OpenTV, the world’s leading interactive television company, announced a
long-term relationship with [email protected] to power the deployment of the first
interactive television service on credit card-assigned advanced set-top boxes.
This innovative approach to making interactive TV services more accessible
would relieve network operators of the capital cost of funding the set-top
boxes. [email protected] has plans to finance the cost of the set-top box deployment
across the Asia-Pacific region in return for the rights to deliver
interactive TV applications licensed by OpenTV on the network. Each set-top
box deployed will be assigned a MasterCard credit card through which all
transactions relating to the consumer and their pay TV account must pass.
[email protected] and its financial partners will receive a fee for every transaction.
OpenTV will provide [email protected] with a broad range of services and products
including its world leading middleware, OpenTV Core 1.1, OpenTV Enterprise
Solutions, featuring OpenTV Account and OpenTV Advertise products, as well
as its professional services capabilities, including launch management and
applications integration. OpenTV Account is a customer relationship
management (CRM) solution that supports transactional iTV services
including t-commerce, direct response TV and self-provisioning. OpenTV
Advertise manages, schedules and broadcasts banner advertisements across
all interactive television applications, while producing a broad range of
real-time reports.
“The main reasons why digitalization and interactive TV has been so
unattractive to broadcasters is the huge capital cost of deploying set-top
boxes in volume and the slow rate of return — our solution is a profitable
cost effective development for network operators everywhere,” said Anthony
Desir, [email protected] chairman. ” OpenTV has been a unique technical partner.
They are the recognized global leader in developing and offering strategic
iTV solutions and they have helped us to seamlessly integrate our financial
innovation into everyday applications. Together we have been able to
identify ways to turn almost any existing iTV application into an immediate
revenue generator. Our network partners should expect to benefit from extra
revenue earned on our impulse payment system. Asia is the world’s biggest
TV market; there is no question that a successful ITV model here will be of
interest to operators all over the world.”
“We believe the Asia-Pacific market is ripe for advanced digital TV
technologies and creative approaches as provided by [email protected] in bringing
more opportunities for network operators to deploy iTV services to their
subscribers,” said Jeff Brown, OpenTV’s managing director, Asia-Pacific
Region. “We believe that OpenTV brings the global experience and
flexibility in offering our partners bundled iTV services with unmatched
economies of scale.”
The first deployment using this transaction model will be in the
Philippines on the PMSI network, a leading satellite operator, with Nokia
8830S set-top boxes. The initial launch includes games, and a wide range of
broadcast interactive information such as local information and astrology,
and is expected to be followed a short time later by more advanced
interactive services including transactional-based services such as impulse
pay-per-view (iPPV) and betting. [email protected] has already signed broadcast
deals in other key Asian markets and will begin deployment in those markets
following the Philippines.
OpenTV’s interactive television technologies, content, applications and
services have been selected by many of the Asia Pacific region’s leading
companies, including: Austar in Australia, Jupiter Telecommunications Co.,
Ltd, in Japan, Beida Jadebird Huaguang, Henan Cable and Shanghai Cable in
China, Sky Television in New Zealand, and consumer electronics
manufacturers Sony Corporation and Matsushita.
OpenTV works with more than 18 manufacturers throughout Asia in Taiwan,
Japan, China and Korea and is a member of Japan Cable Laboratories, which
supports development of digital cable TV technology standards in Japan.
OpenTV completed the technical specifications of the BML standard for
BS/CS-type satellite broadcasting and is the only interactive TV company to
provide a product that meets BML standards.
About OpenTV
One of the world’s leading interactive television companies, OpenTV has a
global footprint of more than 35 million households. The company provides a
comprehensive suite of iTV solutions including operating middleware,
interactive content and applications such as t-commerce, interactive
advertising and games, content creation tools, professional support
services, and strategic consulting. A pioneer in interactive television
research and development, OpenTV has been issued 47 U.S. patents, 120
foreign patents, and has more than 385 pending patent applications
worldwide to support its products and services. The company is
headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with regional offices located
throughout the United States, Europe and Asia/Pacific. For more information
please visit www.opentv.com.
About [email protected]
[email protected] is a digital TV interactive network facilitator and credit card
enabled set-top-box distributor. The company has developed a key payment
innovation that allows its STBs to become a consumer controlled impulse
payment system. The payment system has been developed in conjunction with
MasterCard and is a fully functional credit card linked to the STB. The
company finances STBs and installs the iTV infrastructure for its broadcast
partners to help develop an advanced revenue generating interactive
service. [email protected] plans to provide millions of homes with free use of
credit card enabled digital STBs. Whenever digital broadcasting becomes a
reality [email protected] offers a turnkey solution to local broadcaster partners
that includes installation of the interactive platform, STB financing and a
distribution plan to bring customers to the network. [email protected] plans to
build major global interactive network beginning with markets in Asia. The
Philippines is the company’s beta market and will be followed by others
currently under development. The company is owned by significant regional
partners in Asia and is backed by substantial funding for its consumer
products. www.magicitv.com.
