Swisscom Invests in Soccer Analysis

BERN, Switzerland -- Swisscom Fixnet has acquired a capital share of 8% in LiberoVision. The software developed by this start-up company opens new perspectives in TV football coverage thanks to virtual camera settings. LiberoVision's innovative technology will be used for the first time anywhere in the world by Cinetrade for Teleclub sports programmes.

Remember when the question of whether a player was offside at a crucial point in a football match was debated for days? Well, those times are over. With LiberoVision's software, the virtual camera position can be placed exactly at the level of the player in question and contentious goals can be analysed from any perspective. The game is filmed continuously by the fixed cameras in the football stadium. The switch to synthesised imaging takes about three to five minutes, so the virtual pictures are ready for the half-time or full-time match analysis.

LiberoVision's new tool for looking at a scene from different perspectives will be tested for the first time this season for games in the Axpo Super League and other Swiss football coverage. 'Te! leclub is delighted that thanks to this partnership with Liberovision, future match coverage can be made even more attractive for its sports viewers - an innovation available only in Switzerland', says Roger Feiner, a member of the Executive Board with responsibility for the sports sector.

Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM)