Vegas on TV on Sunday

Digital technology still can't transport a shrimp cocktail or a beer in a football cup to television viewers across the nation.
But on Sunday it will come closer than ever to bringing the experience of Las Vegas' Fremont Street to nearly 16 million American households. For the first time the lights and sights of downtown Las Vegas will be the backdrop for a continuous, live, nationally televised New Year's Eve concert party.

On Wednesday production crews were hanging light trusses and standing barricades in the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall in preparation for the event, dubbed America's Party.

"The canopy is going to make this one so spectacular," said Bart Peters, executive in charge of production for CDUSA, the company producing the party.

The company typically holds single televised concerts with about 300 audience members in its 14,000 square foot studio in Los Angeles. The event Sunday is expected to draw more than 15,000 people, include six bands on two stages, and incorporate the four blocks of Fremont Street as well as the overhead canopy of lights.

"That is our whole thing with music, to make you feel as if you're the one at the concert," Peters said.

Although Fremont Street is the home base for the event, which will be televised from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on DirecTV, it will also include jumps to New York; Austin, Texas; and Denver to capture celebrations there.

It will also incorporate live video from the event with graphics fed onto the overhead LED canopy.

Read the whole story at the Casino City Times

December 28, 2006

Vegas on TV on Sunday