marvin, Lots of bad news lately. Hang on!
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Possibilities (sometime in the future) -
FutureTV and Mondex Launch T-Commerce Solution Smart Cards to Drive Purchases Over Interactive Television
FutureTV and MasterCard's smart card subsidiary MondexInternational Ltd, announced today at the Western Cable Show that it will launch a full service solution for marking financial transactions through interactive TV.
The alliance between FutureTV and Mondex allows for set-top boxes to be turned into a home ATM, letting viewers purchase products, conduct home banking, and load electronic cash to and from their smart card. It will integrate with operators' systems specifically for the purchase of video-on-demand movies and products sold through interactive advertising.
The Future TV-Mondex alliance also presents operators with a convenient Affinity Card program that allows for discounting and electronic couponing with local merchants and advertisers. For example, a viewer who purchases a video-on-demand movie with their cable operator-branded FutureTV-Mondex card, could get an instant discount when they purchase a DVD at their local electronics store, or when purchasing tickets to local entertainment and sporting events.
FutureTV-Mondex will offer cable operators a complete suite of back-end transactional capabilities that will allow: 3/4 Secure payments via the Internet on TV; 3/4 T-Banking via debit cards and smart cards; 3/4 Credit card purchases with MasterCard; 3/4 Merchant smart card system for electronic coupons; 3/4 Support for interactive advertising transactions; and 3/4 Instant e-cash payments for video-on-demand, music-on-demand and pay-per-view.
FutureTV and Mondex will interface with operators' interactive TV and video-on-demand systems, and then take the transactions to make the appropriate connections to the established banking and credit card systems.
Executives at both companies described how FutureTV -- Mondex will provide operators with a reliable system for increasing revenues and decreasing bad debt through instant transactions.
"This solution extends the range of revenue possibilities for operators by involving them in all forms of e-cash transactions and loyalty-card programs," said Chris Travers, CEO Americas for FutureTV. "It also completes the loop between viewer, merchant and financial institution, with the operator securely in the middle -- it takes television advertising and on-line purchasing to the next level."
Mondex's Dick Smith said the future of online purchasing over interactive TV is security and ease of use.
"Mondex International is the market-leading smart card technology company, and our Mondex e-cash product is a direct electronic equivalent of cash. It's simple to use, and gives compelling benefits to consumers and merchants transacting across different platforms, including digital television," said Smith.
"At the heart of the product is the Mondex software application, which is carried on a computer chip. This chip can reside in a variety of devices, including a wallet-size card, mobile phone, PC and set-top TV box," added Smith. "It's easy, convenient and secure. In fact, Mondex is the only commercial product of this kind to have achieved an ITSEC 6 security rating from CESG, a government agency."
About FutureTV:
FutureTV (www.futuretv.com) is a rapidly expanding global company that has developed hardware and software for the integrated delivery of high quality, on-demand video, audio, games, targeted advertising, e-commerce and high speed web access through the television. FutureTV interfaces seamlessly with ADSL or cable networks to deliver a range of new interactive facilities and applications. FutureTV Inc brings together companies across three continents. FutureTV Inc is privately owned and comprises: FutureTV Technologies Ltd, FutureTV Labs Ltd, FutureTV Systems Ltd, FutureTV (UK) Ltd, FutureTV (Hong Kong) Ltd, FutureTV (Northern Europe) Ltd, and e-media.com Ltd.
About Mondex International Ltd:
Mondex International Limited (MXI) is a world leader in the provision of a global, multi-channel, electronic payment system for the real and virtual worlds. Headquartered in London, the company is a subsidiary of MasterCard International. MXI technology is licensed in over 80 countries around the world. Mondex electronic cash is a cost-effective, secure, and immediate payment tool, which can be used across open networks such as telephony or the Internet. Mondex is ideal for high volume, low-value payments for arenas such as digital television, Internet payments, and closed-campus sites. MXI also provides Interactive Loyalty(TM), a sophisticated, highly secure and flexible solution for loyalty, voucher and couponing programmes to work within and across the physical and virtual worlds. In September 1999, Mondex(TM) and the MULTOS(TM) operating system became the first commercial products ever to be awarded ITSEC Level E6 (Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria), the highest ITSEC security rating level available. Further information regarding MXI, Mondex(TM) electronic cash and other MXI products is available at: www.mondex.com, www.mondexinternational.com or www.interactiveloyalty.com.
CONTACT: FutureTV Ltd.
Chris Travers, 203/226-7953
chris.travers@futuretv.com
or
Evins Communications Ltd., New York
Kurt Genden or Miguel Clarke, 212/688-8200
kurt.genden@evins.com
or
Mondex International
David Masters, +44 (0) 20 7557 5000
david.masters@mondex.com
or
Fishburn Hedges Public Relations
Catherine Spaul, +44 (0) 20 7839 4321
catherine.spaul@fishburn-hedges.co.uk
web.lexis-nexis.com
Rick |
