Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman poses for photos with showgirls as confetti rains down during a news conference Thursday at the Fashion Show mall, where plans for this year's New Year's Eve festivities on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas were announced. Photo by John Locher. Click image for enlargement.

Watch out, Dick Clark. Las Vegas is gunning for you.

New Year's Eve on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas is continuing its quest to live up to the billing of "America's Party" and to rival the iconic Times Square celebration in New York. New twists for the end of this year include an agreement with a satellite TV network to broadcast live from Fremont Street Experience for 41/2 hours, officials announced Thursday.

The theme this year will be "Vegas Royale 2007," and the annual fireworks show will be shot off at midnight to music from James Bond movies. The $450,000 in pyrotechnics will be shot off from seven Strip casino rooftops. (Agent 007, seven rooftops, the year 2007. Get it?)

The number of rooftops is down from 10 last year, but fireworks gurus are promising a "more intense" show this year.

"There will be a lot of pastels: lemons, limes, oranges and purples," said Jim Souza, chief executive officer of Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, comparing with the last time his company did the show, in 2004.

"It'll be a more powerful display. There will be walls of fire," Souza said.

About 300,000 tourists are expected in Las Vegas at the end of December, down slightly from last year because of a loss of hotel rooms, said Vince Alberta, spokesman with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Bureau.

The non-gambling economic impact is expected to be about $198.1 million, he said, an increase of about 4 percent over last year.

The Fremont Street Experience scored the biggest coup of the year with its agreement to have DirectTV broadcast live from downtown. The broadcast will begin from Fremont Street at 8 p.m. PST and will be aired on DirectTV channel 101, CD USA, a live music station.

The live music will be provided by Five for Fighting, All-American Rejects, Chicago, Smash Mouth, OK Go and Rock Star Supernova.

"These are the six greatest bands of all time," Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

"This will be the greatest advertisement Las Vegas ever had."

Tickets for admission to the pedestrian mall will be $80 per person, twice as much as last year.

Jeff Victor, president of the Fremont Street Experience, said the added ticket cost is to pay for the six-band lineup.

"This is a very expensive event," he said.

Pat Christensen, president of Las Vegas Events, said that when his company began marketing Las Vegas' New Year's Eve debauchery as "America's Party," the goal was to become the iconic place to end the year.

"We wanted to own the New Year's party," he said.

"With the DirectTV deal, the place to be will be Vegas."

And that little Times Square party?

"You have a ball dropping. OK, cool. But we have $450,000 worth of fireworks," he said.

"Come on, how much can a ball cost?"

Officials from New York's Times Square Alliance did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday.