USVO - maybe interesting to recall it before November,
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 1999--The Los
Angeles Music Awards (www.lamusicawards.com) has signed a Letter of
Intent with Merging Rivers Media, a subsidiary of USA Video
Interactive system (Nasdaq: USVO; ASE: US; www.usvo.com), to produce a
web broadcast of its 9th Annual L.A. Music Awards ceremony being held
at Hollywood's House of Blues on Nov. 15 and the Inaugural
Presentation of Gazzarri's Honors on Nov. 4.
USA Video Interactive, through its Merging Rivers Media
subsidiary, will videotape, digitize and compress the event using its
Wavelet compression technology, and will host it on the Internet,
accessible from a link on the L.A. Music Awards website. Upon
successful demonstration of the USA Video Interactive technology to
L.A. Music Award officers, the Letter of Intent will move to a
contract with terms and conditions to be negotiated.
"I anticipate a huge response from a global community of music
lovers who are eager to see original music and musicians on the medium
they feel increasingly comfortable using," said Alfred C. Bowman,
Founder and Executive Producer of the L.A. Music Awards. "The Internet
is increasingly the medium of choice for accessing new and exciting
musical talent. Future developments in convergence technology will
establish the L.A. Music Awards place in the TV industry of the
future."
The L.A. Music Awards is a nine-year-old media event, founded in
1990. The first presentation, Dec. 17, 1991, was held at the Mardi
Gras Club in Long Beach, Calif., bringing together established and
emerging musicians, as well as other individuals in the music
industry. Since the first show, the popularity and stature of the
annual event has grown considerably. This year, the L.A. Music Awards
will expand to introduce the 1st Annual Gazzarri Honors event, named
after the legendary rock promoter and club owner, Bill Gazzarri.
The Gazzarri Honors recognizes venues, producers, journalists and
others on the periphery of actual music making. That event will be
held Nov. 4 at the original Gazzarri's on Sunset Strip, now called the
Key Club. On Monday, Nov. 15, the ninth annual L.A. Music Awards event
will be presented at the House of Blues-Hollywood, on the Sunset
Strip.
The Master of Ceremonies for the 1999 L.A. Music Awards will be
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame, last
year's winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, and an announced
candidate for Congress from the state of California. The 1999 Lifetime
Achievement Award will be presented to Paul Rogers of Bad Company and
The Firm, best known for hits like "All Right Now" and "Can't Get
Enough of Your Love."
"We are excited to help the L.A. Music Awards move from TV-only
broadcast into hyperspace...reaching a global audience on the world
wide web," said Rafael O. Quezada, president of Merging River Media.
"It's what our technology is made for and this development is in line
with our strategy to bring music video of the future to the Internet
today."
The USA Video Interactive system will host the broadcast on its
NT-based servers from SeaChange International (Nasdaq: SEAC;
www.schange.com) which are being installed on the UUNET Internet
network. UUNET (www.uu.net) is an MCI WorldCom Company (NASDAQ: WCOM).
USA Video Interactive is an international designer and supplier of
high-tech Video-on-Demand(tm) systems, services and solutions. The USA
Video Interactive technology allows users to view streaming video or
to access digitized video libraries, including movies, sports, other
entertainment, educational resources, corporate training seminars and
other archives. The USA Video Interactive technology gives users
full-motion video; the unique flexibility of standard, VCR-like
controls of play, fast forward, reverse and pause; and the convenience
of a standard internet-browser format for access. USA Video
Interactive can utilize MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression
techniques but prefers its Wavelet compression technology. The USA
Video Interactive Wavelet technology allows direct streaming and
download and play options; provides video images significantly faster
and at a higher degree of resolution than with previously available
methods; significantly overcomes bandwidth restrictions; and
eliminates the blockiness and slowness of current technologies, all at
a lower cost. An essential feature of the USA Video Interactive
technology is that it allows extremely high compression ratios while
retaining broadcast quality.
USA Video Interactive Corp.
Corporate Headquarters Office: 70 Essex Street; Mystic, CT 06355;
800/625-2200; 860/572-1560.
Merging Rivers Media: 11601 Wilshire Blvd.; Suite 500; Los Angeles, CA
90025; 310/441-0772.
Canada Office: 837 West Hastings Street; Suite No. 507; Vancouver,
B.C. V6C 3N6.
Trading symbol on the US NASD OTC BB: USVO; SEC 12g3-2(b)
Exemption: No. 82-1601.
Trading symbol on The Alberta Stock Exchange: US.
Standard & Poors Listed. CUSIP 902924208; Video-On-Demand(tm) and
Video Yellow Pages(tm) are trademarks of USA Video.
The Alberta Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
--30--gdr/sf*
CONTACT: USA Video Interactive Corp.
Tony Castagno, 860/572-1560 (Media Relations)
Kevin Yorio, 860/572-1560 (Investor Relations)
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