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Rogers OMNI Television Celebrates TWO Firsts: First-ever Multilingual Coverage of UEFA Euro 2008™ & Digital Over-the-air for Toronto on Rogers OMNI.1 & OMNI.2 Beginning: Saturday, June 7th at 12 NOON ET


    TORONTO, May 12 /CNW/ - Rogers OMNI Television is pleased to announce the
beginning of a new era for Diversity Television in Canada, marked by two
firsts: the kick-off of its exclusive multilingual coverage of this summer's
UEFA European Football Championship™ AND the launch of Digital over-the-air
transmission for Toronto-based viewers of Rogers OMNI.1 and OMNI.2.
    The action begins Saturday, June 7th at 12:00 p.m. ET with the LIVE,
tri-lingual coverage of the competition's first match, between Switzerland and
the Czech Republic, simultaneously on:-   OMNI.1 - in Italian; play-by-play and colour commentary by
        Vito Caressa and Sandro Piccinini;
    -   OMNI.2 - Chinese bi-lingual play-by-play and colour commentary by:
        Alex Chum in Cantonese and Ran Tao in Mandarin."Rogers OMNI Television once again leads the way, now building on our
reputation for covering sports in multiple languages, with the combined launch
of our first UEFA Euro 2008™ coverage and our eagerly anticipated, Digital(*)
over-the-air transmission," says Malcolm Dunlop, Executive Vice President,
Programming, for Rogers Media Television "We're proud to usher in this new
technology 'OMNI-style' with tri-lingual coverage of the first game followed
same day by another match for Portuguese language viewers - plus, we're
introducing coverage in Greek and Polish for soccer enthusiasts in those
language communities."
    Following the opening match at approximately 2:45 p.m., Portuguese
speaking soccer fans are invited to tune into OMNI.1 for the Portugal vs.
Turkey match with LIVE Portuguese language play-by-play and colour commentary
by Fernando Sousa.Upcoming matches in OMNI's exclusive multilingual coverage of UEFA Euro
    2008™ include:
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    DATE                     START  STATION        TEAMS            LANGUAGE:
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sunday, June 8th      11:30 AM           Germany vs. Poland       Polish
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
                          12:00 PM           Romania vs. France
    Monday, June 9th     ----------         --------------------     Italian
                           2:45 PM           Holland vs. Italy
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
    Tuesday, June 10th    11:30 AM           Greece vs. Sweden         Greek
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
    Wednesday, June 11th  12:00 PM           Czech Repub vs.
                                     OMNI.1   Portugal            Portuguese
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
    Thursday, June 12th    2:45 PM           Austria vs. Poland       Polish
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
                          12:00 PM           Italy vs. Romania
    Friday, June 13th    ----------         --------------------     Italian
                           2:45 PM           Holland vs. France
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
    Saturday, June 14th    2:45 PM           Greece vs. Russia         Greek
    -------------------------------         ---------------------------------
    Sunday, June 15th      2:45 PM           Switzerland vs
                                              Portugal            Portuguese
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------All scheduling is subject to change, especially as the championships
proceed from quarter through semi and then final rounds; viewers from the
Chinese community can look forward to further coverage of the UEFA Euro
2008™ on OMNI.2.
    In the meantime, OMNI.1's Euro 2008 presents a weekly preview of European
Soccer Championship action for Portuguese language audiences (Saturdays at
11:30 a.m.) - and for Italian (Sundays at 9:00 a.m.).
    Background information on the UEFA Euro 2008™, including player and
team profiles, is available online @
http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/eurocup2008 with scheduling information to be
posted as it is confirmed.

    About Rogers OMNI Television:

    Rogers OMNI Television is a free over-the-air system consisting of
regional broadcasters with the collective mandate to reflect Canada's
diversity through the airing of inclusive and accessible programming:
multilingual/multicultural stations OMNI.1 (CFMT) and OMNI.2 (CJMT), along
with the recently acquired (April, 2008) channel m in Vancouver BC, and two
newly granted (June, 2007) licences for similarly mandated ethnocultural
stations in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta; all are owned and operated by
Rogers Communications in the Rogers Media division.(*) (Digital over-the-air transmission in Toronto on channel: 64 for
        OMNI.1 and 44 for OMNI.2)