CHY signs a deal with Microsoft.
LEADING TELEVISION PRODUCTION SYSTEM PROVIDERS TO DELIVER SUPPORT FOR THE MICROSOFT TV PLATFORM CHYRON, LOUTH AND PEAK BROADCAST SYSTEMS ALL Agree to Build Support For Microsoft TV Platform Into Their Products
LOS ANGELES, Dec 15, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Microsoft Corp.
(Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced agreements with three leading television
production system providers -- Chyron Corp., Louth Corp., and Peak
Broadcast Systems -- as well as a letter of intent with Avid Technology
Inc. and a letter of understanding with Associated Press' Electronic
News Production System (ENPS) to work together to support the
Microsoft(R) TV Platform. Each has plans to build interactive
television capabilities into their product lines. Today's announced
collaboration brings the television industry several steps closer to
everyday delivery of enhanced television content. These and other
possible future agreements will enable the creation of mainstream
interactive television by integrating production capabilities in the
systems and tools the television industry uses today.
In supporting the Microsoft TV Platform, these tool providers will
offer content creators such as broadcasters, cable channels, production
and post-production houses, and journalists the ability to generate
interactive programming that is compliant with the Advanced Television
Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) specification. Having great tools from the
most advanced and recognizable productions system providers in the
industry will allow broadcasters and producers to easily differentiate
their programming and brand as well as attract and retain new viewers.
"We are pleased to be able to work closely with the market leaders in
television production tools to help them include interactive
capabilities in their products," said Jon DeVaan, senior vice
president, TV Service and Platform Business at Microsoft. "A growing
number of major players in the television industry as well as new
start-up companies are interested in adding interactive television
support to their products. We will continue to work with companies in
this growing industry to address their needs so that we can bring the
most innovative viewing experience to television consumers."
Associated Press' ENPS Introduced in 1997, AP's Electronic News
Production System has quickly become broadcasting's most popular new
newsroom system and is now under contract for more than 100 networks,
television stations and radio stations at 210 sites in 26 countries.
Its powerful features include scripting, program rundowns, planning,
contacts, messaging, archiving, third-party device control, external
publishing, news wire management, full-text searching,
tightly-integrated resilience capabilities and the ability for
journalists to work in almost any language. Designed to meet the
changing needs of all types of broadcast news environments, ENPS
leverages proven, standard desktop and server hardware and operating
systems backed by global AP resources. ENPS is a complete solution
using a full suite of Microsoft developer tools and technology based on
the Microsoft Windows NT(R) operating system and the Visual Studio(R)
development system.
"These development efforts will integrate ATVEF-compliant interactive
television tools in newsrooms around the world," said Lee Perryman,
deputy director of AP's Broadcast Division and director of Broadcast
Technology. "Eventually, journalists will be able to add interactive
triggers and Web-based information to their newscasts as a routine part
of the traditional production process."
Avid Technology Inc. Avid Technology Inc. is an industry-leading
provider of digital audio and video tools for information and
entertainment applications. The company's products are used by media
professionals worldwide, including feature film, television and
interactive content producers, TV news broadcasters, corporate
communicators and consumers. In 1999, 96 percent of the fall prime-time
television shows are being edited using the Avid Media Composer and
Avid Film Composer systems. Avid intends to stay at technology's
forefront as broadcast television becomes more interactive.
"At Avid, we are excited about the future of interactive television and
streaming video, and we are very pleased to be working with Microsoft
to bring these new technologies to market," said David Krall, Avid's
president and chief operating officer. "We see an increasing demand for
interactive technologies in broadcast television and we plan to support
this emerging market through a variety of products ands solutions."
Chyron Corp. Chyron Corp. is a leading innovator in the development of
television graphics and distribution systems, including products to
meet the demands of digital and high-definition television. Chyron
provides a broad range of leading-edge hardware and software products,
including paint and animation systems, character generators, signal
distribution systems, master control switchers and broadcast animation
and media management packages.
"We look forward to working with Microsoft to add interactive
television capability to our character generators that are already in
use in most television production studios," said Roger Henderson,
president and CEO of Chyron. "With Microsoft's help, we're putting
cutting-edge interactive television tools into the hands of leading
broadcasters, cablecasters, satcasters and production houses."
Louth Corp. Louth Corp. is a premier supplier of media management and
automation systems for broadcast and cable television. Louth products
automate over 3,000 channels at broadcast and cable stations worldwide
and support a broad range of broadcast devices.
"We are pleased to be part of Microsoft's effort to help make
interactive television a standard component of the conventional
broadcast system. Facilities that use the Louth system will now have
the option to add interactive television data scheduling and playout
along with existing audio and video control capability," said Rick
Swiers, director of product marketing for Louth.
Peak Broadcast System Peak Broadcast Systems' products are utilized for
the creation of real-time 2-D and 3-D graphic animations for news,
sports and other programming. The Peak system is an innovative
television production system that runs on the Windows NT platform.
Compared to traditional production systems composed of many disparate
hardware and software components, Peak is a suite of totally integrated
on-air production tools. In addition to standard graphics production,
the Peak system can render real-time 3-D graphics and includes a
complete system for television weathercasts, a mapping system and a 3-D
virtual set that allows broadcasters to create sets as graphics files
that display as 3-D objects.
"Our customers here in the United States, as well as overseas, welcome
the Microsoft TV Platform authoring tools as yet another path to
provide their audiences with enhanced and enriched versions of their
media content while simultaneously promoting their brand image to the
constantly growing Web audience," said Isaac Hersly, president and CEO
of Peak Broadcast Systems USA. "The tools' ease of use, required to
produce interactive content, will further add to the success of this
new offering."
Microsoft is also planning to work with 12 other broadcasters,
production software tool developers, production and broadcast systems
integration and management tool companies that are focused on new media
to help them bring innovative new forms of entertainment,
communication, information and e-commerce to consumers via television.
These companies include the following: BSQUARE Corp., ETV Tools Inc.,
ExtendMedia Inc., Intel Corp., Grass Valley Products, Leapfrog
Productions, Lysis SA, Public Broadcasting System, RespondTV Inc.,
Tektronix Inc., Vertigo Multimedia and Wink Communications Inc.
New Tools Developer Support Organization Formed Microsoft has also
created an interactive broadcast tools developer organization to
support and educate ITV tools and application developers. The first
Microsoft TV Solution Provider ITV Tool Program training conference for
interactive television tool developers was held Dec. 9 at the Microsoft
campus. The group will continue its education efforts as the market for
interactive television grows.
"We are excited by the widespread support we've seen from across the
industry in just the six months since we announced product details of
the Microsoft TV Platform," DeVaan said. "Together with these
companies, we can begin providing viewers with rich, new, enhanced
television experiences unlike anything they are watching now."
About Microsoft TV Platform The Microsoft TV platform is a
comprehensive software solution for the television industry that makes
television more useful, fun and engaging for consumers and creates
significant new economic opportunities for network operators and their
suppliers of programming, hardware and software. The client software,
Microsoft TV, operates a range of TV-centric appliances, from advanced
set-top boxes to integrated televisions. Microsoft TV Server is a suite
of software components that offers network operators the tools to
provision, manage and operate a large-scale, commercial-grade enhanced
TV service.
The Microsoft TV platform supports worldwide digital TV broadcast
standards, including DVB, ATSC and ARIB. It also supports commonly used
Internet standards such as HTML, JavaScript and Dynamic HTML, as well
as all interactive content authored according to the ATVEF standard.
About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in
software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide
range of products and services designed to empower people through great
software -- any time, any place and on any device.
NOTE: Microsoft, Windows NT and Visual Studio are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or
other countries. Other product and company names herein may be
trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
(C) 1999 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
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