VIDEO-ON-DEMAND. . . . Excite@Home Announces Excite ClickVideo, a Broadband Video Entertainment And News Application, With Premier Content Providers
Excite ClickVideo Delivers On-Demand, Personalized Video Content
To @Home Subscribers
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM), the leader in broadband, today announced Excite ClickVideo, a broadband application showcasing programmed, on-demand video content on the @Home broadband online service. With a growing number of premier content providers, Excite ClickVideo brings a wide variety of the best video content on the Internet, such as news clips, short-form films, cartoons and music videos, to @Home broadband subscribers. Excite ClickVideo has an easy-to-use, personalized interface and features a hip, virtual VJ named "Bailey" to bring subscribers an entertaining and informational broadband experience with video content in several categories, including shorts, animation, Web shows, music, TV, news, sports, lifestyle, "how to" and kids. Because of the always-on broadband connection, Excite ClickVideo enables subscribers to watch, personalize and search high-quality videos and animation on demand.
(Photos: newscom.com
newscom.com
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"Short form video is clearly a killer application for broadband because video is a natural part of the broadband service and experience. Excite ClickVideo gives users personalized control over video unlike they've ever had before with traditional television. They can search for and immediately get a specific news story or short film rather than waiting for it," said Richard Gingras, senior vice president and general manager, Excite Studios, Excite@Home. "We're working together with the top names in the business to aggregate the best video content and to provide subscribers with a truly compelling, lean-forward broadband experience."
PREMIER VIDEO CONTENT PROVIDERS
Aggregating the best of news clips, short films and animation, Excite@Home has content distribution arrangements with select media providers, independent filmmakers and video producers, including Alfy.com, AlwaysI.com, AtomFilms, Bloomberg, Broadband Interactive Group's Bluetorch.com, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, FOXNEWS.com video, Honkworm International, House of Blues, IFILM, LikeTelevision, Mondo Media, MyPrimeTime, Quokka, reelshort.com, Showtime Networks' WhirlGirl on SHO.com, SportsID.com, SpunkyTown.com, sputnik7.com, wildbrain.com and WireBreak.com.
"Excite ClickVideo provides a high-quality venue for consumers to experience Atom's original short films and animations over the Net," said Matt Hulett, chief marketing and online officer at AtomFilms. "Excite@Home was an early partner because they saw long ago the potential and consumer appetite for original video entertainment combined with a quality broadband connection."
Each Excite ClickVideo provider has agreed to supply new content on a weekly basis to keep the content fresh and exciting and to encourage subscribers to come back for more. All video is archived and searchable by category, title and keyword.
-- Shorts -- Some of the world's best independent short films, as well as
original entertainment content designed especially for the Internet.
-- Animation -- Original animated series and cartoons.
-- Web shows -- Programming includes weekly magazines and Web-based game
shows.
-- News -- Daily in-depth news and information from top financial and
business news services.
-- Sports -- Extreme sports videos, including footage from live and
pre-taped events and competitions.
-- Music -- Full-length music videos and live music footage.
-- TV -- Clips from classic TV and segments from current television hits.
-- How To -- Instructional videos in numerous areas.
-- Lifestyle -- Daily interview segments to inspire middle-aged people to
reach their life dreams.
-- Kids -- Interactive cartoons and animated stories to entertain and
educate young children.
PERSONALIZED VIDEO ON-DEMAND
Excite ClickVideo gives subscribers what they want, when they want it, in an easy-to-use application by taking advantage of the @Home service high-speed connection and Excite's expertise in personalization.
-- High-speed data rates equal a high-quality video experience -- Excite
ClickVideo is displayed in a large video window (320x240) at lightning
fast broadband speeds.
-- Excite's award-winning personalization -- Subscribers can personalize
their video experience by selecting the content they want to watch and
organizing it on their "My ClickVideo" page. They can add and remove
feeds, films and shows to and from their personalized video list, which
is automatically updated with the freshest, most recently updated
clips.
-- Video library categorized by genre and searchable by keyword -- Excite
ClickVideo's easy-to-browse interface makes it simple to find a
particular type of content or a specific video, and a video search
function lets subscribers search video by description and keyword.
ANIMATED VIRTUAL VJ "BAILEY"
The face of Excite broadband, Bailey is the animated, virtual VJ and host of Excite ClickVideo. Whether reviewing the latest short or recommending a music video, Bailey sifts through Excite ClickVideo content to bring the best to the top. Bailey's daily show, "Bailey's Picks," reviews and highlights her favorite videos provided by Excite ClickVideo providers. Bailey helps subscribers stay on top of the newest content and in the know about the hottest films, music videos, filmmakers and producers. Bailey was brought to life with the design help of Mondo Media's creative team.
HIGH-QUALITY VIDEO ON THE EXCITE@HOME NETWORK
Excite video content is cached on servers in Excite@Home's regional data centers and cable head-ends closest to the @Home subscriber, helping to deliver fast, on-demand downloads with minimal backbone delays. This is designed to give @Home broadband subscribers consistently high-quality video content in a large video window (320x240) at up to 15 frames per second and at data rates up to 500 kbps*.
ABOUT EXCITE STUDIOS
Excite Studios is the unit of Excite@Home responsible for the design, product development and programming of its consumer online services, including Excite.com, Excite Broadband for the @Home 2000 service, Excite Webshots and Excite's Bluemountain.com.
ABOUT EXCITE@HOME
Excite@Home is the leading broadband online service provider, offering residential and commercial broadband services, with a global footprint of 87 million homes under long-term cable and DSL contract. Excite@Home offers consumers broadband services over cable-modem, DSL and other "last-mile" connections and businesses high-speed commercial services. Excite@Home has approximately 13.5 million cable franchise homes under contract outside of North America and localized versions of the Excite service in 10 leading international markets.
* Actual speeds will vary. Factors that affect downstream data speed
include: overall network traffic; the computer's performance and
configuration; accessing non-cached or cached data; location and
configuration of the accessed server; performance characteristics of
each component of the data network; the number of users, and all users'
compliance with Excite@Home's Acceptable Use Policy, available at
http:/www.home.net/aup. Upstream data transfer speed is limited to
128 Kbps.
NOTE: Excite@Home, @Home, @Home 2000, and Excite are service marks or registered service marks of At Home Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbors created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to Excite@Home's ability to deliver video content and to deliver high-speed downloads and access. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the ability of Excite@Home to deliver video content and high speed downloads and access and upon network speed transfer rates, performance and traffic. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risk and uncertainties described in Excite@Home's filings with the SEC. Excite@Home assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release. |
