AP To Offer Royal Wedding Video In HD

The Associated Press will offer high-definition live television to its customers for the first time as part of its multiplatform coverage of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29.

The news organization will offer a live, seven-hour HD feed to any interested current Global Video Wire or APTN Direct customer at no additional charge. The event marks the beginning of AP’s full video output being available in HD.

The showcasing of HD is a key advantage of AP’s multimillion-dollar upgrade of its global newsgathering infrastructure — the single biggest investment in AP’s video business since it acquired Worldwide Television News in 1998. AP Senior Vice President Daisy Veerasingham said the transformation of AP’s international video business, which includes a state-of-the-art HD and digital file-based infrastructure, will be completed in time for 2012’s London Olympics and U.S. presidential election.

“AP has a long history of covering events that capture worldwide attention,” said Veerasingham, who is overseeing the video business overhaul. “The royal wedding is an ideal way to demonstrate our new HD capabilities and help our customers provide the coverage their audiences want. It’s all part of our plan to offer customers more choice and flexibility in the content and formats they receive.”

Besides HD and standard definition video, AP’s coverage of the royal wedding will be available to its members and customers through text, photos, interactives and graphics. APTN Direct, a premium service for broadcasters worldwide, will carry the entire ceremony live.

AP Archive (www.aparchive.com), the company’s repository of video footage and visuals, has exclusive material featuring William and Kate from one of its partners as well as contextual material from the AP team.

Integrating all of the content, AP Live will capture the best of AP’s royal wedding coverage in text, photos, interactive and video in a packaged player that will feature live day-of video coverage with commentary. The player will be fully hosted by AP, giving online customers and their audiences a plug-and-play solution for royal wedding content.