MUMBAI: European satellite operator Eutelsat has announced that it is the official sponsor for the 20th Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy to be held in 2006.
 

Within the framework of this partnership, Eutelsat will also provide the the Torino Organising Committee of the XXth Winter Olympics (Toroc) with a package of 50 video channels that will be broadcast for the duration of the Games to competition sites, Olympic Villages and Media Villages. This will enable the Olympic community to benefit from live events coverage and to access broadcasts by leading international television channels.

For the 20th Winter Olympics in Torino, Eutelsat has been appointed to manage an exclusive satellite network for the Olympic community. This represents one of the largest private television networks put in place for an international sporting event. The network has been designed to provide athletes, judges and referees, members of the IOC, National Olympic Committees and Federations as well as journalists and media operators at competition, training and accommodation locations with exceptional levels of information.

20 Olympic live channels will be provided by the the Turin Olympic Broadcasting Organisation (Tobo ) with live coverage from each of the 13 competition sites. In addition 30 television channels will enable the Olympic community to follow coverage by television channels. The package will be delivered direct to 5,000 plasma screens and monitors located at the competition sites during the Games. Eutelsat will multiplex, encrypt and uplink these services through the facilities managed by its Italian subsidiary Skylogic Italia in Turin.