Sprint's longstanding sponsorship of the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards will expand this year as the company partners with The Broadway Channel to produce "Broadway star interviews at the Tonys" -- a red carpet exclusive with video clips streamed only to Sprint TV.
Broadway's own
Kate Shindle (upcoming
Legally Blonde) will play the role of "reporter" for the evening, conducting interviews with nominees and presenters to give theatre-lovers nationwide an insider's peak at the excitement of the red carpet.
"Sprint is changing the way consumers use their phones, and that will be clear on Sunday night when fans of the Tony Awards can watch red-carpet footage on Sprint TV that they won't find anywhere else," said Alana Muller, director of product marketing for Sprint.
The exclusive pre-show action will be accessible within an hour of the red carpet via The Broadway Channel on Sprint TV (Channel 57 in the entertainment category). This recently introduced entertainment channel on the Emmy-Award winning Sprint TV lets Broadway fans nationwide access on-demand video content, previously available only on a dedicated channel in New York City hotel rooms or online via
www.broadwaychannel.com.
"The partnership between Sprint and The Broadway Channel will give Broadway fans unprecedented access to the Tony Awards this year," said Matt Hege, vice president of The Broadway Channel. "In addition to the live televised broadcast Sunday night, Sprint customers can use their wireless phones during commercial breaks to get their non-stop Tonys fix."
As the company has done in years past as a key sponsor of the Tony Awards, Sprint also gifted all 2006 nominees with a new Sprint Phone MM-A920 by Samsung with three free months of nationwide wireless service. All the evening's winners will receive a full year of free service. Sprint also will host a hospitality suite in the press room for winners, where they will have access to Sprint phones to call loved ones with the good news.
"Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communications services bringing mobility to consumer, business and government customers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone," state press notes.
This
year, The American Theatre Wing's Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards will
be celebrating their 60th Anniversary. The 2006 Tony Awards are
presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the
American Theatre Wing.This year, the duty of hosting the Tony Awards will be shared. The
60th Anniversary show is bigger than just one host," said executive
producers Weiss and Kirshner previously. "So we've put together a
line-up of 60 stars from the stage
to lead our celebration." The Tony
Awards will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS,
Sunday, June 11th, 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT time delay).The Tonys are presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing. At the League, Gerald Schoenfeld is Chairman and Jed Bernstein is President. At the Wing, Sondra Gilman is Chairman, Doug Leeds is President and Howard Sherman is Executive Director. For Tony Award Productions, Elizabeth I. McCann
is Managing Producer and Joey Parnes is Coordinating Producer. Kirshner
and Weiss/White Cherry Entertainment are Executive Producers of the
2006 Tony Awards. Weiss will also serve as Director of the 2006 Tony
Awards.
The official Tony Awards web site, www.TonyAwards.com, is developed, designed, and hosted by IBM, an official partner of the Tonys. For more information on Sprint, visit
www.sprint.com.
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