1. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) and singer Tony Bennett (red scarf) help countdown to the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree, zoom out to tree lighting up 2. Close of lights on tree, zoom out to wide 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) David Murbach, worker at Rockefeller Centre: "They've taken 30-thousand energy-saving light bulbs for this tree, these LED's, and it uses one third of the power that we used in past years to light this tree. And then up on the building roof, they put 363 solar panels, and the biggest solar panel in New York City to light this. It feeds into the grid and powers this tree when it's lit." 4. Tourists taking pictures in front of tree 5. Tourist holding camera 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Bennett, singer: "I've done it more times than anybody." (Q: What keeps you coming back?) "Because I love New York, and at Christmas, it's the best place in the world to spend Christmas." 7. Tilt up of tree 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox Pop, Cheryl Welch, attended tree lighting: "The tree is beautiful. It's kind of cold, but we're enjoying the cold." 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox Pop, Abigail Delgado, attended tree lighting: "I think you could see it from space. It's so bright." 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox Pop, Celine Derkrikorian, attended tree lighting: "I've been coming here every Christmas season with my parents since I was a little girl, and tonight being the first night that it's lit, I just think it's so magical." 11. Various of people watching lit up Christmas tree STORYLINE: The famous Christmas tree outside the Rockefeller Center in New York City was lit up by mayor Michael Bloomberg and other artists on Wednesday. This year, the 84-foot (26-metre)-tall Norway spruce was sporting energy-saving bulbs, and an array of solar panels atop 45 Rockefeller Plaza will help power them. Early revellers began gathering around the tree on Wednesday afternoon, hoping to snag a good view of performances by such stars as Tony Bennett, Josh Groban and Ashley Tisdale. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Radio City Rockettes helped flip the switch for the tree lights. The 60-year-old spruce has been covered with five miles of wire and 30-thousand multicoloured bulbs known as light emitting diodes, or LEDs. Using the new lights were expected to reduce the energy consumption of the holiday display from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day, a savings equal to the amount of energy used to power a 2,000-square-foot home for a month. The rooftop solar panels installed to power the lights will become a permanent fixture to help offset the energy demands of Rockefeller Center. Organisers were planning to recycle the tree by using it as lumber for Habitat For Humanity projects in New York, the US Gulf Coast, India and Brazil. The tree's topper can sparkle even without any lights: The Swarovski star is adorned with 25,000 crystals. It is almost 10 feet (3 metres) in diameter. This is the 75th formal tree lighting ceremony at the Art Deco plaza in midtown Manhattan. While the first official lighting was in 1933, the first Rockefeller Christmas tree was put up two years earlier by workers helping to build the complex. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c14e506739761cb4cf5e52ef958f5c82 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork