AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With a record total of 418 hours of Olympic television coverage, NBC has tapped The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to provide the aerial coverage United States television viewers will experience from Torino, Italy in February. Goodyear, which provided the first aerial coverage of a televised sporting event at the 1960 Orange Bowl, has contributed spectacular images from above thousands of major sporting events for almost 50 years. The pioneer in providing network aerial sports coverage, Goodyear will use its expertise and the latest innovations to enhance NBC's Olympic television coverage.

"NBC is putting particular emphasis on its high-tech coverage," said NBC Sports executive producer David Neal. "Only Goodyear has the means and the skill to be able to provide the type of first-class aerial footage we needed to enhance our more than 24 hours of combined coverage everyday and bring our viewers an amazing overhead perspective."

Goodyear has a longstanding history of working with NBC to provide best- of-class aerial broadcast coverage. Over the years, the two have collaborated on coverage of the National Football League and Major League Baseball as well as the Olympics, Kentucky Derby, The Rose Parade even the 2004 Presidential election.

As part of NBC's deal with Goodyear, NBC's viewers will see prominent onscreen animated graphics that Goodyear will use to deliver product messages to its audience. More than traditional onscreen credits, the eye-catching animation will feature the world-famous Goodyear Blimp and messages highlighting Goodyear's new TripleTred and SilentArmor technology for tires.

"This is an excellent opportunity for us to deliver product and technology messages to an enormous audience," said Joey Viselli, Director of Marketing Services at Goodyear. "For Goodyear, it's about making the most of our aerial assets to increase specific product visibility."

All of Goodyear's onscreen graphics will air within NBC's actual broadcast and cable Olympic programming -- a strategy Goodyear hopes will help address the growing number of commercial "zappers." In the new digital TV age, Neilson Media Research shows that nearly eight million homes now have digital video recorders and, according to Jupiter Research, 71% use that technology to "zap" the commercials. The growth of digital video recorders, combined with the time difference between Italy and the U.S., creates a marketing challenge. Virtually built into NBC's programming, Goodyear's animated graphics will bring its messages directly to consumers, reducing the impact of DVRs.

Providing Goodyear with significant advertising value, approximately half of Goodyear's credits are scheduled to run on the NBC network, including many in primetime. The remaining credits will air as part of NBC's cable coverage on USA, MSNBC and CNBC.

This creative partnership with NBC represents another example of the innovative ways Goodyear has begun to leverage its aerial assets, and is yet another example of how the company continues to evolve from a manufacturing- driven company to an innovative, fast-moving consumer products company.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. The company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 90 facilities in 28 countries around the world. Goodyear employs about 75,000 people worldwide. For more information on Goodyear's tires, go to http://www.goodyear.com/

CONTACT: Rich Lukis or Joe Clark of Coyne Public Relations,
+1-973-316-1665, rlukis@coynepr.com, or Ed Markey of Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Co., +1-330-796-8801, emarkey@goodyear.com

Web site: http://www.goodyear.com/