Sevens Fans To Star On Stadium Big Screen

Sevens Fans To Star On Stadium Big Screen

Until now, you had to be a fleet-footed Sevens player or have a seat handy to a TV camera to make it on to the big screen.

At this year’s AXA New Zealand International Sevens, however, Telecom’s new T3G Mobile Broadband will allow fans to play a bigger part on the big screen. And you don’t even have to be at the tournament in Wellington.

Using their Sanyo 7400 mobile phone, Sevens fans around New Zealand will be able to send their own action footage to the giant replay screen at the Sevens, via video message.

It’s another example of how our technology is redefining ‘fan participation’ says Telecom’s GM Mobile Kevin Kenrick.

“Developments in communications technology mean we’re continually identifying new ways for fans to interact with rugby.

“The Sevens works particularly well because the focus on the big screen lends itself to the integration of our technology with everything else that’s going on.

“Our aim is to make the fans, with a little help from our technology, just as much a part of the entertainment as the players and official entertainers,” he said.

Telecom began bringing Sevens fans and technology together back in 2001 when New Zealanders were able to send text messages to the replay screen.

Fans can send their Sevens-related video messages to the big screen at shoot@xtra.co.nz. The messages will then be reviewed before being displayed during the tournament.

Still photos can also be sent to the same address, for display on the replay screen, from any Telecom cameraphone.

The best video clip or photo received over the two days of the tournament will win a trip for two to the Singapore Sevens donated by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Other ways in which Telecom is bringing the sevens alive for fans this year include:

• Using Telecom’s SchoolZone videoconferencing technology to allow schoolchildren from as far away as Raglan and TeKuiti to interview members of the South African sevens team in the lead-up to the tournament

• Giving fans the chance to watch the rugby from the comfort of airline business class seats located on the sideline in the Telecom T3G Lounge

• Assisting Save the Children’s tsunami relief fundraising by allowing fans to make a text donation of $4.98 for every text message sent to the big screen and their mobile phones to bid for a range of auction items organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union

• Running the ‘King or Queen for a Day’ promotion for residential customers in the Wellington region to win tickets to a private luxury lounge at the Sevens

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