November 29, 2000 9:03am
ACTV inks Microsoft deal
By Tiffany Kary ZDII
zdii.com
ACTV, Inc. (Nasdaq: IATV) said Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) will integrate its patented, software-based technologies, products and services with the Microsoft TV platform. Chyron Corp. (NYSE: CHY) also announced a deal with the software giant's TV business.
ACTV's shares were up 8 percent, or 0.56 to 8 on Island ECN before market open Wednesday.
As part of the deal, Microsoft TV Basic Digital and Microsoft TV Advanced software will integrate ACTV's software into current generation and advanced set-top boxes. The companies will also collaborate on interactive digital TV (iTV) and enhanced media initiatives.
The companies said the integration of ACTV's technology with the Microsoft TV platform will bring enhanced TV services to consumers and new revenue streams for network operators and advertisers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Microsoft also announced Wednesday a deal to integrate Chyron's interactive television production and streaming media products and services with Microsoft's TV platform and Windows Media Technologies, which includes a 6 million minority equity investment in Chyron.
Shares in the company, whose products are widely used in the TV industry, closed down 0.13 to 1.81 Tuesday.
The agreement will enable Chyron's character generators and graphics systems, as well as new Chyron products, to be used for the production of interactive TV programming. The agreement also includes a plan for the co-marketing and promotion of jointly developed interactive TV products and services.
Microsoft and Chyron will also work together to help shape the design of new-generation TV software and services for the Microsoft .NET initiative.
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