Hey Pat and Thread...FYI
Two Way TV and TWIN Entertainment Are the First Certified Partners In Liberate's
PopTV Program To Bring Live, Competitive Interactive Television To WorldWide
Digital Markets
NEW ORLEANS, May 8, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- UK-based Two Way TV and its
new North American joint venture counterpart, TWIN Entertainment, announced that
today the companies have become the first certified partners in the Liberate
PopTV(TM) program. Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT) is a leading provider of
software for the delivery of interactive TV services.
The PopTV program enables Two Way TV to deploy its interactive service to
digital networks throughout the world that use the Liberate TV platform(TM)
software. As the next step in their long-standing relationship, the
collaboration offers Two Way TV the opportunity to market its interactive
service to all Liberate customers.
Liberate and Two Way TV have also extended their existing relationship, which
now includes shared financial and marketing benefits. The companies also plan to
extend their work on embedding Two Way TV's real-time game-playing technologies
within the Liberate TV Navigator(TM) client software platform. Once completed,
this joint technology will offer subscribers fully enhanced and interactive
television.
David Limp, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Liberate Technologies
states, "The fact that Liberate has been adopted by two of the leading cable
operators in the UK makes working closely with Two Way TV a top priority for us.
Two Way TV's successful roll-out in the UK, utilizing the Liberate software
platform, indicates a clear appetite for the games they produce. I have no doubt
that TWIN Entertainment will have the same success in the US."
The partnership comes on the heels of another major development for Two Way TV,
which recently announced a joint venture with Interactive Network to form TWIN
Entertainment. The new company, headed by president Robert Regan, aims to
provide interactive television throughout the United Sates and Canada. States
Regan, "As the longstanding partnership between Two Way TV and Liberate
continues to foster such technical breakthroughs in interactive entertainment,
we'll be able to apply those advances to our own service in North America."
Richard Kydd, Joint Head of Technology at Two Way TV comments, "In providing a
complete open platform for enhanced TV, Liberate's PopTV enables Two Way TV to
design enhanced TV programming. Delivered under a common specification, this
will accelerate the growth and distribution of our enhanced TV programs into
markets around the world."
The implementation of Two Way TV's real-time game-playing technologies within
the Liberate platform will follow ATVEF (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum)
standards as they are implemented on both digital and analogue networks.
Two Way TV's initial slate of interactive games has been deployed in 110,000
Cable & Wireless Communications homes in the Manchester region. Cable and
Wireless has more digital homes deployed than any other cable company in the UK.
Simon Cornwell, Managing Director at Two Way TV adds, "The fact that we are the
first to receive PopTV certification reinforces our close relationship with
Liberate. Two Way TV and TWIN Entertainment are committed to working with all
major software platforms for interactive television to deliver a wide range of
real-time interactive services, including the ability to play along with popular
TV shows. This deal will accelerate the process of making these services to
interactive TV viewers around the world."
Liberate, Two Way TV and TWIN will be providing live demonstrations of their
interactive games at NCTA's Cable 2000 in New Orleans at Liberate's Booth #4127.
TWIN Entertainment's interactive television service will also be on display at
their own Booth, #1153 in Hall A. Presentations will begin Monday, May 8th and
continue through Wednesday, May 10th.
About Two Way TV -- www.twowaytv.com
Formed in 1992, Two Way TV's unique brand of live, competitive interactive
television is among the first wave of interactive services available on digital
cable. Viewers enjoy a wide range of play-as-you-watch enhanced TV games
synchronized with broadcast TV -- plus a whole host of other competitive
activities on-demand.
Two Way TV has carriage in the UK on the CWC digital network and will roll out
on Telewest digital this summer. Worldwide, Two Way TV has formed a joint
venture called TWIN Entertainment with Interactive Network Inc. (OTC Bulletin
Board: INNN) to deliver its live, interactive games in the US and Canada and
with Australian partner ITVA in Australia and New Zealand.
Two Way TV's system architecture can be operated across any platform, making
digital cable, satellite and terrestrial platforms viable targets for
distribution to countries throughout the world. Two Way TV is backed up by Cable
& Wireless Communications, The Hilton Group and American venture capital fund
Vencom.
About Liberate Technologies -- www.liberate.com
Liberate Technologies is a leading provider of a complete software platform for
delivering Internet-enhanced content and applications to information appliances,
such as television set-top boxes and game consoles. Liberate's Internet-based
client and server software allows network operators, such as telecommunications
companies, cable and satellite television operators and Internet service
providers to provide consumers access to network operator-branded applications
and services. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, the company has sales
offices in the US, Canada and the UK.
Early investors in Liberate include: Acer, America Online, Comcast, Cox
Communications, General Instrument, Hambrecht & Quist, Lucent Technologies,
MediaOne, Netscape, Nintendo, Oracle, Rogers Communications, Sega, Shaw
Communications, Sony, and Sun Microsystems.
Liberate, the Liberate logo, Liberate TV Platform and Liberate TV Navigator are
trademarks of Liberate Technologies. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
About TWIN Entertainment -- www.twinentertainment.com
TWIN Entertainment is a joint venture between Interactive Network, Inc. and Two
Way TV to bring live competitive interactive TV games to the US and Canadian
markets. The joint venture will exploit Interactive Network's significant patent
portfolio and Two Way TV's leading edge content, productions systems, operating
platform and patents for digital interactive services. TWIN Entertainment is
presently building its management team while actively pursuing partnerships to
produce live interactive TV entertainment for distribution on digital satellite,
cable, and broadband Internet platforms.
SOURCE Liberate Technologies
(C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
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CONTACT: Christine Fisk of Noiseworks, +44 (0)1628 628080 or
christinef@noiseworks.com, for Two Way TV; or Heidi Bruckland of Two Way TV,
+44 (0)208 7422422 or hbruckland@twowaytv.com; or Robert Regan or TWIN
Entertainment, 323-857-1144 or rregan@twinentertainment.com; or Tom Neumayr of
Liberate, 650-701-4065 or tneumayr@liberate.com
KEYWORD: California
England
Louisiana
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CPR
ENT
SUBJECT CODE: LIC
TDS
URL: liberate.com |
