Summary

NAME: US TIMES BALL 20081112E TAPE: EF08/1139 IN_TIME: 10:05:59:04 DURATION: 00:02:20:06 SOURCES: AP Television DATELINE: New York, 10 Nov 2008 RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST AP Television New York, 10 November 2008 1 Wide shot New Year's Eve Times Square ball being assembled 2 Mid shot man screwing crystal panels into place on ball 3 Close of panels being screwed into place 4 Wide shot ball, computer operated setup in foreground 5 Close-up of hand on computer mouse 6 Close of computer screen, selecting rainbow light pattern 7 Pan from rainbow patterned ball to computer screen 8 SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Straus, President of Countdown Entertainment: Right behind me is the New Times Square News Years Eve ball, it's the biggest ball ever It weighs 11,875 pounds (5,386 kilograms) It's 12 feet (37 metres) in diameter It's double the size and four times the mass of previous New Years Eve balls, and this one is going to be permanently installed atop One Times Square so it will entertain New Yorkers and tourists, not only on December 31st, but throughout the entire year 9 Wide shot ball with American flag pattern 10 Close of man's hand operating keyboard 11 Mid of ball with American flag pattern 12 SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Bloom, Director of Corporate Communications for Philips Lighting Company: It incorporates over 32-thousand Philips Luxeon LED's (Light emitting diodes) which is three times the amount as last year's The effect for viewers all around the world will be a bolder, brighter, more beautiful ball than ever and it's also greener than ever If you can believe this, last year's ball, as energy efficient as it was, actually the LED's this year are 10 to 20 percent more energy efficient than they were last year In fact the entire ball will run on roughly the same amount of energy as it takes to operate just two conventional home ovens 13 Close-up of crystal panel being unwrapped 14 Mid shot hand reaching into buckets for screws 15 Close of crystal panel being screwed into place 16 Wide shot ball with multiple light patterns STORYLINE TIMES SQUARE BALL UNVEILED A bigger, brighter Waterford crystal ball will usher in 2009 above New York's iconic Times Square, then remain in place all year to celebrate other holidays including Valentine's Day, the Fourth of July and Halloween, organisers said on Monday (10 NOV 2008) The new ball, which was being assembled on Monday at a studio in Yonkers, in New York state, is 12 feet (37 metres) in diameter and weighs nearly six tons Last year's ball was six feet (18 metres) across and weighed less than one ton The flagpole that was used for previous balls wasn't considered sturdy enough, so a new shaft was built, and steel bracing was added to the building beneath it, 1 Times Square At its highest, the ball will be 475 feet (1448 metres) above Times Square The ball is a geodesic dome built of 2,468 crystal triangles, made in Waterford in Ireland, each etched with a stylised starburst or a stylised angel, said a Waterford spokesman The triangles, about five inches (127 centimetres) on a side and half an inch (127 cm) thick, combine to make a translucent ball that serves as a canvas for a computerised light show that will begin at about 6 pm eastern time (1300 GMT) on New Year's Eve, six hours before the ball's minute-long descent marks the new year Inside, the ball is filled with electric cables, heat sinks and fans, but outside it looks fragile Each crystal triangle has 12 energy-efficient, long-lived LED (Light emitting diodes) lights behind it; three each of red, white, blue and green, which can be combined into 16 (m) million colours On Monday, technicians were running through several of the programmes that might be seen on New Year's Eve - stars, a rainbow, a waving American flag It's the seventh ball in the 101-year history of ball-dropping at Times Square It's being paid for privately, said publicist Thomas Chiodo Organisers estimated the cost at several (m) million dollars The New Year's Eve light programme will run itself once it's turned on, but technicians will be up on the roof anyway with all the computer equipment A second server will back up the main server in case anything goes wrong, and a default programme will kick in if the second server fails