’s DVCPRO P2 series products are fully compatible with DVCPRO, the industry’s standard for digital newsgathering, and provide a seamless migration path to DVCPRO HD. DVCPRO P2 offers nonlinear acquisition and instant access to material, high-speed file transfer, laptop field editing without requirement for proxy videos, and compatibility with off-the-shelf data storage drives for low-cost archiving, while eliminating traditional digitizing and ingesting operations. The core DVCPRO P2 products – the AJ-SPX800 camcorder,
AJ-SPD850 studio recorder and the AJ-PCD10 drive -- eliminate transports and mechanisms, resulting in a significant maintenance cost-savings because of the absence of any moving parts that can break down or wear out from repetitive use. Moreover, DVCPRO P2 products are resistant to environmental extremes including shock, vibration, and humidity. The P2 card is re-usable, allowing a station to substantially reduce its media budget. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/p2.

About Panasonic Broadcast

Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast, professional video and presentation products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The company is the North American headquarters of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) of Japan, and the hub of its U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, access the company’s web site at www.panasonic.com/broadcast.