CNN Creates Global ‘Fan Zone,’ Teams with Sports Illustrated for Olympics

CNN will use its unparalleled international newsgathering and production resources to cover the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. On CNN.com as well as on CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Radio, Headline News and in a multiplatform partnership with The Sports Illustrated Group, CNN will report on the world’s largest sporting event from every angle to more than 300 million households worldwide.

Operating from CNN’s Beijing bureau, World Sport correspondent Mark McKay and Headline News sports anchor Larry Smith will bring the latest developments in the quest for gold while international correspondents Jaime FlorCruz, Anjali Rao and John Vause will contribute on the events surrounding the Olympics in China.

CNN.com will offer expanded coverage of the Olympics through reporting on results from the Games; the economic impact and influence held by the Olympics; and the challenges facing China and its people as the hosts of the 20th Olympiad. The site’s special section, located at www.CNN.com/olympics, offers users a wide range of exclusive video, text stories, interactive timelines and a detailed explainer on the history and tradition of the Olympics. CNN.com Live, the site’s live, multi-stream video news service, will feature exclusive interviews with athletes and experts throughout the games.

Additionally, CNN.com has launched a special section called “Fan Zone” at www.CNN.com/fanzone, where users can access a variety of video, quizzes, interactive games, polls and in-depth reports to feed their curiosity about anything and everything related to the 2008 Olympic Games. Users can take a quiz to identify their inner Olympian and register as a member of the CNN Olympic Fan Zone, where they can share how they will follow the action by submitting their own video, photos and audio to iReport.com, CNN’s uncensored, unfiltered, unedited, user-generated community Web site. Contributors also may gain recognition by having the material they submit to the site – once vetted and approved for use – appear on a CNN network or CNN.com.

In a multiplatform partnership with CNN, Sports Illustrated writers and editors covering the Olympics will provide CNN’s global audience with expert analysis and opinion on the events as they unfold. Daily video sports

reports will appear across multiple channels of CNN and www.SI.com. The two companies also co-produced a series of video features including profiles on Olympians such as Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker, Allyson Felix and also “SI Flashbacks” – vignettes of iconic moments from previous Olympiads. These features will debut on CNN networks, including CNN.com, and www.SI.com beginning Thursday, July 24.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.