GigaMedia and Yahoo! to Launch First-of-Its-Kind Co-Branded Broadband Entertainment Site in Taiwan
First-Mover Advantage in Penetrating Growing Global Chinese-Speaking Broadband-Enabled Market
biz.yahoo.com
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- GigaMedia (Nasdaq: GIGM - news), a leading broadband Internet access service and content provider in Taiwan, and Yahoo! today announced the signing of a distribution and promotion agreement to jointly establish and develop co-branded broadband web site in Taiwan, featuring top-quality multimedia entertainment content specifically tailored for Chinese users. This co-branded site will primarily be available only to GigaMedia's access service subscribers.
The content of the co-branded site will consist largely of leading Chinese audio/video content aggregated by various Yahoo! offices in Asia region. It will also integrate applicable international content from the massive warehouse of Yahoo! Broadcast audio and video content and services. Yahoo! Broadcast currently offers programming from more than 500 radio stations and networks, 65 television stations and cable networks, full-length CDs, full- length audio books, classic movies, documentaries, and independent films. In the future Yahoo! Taiwan will also work with GigaMedia to provide Internet broadcasting services to corporate customers in Taiwan for business events such as live and archived press conferences, earnings conference calls, investor conferences, trade shows, stockholder meetings, training sessions, and distance learning.
``This cooperation with Yahoo! offers our subscribers more broadband content choices, which we expect to further drive up our subscriber growth. We are confident that embarking on this win-win format of cooperation, it will also diversify our revenue stream, enhance our appeal to prospective new corporate subscribers, and further strengthen our position as the leading Chinese-language broadband destination,'' said GigaMedia's Chief Executive Officer, Raymond Chang.
With the launch scheduled for the first half of 2001, the co-branded site will be an official GigaMedia channel through linkage to its leading Chinese broadband destination site, www.gigigaga.com, while also enjoying direct linkage from Yahoo! Chinese-language sites.
``Yahoo! has identified Taiwan's Internet market as an important launch-pad to the rest of Asia. We chose to team up with GigaMedia because of its advanced, state-of-the-art cable-modem based broadband infrastructure and access services. GigaMedia's infrastructure, which implements advanced video distribution, caching and replication technologies, enables our users to fully enjoy all the attractions offered by our exciting and highly interactive broadband content. We expect this relationship with GigaMedia will greatly facilitate our plan to pursue top line growth opportunities in the Asian broadband Internet market,'' said Yahoo! Managing Director, Asia, Savio Chow.
Under the Agreement, the co-branded site will generate both advertising and subscription revenues. In addition, Yahoo! will integrate GigaMedia's access and hosting services as part of its broadcasting services offered to corporate customers by the co-branded site. No further details on financial were disclosed.
GigaMedia's Chief Executive Officer, Raymond Chang, concluded by saying, ``With the convergence of Yahoo! and GigaMedia's broad range of multimedia content tailored to Chinese users, GigaMedia and Yahoo! will be able to leverage a strategic first- mover advantage to further penetrate the growing global Chinese-speaking broadband market and to partner up in exploring prospective business opportunities.''
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO - news) is a global Internet communications, commerce and media company that offers a comprehensive branded network of services to more than 156 million individuals each month worldwide. As the first online navigational guide to the Web, www.yahoo.com is the leading guide in terms of traffic, advertising, household and business user reach, and is one of the most recognized brands associated with the Internet. The company also provides online business services designed to enhance the Web presence of Yahoo!'s clients, including audio and video streaming, store hosting and management, and Web site tools and services. The company's global Web network includes 23 local World properties outside the United States. Yahoo! has offices in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Canada and the United States, and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.
Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
About GigaMedia
GigaMedia is the first and the leading provider of broadband Internet access services and content through its affiliated cable television network infrastructure in Taiwan. With 29 cable system partners, the company has access to more than 3.8 million Taiwan households, or 67% of total households, and 576,000 small- and medium-sized businesses. The company currently offers broadband Internet access at a speed of up to 100 times faster than traditional dial-up services. In addition to broadband access services, the Company also offers nine interactive Chinese-language multimedia web sites through its web destination gigigaga.com.
The company has a world-class scalable broadband Internet platform capable of meeting the increasing commerce, community, communication, and content needs of Taiwan Internet users. It currently has long-term exclusive IP service agreements with 22 cable system operators nationwide and non-exclusive agreements with 7. GigaMedia aims to be the leading broadband Internet content and access technology provider in the Asia Pacific Region. Key investors of GigaMedia include Microsoft, and the Koos Group, a leading Asian business conglomerate with significant operations in the telecom, media/cable, and financial sectors. More information on the company can be obtained from its web site at ir.giga.net.tw.
The statements included above and elsewhere in this press release that are not historical in nature are ``forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the ``safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. GigaMedia cautions readers that forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Information as to those factors that could cause actual results to vary can be found in GigaMedia's Registration Statement on Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2000.
SOURCE: GigaMedia and Yahoo! Inc. |
