Another Diva PR, for those interested.
SOURCE MEDIA'S INTERACTIVE CHANNEL AND DIVA TEAM TO LAUNCH MULTIPLE SERVICES WITH GI DIGITAL SET-TOP BOX
Insight Communications Becomes First Cable Operator To Launch Multiple Interactive Digital Services
CHICAGO, IL (June 14, 1999) – Insight Communications will be the first MSO to launch multiple integrated real-time applications. This will be achieved via General Instrument's DCT 2000 interactive set-top terminal. Source Media's (NASDAQ:SRCM) VirtualModemTM software will give Insight Communications customers in Rockford, IL an interactive programming guide with the ability to easily navigate to such destinations as Source Media's LocalSourceTM suite of interactive services and DIVATM's video-on-demand offerings. This announcement was made at the National Cable Television Association convention being held here, and the integrated applications will be showcased throughout the show at both Source Media/Interactive Channel (booth #4322) and DIVA (booth #1165).
Through Source Media's VirtualModemTM middleware, Insight subscribers will receive choice, convenience and control in navigating through the wide range of multiple digital services now available to them, including LocalSource'sTM DailySource, LocalGuide, QuickSource and My Neighborhood, and hundreds of movies and other programming available from DIVA via its on demand navigator. SourceGuideTM has been designed as an intuitive, easy-to-use, engaging and entertaining navigator, allowing Insight customers to get results with a push of a button on their remotes.
"In addition to fulfilling cable's promise of delivering interactivity over the broadband pipe, operators can really build a competitive advantage by offering a bundle of multiple interactive services like this," noted Tom Oliver, president of Source Media's Interactive Channel. Mr. Oliver pointed to research from the Digital Applications Consortium, which found that the addition of a bundle of services to an operator's digital package increases the package's consumer appeal seven-fold.
"The integration of DIVA's video-on-demand with our interactive television services is extremely significant, not only for the Interactive Channel and DIVA, but also for Insight Communications and other digital cable operators," added Mr. Oliver. "The commercial deployment in Rockford confirms the versatility of our VirtualModemTM software, and provides us with the impetus to expand our digital portal strategy pursue and additional licensing agreements to enable interfaces on the VirtualModem platform across the country."
"Insight's launch of digital television is highly appealing to our customers, as we are able to provide a bundle of quality interactive services via the LocalSourceTM suite of interactive capabilities," said Michael Willner, president and CEO of Insight Communications. "The combination of DIVA's On Demand TV service and Interactive Channel's SourceGuideTM and LocalSourceTM television are key elements in growing our digital business."
"Since our first commercial deployment of the DIVA service in cable systems more than 18 months ago, we have found that video-on-demand is more compelling than we ever thought," said David Zucker, president and CEO of DIVA. "Now, as a result of the outstanding work on the part of the system integration teams from General Instrument, Source Media's Interactive Channel, and DIVA, Insight will be able to provide its customers with the most comprehensive package of interactive services ever incorporated in a digital tier. The convenience and control of having hundreds of movies and other programming available on-demand from DIVA, coupled with Interactive Channel's Local Source suite of interactive services, all integrated on GI's digital platform will be a very powerful package."
"We're excited that Source Media and DIVA have integrated their applications in the DCT 2000," said Denton Kanouff, Vice-President of Marketing for GI's Digital Network Systems Business unit. "With our digital interactive platform now passing 37 million homes, the opportunity to deploy multiple interactive applications gives cable operators an exciting new revenue opportunity and consumers a valuable package of services through their familiar TV."
The Interactive Channel's LocalSourceTM suite of interactive services include a broad spectrum of localized news and content sourced from the Internet, directory and guide services, local e-commerce and targeted advertising capabilities. The main LocalSourceTM features are Daily Source, providing on-demand news, weather, sports and more, with links to related Web sites and sponsors; LocalGuide, interactive listings of local cinema, dining, events and more, with related Web sites; QuickSource, providing information in such consumer categories as health, legal and home improvement; and CableSuperSites, consisting of nationally branded content placed throughout the LocalSource programming.
With rights to more than 3,000 new release and library titles from major studios, producers and distributors, DIVA's On Demand TV — an enhanced form of interactive video-on-demand — offers immediate, in-home access to a diverse and continuously updated selection of movies, children's shows and special interest programming. DIVA's On Demand TV also features pause, fast-forward and rewind functionality and high quality digital picture and sound.
The DIVA Video Server (DVS) is fully scalable and enables cable operators to expand their mix of programming with more than 1,000 titles to serve thousands of customers simultaneously. DIVA provides real-time, transactional billing interfaces with major billing companies, maintains video-asset tracking systems and manages a network operations center on a 24-hour, 7-day per week basis to support its cable affiliates.
DIVA Systems Corporation (www.divatv.com) is a privately held company founded in June 1995 and is headquartered in the heart of California's "Silicon Valley" on the campus of SRI International (formerly the Stanford Research Institute), in Menlo Park. DIVA commercially launched its digital On Demand TV solution in cable television systems in the Fall of 1997 and is now deployed in five cable systems in the U.S.
Insight Communications, one of the fastest-growing cable companies, is a closely held partnership that will own or operate cable systems serving 525,000 subscribers when all of its previously announced transactions close. The company began 1997 with 170,000 subscribers when it launched a two-tiered strategy to focus its operations on large clusters like the Indiana group and on market-dominant cable systems in second-and third-tier television markets. As a result of the latter strategy, Insight closed its purchase of the 66,000-subscriber Rockford, Ill., cable system from Cablevision Systems in January. In addition to his membership on the Board of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), Michael S. Willner, Insight Communications' president and CEO also serves on the Source Media Board of Directors.
Source Media is a leader in the development and introduction of localized new media content, advertising and technology. Source Media's IT Network provides new media content and advertising services via newspapers and Yellow Pages directories to over 100 million households and businesses nationwide. The Interactive Channel is an interactive cable TV programming service designed for today's digital cable TV programming tiers. The VirtualModem division develops and markets the intellectual property, software, and patents behind the company's interactive cable TV technology, which includes Internet on TV. In February of 1999, Source Media and United Video Satellite Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UVSGA) entered into an agreement in principle with certain binding provisions to form a joint venture to focus on the development of local content and interactive services for the cable television and satellite marketplace.
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