VITAC'S LIVE CAPTIONING MAKES NBC'S BROADCASTS ACCESSIBLE TO OVER 30

  MILLION DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING VIEWERS DURING COVERAGE OF THE BEIJING

                        OLYMPICS, AUGUST 8-24, 2008



    NEW YORK, Aug. 8 /EMWNews/ -- VITAC, the nation's leading provider

of accessible media services, has been selected to provide English and

Spanish captioning during NBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics,

including this evening's high-profile Opening Ceremony.



    VITAC will caption all Olympic programming on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA,

Oxygen, Universal HD and Telemundo. The captions, created in real-time by

specially trained stenographers who transcribe audio at up to 240 words per

minute, will enhance the viewing experience of the one in ten Americans who

experience some form of hearing loss.



    VITAC's team of captioners and production coordinators have been

preparing for the opening ceremony for months. Captioners must be prepared

to spell the names of competitors from 205 countries and extensive

references to Chinese culture and language.



    "When we prepare for an event like the Olympic Games, each of our

captioners will add as many as 7,500 proper names to computer

dictionaries," said Patricia A. Prozzi, President of VITAC. "Our captioners

must stroke every word precisely to achieve verbatim representation of all

that is broadcast on the NBC networks -- a task requiring research,

dedication and training. We are proud of the exceptional quality of our

captions for this, our seventh, Olympics."



    "NBC has selected VITAC as our captioning partner and we are committed

to making the Beijing Olympic Games accessible to all viewers," said Randy

Raddatz, Vice President, NBC Olympics. "The Olympics are one of the most

popular television events and we are pleased that through our partnership

with VITAC over 30 million deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers will also be

able to enjoy the excitement."

    About NBC Olympics



    NBC, "America's Olympic Network," owns the exclusive U.S. media rights

to the Olympic Games, television's most powerful property, through 2012,

which includes Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012. From

August 8-24, 2008 NBC Universal will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours

of coverage, highlighted by NBC in primetime with live swimming, gymnastics

and beach volleyball. In August 2004, 203 million viewers watched as the

networks of NBC Universal--NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo, Telemundo, and

NBC's HD affiliates--offered a then record 1,210 hours of Olympic coverage

from Athens. For additional information, go to NBCOlympics.com. Merging

news, results and schedules with extensive video coverage and an unmatched

depth of unique story telling content, NBCOlympics.com will be the Olympic

fan's hub for every aspect of the 2008 Beijing Games experience-from the

most comprehensive TV schedules to learning how to connect to mobile,

gaming, VOD and other digital destinations. NBCOlympics.com will provide

approximately 2,200 hours of live event competition where users can choose

from up to 20 concurrent streams encompassing 25 Olympic sports. In

addition, the site will offer more than 3,000 hours of on-demand access to

full-event replays and extensive highlights, including daily recaps of key

events, best-of montages, commentator analysis and athlete-specific clips.



    About VITAC



    VITAC Corporation, a Merrill Communications Company, is the nation's

leading provider of closed captioning and other accessible media services,

with offices in Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC, and headquarters in

Pittsburgh, PA. VITAC provides closed captioning for broadcast networks,

cable TV, home video / DVD, teleconferences and Internet programs

worldwide. Among the company's largest clients are NBC Universal, BBC

America, BET, BET J, CBS, CBS Studios, CNN, Headline News, C-SPAN,

Discovery Networks, FOX, FSN, FSN Regional Networks, Fox Television

Studios, Mark Burnett Productions, MTV Networks, Sony Pictures

Entertainment, truTV, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Television, The

Weather Channel and the Federal Government.



    Merrill Corporation, founded in 1968 and headquartered in St. Paul, MN,

is a leading provider of outsourcing solutions for complex business

communication and information management.



    Contact:



    Heather York, VITAC



    703-807-2763 or [email protected]