Bertelsman/BMG/Sonopress using Macrovision copy protection for European DVDs................
Macrovision Corporation Signs Copy Protection Contract with BMG Entertainment StorageMedia
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 1998--Macrovision UK Limited, a subsidiary of Macrovision Corporation of Sunnyvale, California (NASDAQ:MVSN) announced today that BMG Entertainment StorageMedia has signed an agreement to provide Macrovision copy protection technology via BMG's DVD Authoring and Replication facilities worldwide.
The agreement means that content owners working with BMG will be able to protect their DVDs from unauthorized copying to VCRs. This capability is particularly important with a high quality format such as DVD, because VHS copies of unprotected DVD material can be comparable in quality to commercially available prerecorded videocassettes.
Dr. Uwe Swientek, CEO, BMG Entertainment commented, "In March 1997 our company, Sonopress, produced the first PAL/MPEG - Audio DVD made in Europe. Today they are able to produce every DVD format for NTSC/PAL. In addition we are commencing DVD production at Sonopress Inc. Weaverville USA during 1998. To provide a comprehensive service we felt it important to offer Macrovision copy protection to our customers."
David Simmons, Managing Director (Europe), Macrovision UK Limited added, "BMG's Sonopress division is a major player in CD manufacturing and is now set to take a leading role in developing DVD through its authoring and replicating facilities. The risk of copying DVD programs is great and very real. There are 400 million homes with VCRs so the potential for copying already exists. We are absolutely delighted to be working with BMG/Sonopress in the fight against unauthorised copying of DVDs."
To copy protect a DVD title, authoring facilities activate certain copy protection control bits during the authoring process. When a copy protected disc is played back on DVD players, copy protection signals are added to the players' analogue output. These signals do not affect viewing of the original DVD programme; however attempts to record the DVD program on most VCR's will result in a severely degraded copy.
Macrovision's copy protection technology is included in DVD players as part of an integrated circuit which converts the digital video from the disc to the analogue signal required by standard TV sets. Macrovision has licensed 37 companies worldwide to incorporate its copy protection technology in their digital-to-analog semiconductor chips, including Analog Devices, Crystal Semiconductor, GEC Plessey, IBM, Mitsubishi Electric, and SGS Thomson. All major DVD player manufacturers are including these integrated circuits in their DVD players. More than 70 DVD player manufacturers and PC companies, including Compaq, IBM, Intel, LG Electronics, Pioneer, Samsung, Thomson Consumer Electronics (makers of RCA, ProScan and GE players) and Toshiba have agreed to include Macrovision-capable ICs in 100% of their DVD players.
Macrovision Corporation is best known for the videocassette version of its copy protection technology used by most major Hollywood studios. In the U.S., over 1500 corporate, educational, and special interest content owners apply the videocassette anticopy process to their programs. Since its first commercial use in 1985, over 1.8 billion videocassettes have been encoded with Macrovision copy protection worldwide. About BMG/Sonopress
Bertelsman AG is one of the largest media companies in the world. BMG Entertainment is one of its product lines. Its business' interests include books, magazines, music, newspapers TV, Online - services and printing and distribution. BMG Entertainment StorageMedia is that part of BMG which manufactures optical discs in their Sonopress facilities.
Sonopress was founded in 1957 in Gutersloh/Germany to manufacture vinyl records. They started manufacturing Laserdiscs in 1982 and in 1985 added CDs. They are the second largest CD replicator in the world having 4 facilities in the USA, 3 in Europe, 1 in Asia and 1 in Africa. About Macrovision
Macrovision Corporation develops and markets technologies which protect the interests of content providers who distribute video and audio programming. The company offers products and services for the home video, pay-per-view, cable, satellite, theatrical and corporate communications markets. Macrovision has subsidiaries in London and Tokyo, with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.
All statements contained herein, as well as oral statements that may be made by the Company or by officers, directors or employees of the Company acting on the Company's behalf, that are not statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties are outlined in the Company's Registration statement on Form SB2 and in our reports on form 10QSB. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release. -0- Note to Editors: Additional background information on Macrovision Corporation and its copy protection technologies is available through our web site at www.macrovision.com .
CONTACT:
Macrovision UK Ltd.
David Simmons, +44 1895 251602
www.macrovision.com
or
BMG Entertainment
Dr. Uwe Swientek, +49 5241 800000 |
