9 November 2009

WOODBURY, NEW YORK, November 09, 2009 – Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd., a leading provider of affordable, high performance cameras, today announced that Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, the official Canadian broadcaster of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, will use 39 new Hitachi SK-HD1000 multi-standard, multiformat studio/field cameras outfitted with Canon HD lenses for its coverage of the Games.

”We chose the Hitachi SK-HD1000’s because we were already very familiar with their HD picture quality, reliable performance, and wide array of features.  We also considered them to be extremely versatile and well-suited to both our HD studio and field applications,” said Allan Morris, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations, and IT at CTV, Canada’s Olympic Network and the lead broadcaster within the Consortium.  “Having bought numerous Hitachi cameras over the past 20 years, our positive experience with Hitachi service was also a key factor in our buying decision.” 

At the Games, Hitachi will also provide the Consortium with on-site technical support.

The Hitachi HD cameras are being installed on the Consortium’s sets at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Vancouver.  The rest of the Hitachi SK-HD1000’s will be deployed to various venues focusing on events of particular interest to Canadian viewers, such as hockey, figure skating and curling. 

“Following the 2010 Winter Games, we will deploy these Hitachi SK-HD1000 cameras to our various stations to facilitate HD upgrades, add HD news, replace aging cameras, or any other needs they may have,” said Morris.  “For us, these cameras represent a long-term capital investment.  They will also be used to cover the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.”

Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium is a partnership between leading media conglomerates CTV Inc. and Rogers Media Inc. and will provide unprecedented coverage and consumer choice in English, French and multi-languages on multiple platforms.  The Consortium will deliver 4,500 hours of coverage from the 2010 Winter Games – the most robust media commitment ever by an Olympic rights-holder in this country.   Every second of Olympic competition will be available live on one of the Consortium’s platforms.  

About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2008 (ended March 31, 2009) consolidated revenues totaled 10,000 billion yen ($102.0 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd. designs, manufacturers and markets video cameras, digital transmission, processing and recording devices for the broadcast television, cable, video production, and industrial vision markets. For more information, please call (516) 921-7200 or visit Hitachi's web site at http://www.hitachikokusai.us .  Hitachi Kokusai Electric, Inc., is a Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) group company.

Full versions of all press releases and product images are posted on the web site in the pressroom section: www.hitachikokusai.us

Editor’s Note: Color product photographs are available upon request.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd., 150 Crossways Park Drive, Woodbury, NY  11797, U.S.A. Tel: (516) 921-7200; Fax: (516) 496-3718; website: www.hitachikokusai.us

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., AKIHABARA UDX Bldg.11F, 4-14-1 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 101-8980, Japan Tel: +81 (0)3-5209-5931; Fax +81 (0)3-5209-6119; website: http://www.hitachi-kokusai.co.jp

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Canada, Ltd., 1 Select Avenue, Unit #12, Scarborough, Ontario Canada M1V 5J3 Tel: 416-299-5900; Fax: 416-299-0450; website: http://www.hitachikokusai.ca

Contacts
Emilio Aleman
Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd.
516.682.4406
emilio.aleman@hitachikokusai.us

Robin Hoffman
Pipeline Communications
973.746.6970
robinh@pipecomm.com