Network Will Produce and Broadcast Three Events in 2009

LOS ANGELES, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The AVP announced today that it has extended its broadcast agreement with NBC Sports for the upcoming 2009 season. The partnership marks the ninth year of national broadcast for the sport, and comes on the heels of NBC Sports' popular 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage.

"We're very pleased to continue this long standing partnership with NBC Sports and to bring beach volleyball to fans across the U.S.," said Jason Hodell, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball CEO. "NBC brought record-high viewership to the Olympics last year, and we could not be happier that fans will be able to see our athletes compete on NBC once again this summer."

NBC Sports will present coverage of the July 4th and 5th Coney Island, Brooklyn, N.Y. event, and the Hermosa Beach, Calif. and Chicago AVP Crocs Tour stops in August during the 2009 season. NBC Sports will produce the events in high definition and will promote the event in the weeks leading up in NBC Sports programming. The events will also be promoted on Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, which serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming.

"The AVP produces some of the best athletes in the world, and millions of viewers got the opportunity to see that in Beijing last summer," said Jon Miller, EVP, NBC Sports. "We're excited to keep the momentum going and continue to offer beach volleyball as part of our extensive lineup of sports coverage."

The AVP Crocs Tour Season launched in Panama City Beach, Fla. in March and will continue April 17-19 in Riverside, Calif. In addition, fans will be able to catch AVP Crocs Tour events streaming live online at www.AVP.com, and participate in a new interactive fantasy game that lets them create their own line-ups and follow the stats of their favorite players at http://fantasy.avp.com.

About AVP, Inc.:

AVP, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. One of the fastest growing entities in the sports world, the AVP operates two of the industry's most prominent national outdoor touring series, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour (1983) and the AVP Hot Winter Nights Indoor Tour (launched in 2008). The AVP is set to stage more than 35 events throughout the United States in 2009 and features more than 150 of the top men and women competitors in the sport. AVP athletes won both the women's and men's gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing, marking the first gold medal sweep by a single country in the history of Olympic Beach Volleyball. AVP is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. For more information, please visit www.avp.com.

About NBC Sports:

NBC Sports, known for amassing large audiences while presenting the most prestigious properties in sports, represents superior production that elevates sport, broad promotion and mutually-beneficial partnerships.

As evidence of NBC Sports' ability to amass large audiences, over the past year, NBC Sports broadcast two record-breaking television events: The Beijing Olympic Games, the most watched event in U.S. television history with 215 million viewers and Super Bowl XLIII, which achieved the largest single audience in U.S. television history with a record 152 million viewers. NBC Sports is now home to eight of the top ten most-watched events in U.S. television history.

NBC Sports partners with many of the most powerful brands in sports. NBC Sports has broadcast 16 Super Bowls, and is tied with CBS for the most Super Bowls broadcast by a single network. As America's Olympic Network, NBC has broadcast more Olympics than any other network and owns the rights to the Olympic Games through 2012. NBC is also home to "NBC Sunday Night Football," the premier primetime NFL game of the week. Other prestigious NBC Sports properties include Notre Dame football, the U.S. Open Championship, The Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Wimbledon, French Open and the Stanley Cup Final.

SOURCE AVP Pro Beach Volleyball

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