WavePhore Announces New Software and Gaming Services on Its WaveTop Data Broadcasting Network
PR Newswire - August 26, 1998 07:45
WaveTop Represents Major New Distribution Channel for Software and Game Providers Bypassing the Internet
PHOENIX, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Data broadcasting leader WavePhore, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAVO) today announced two new services -- WaveTop Offloads and WaveTop Games -- to be launched on the company's award-winning WaveTop data broadcasting network. The new services, which broadcast software and games onto the PCs of home and business users, creates an exciting new distribution channel that avoids the delays and frustrations often associated with the Internet.
WaveTop Offloads will be featured in TechTop, offering shareware, demos, utilities and applications for business, home and personal use. WaveTop Games will be a new service within the FunTop channel and will feature reviews and demos of the best games available on the Internet. These services will offer users the additional opportunity to provide feedback to WaveTop and will allow them direct influence of the content to be broadcast. Offloads will be available to all WaveTop users on August 31, 1998 and WaveTop Games is scheduled to launch in early September.
"Offloads will provide all the tools necessary for daily Internet life and more, without the frustration of searching for these products and waiting for downloads on the Internet," said Jim McNeill, Sr. Vice President - Production of WaveTop. "WaveTop Games will provide more exposure for game producers and WavePhore is currently talking with a number of additional game companies about distributing demos over the WaveTop network," McNeill further emphasized.
"These new services take full advantage of the WaveTop network," said David Deeds, Chairman, President and CEO of WavePhore, Inc. "The ability to avoid the Internet's World Wide Wait while gaining instant access to software programs and games represents a major advantage for end-users. It also represents an exciting new distribution channel for the industry."
WaveTop's unique free, advertising-supported broadcast service already provides a wide range of multi-media programming, including news, investment advice and information, children's programming, weather, consumer reports, and much more, all supplied by the Web's leading content providers. Distributed nationally via the unused portion of television signals from 264 PBS member stations around the country, WaveTop currently reaches the top 100 U.S. markets, representing over 85 percent of all U.S. households. It will reach more than 99 percent of U. S. households by year-end.
"The Internet is seen as a major new distribution and marketing opportunity by the software and gaming industries. Unfortunately, many potential customers are unwilling to search the 'net in order to experience these new products. WaveTop allows providers to bypass the Internet and distribute their products directly to potential customers -- both business users and consumers," Deeds said.
HOW WAVETOP WORKS
WaveTop's PC data broadcast service works by embedding data streams into the unseen portion of existing broadcast television signals using the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI). WaveTop has partnered with PBS National Datacast to broadcast data over the television signals of its 264 PBS member stations. Using a simple browser interface and a broadcast ready PC (a standard PC with a built-in TV tuner or equipped with an add-on TV tuner card), users will interact with automatically downloaded information, entertainment and software. Computers equipped with TV tuners and WaveTop software transparently receive, decode and cache content without the bottleneck of the Internet or tying up a telephone line.
ADVERTISER-SUPPORTED
WaveTop is supported by leading consumer-brand charter advertisers. They include companies such as Atlanta Bank, EMI Records, Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Kellogg Co., Lincoln-Mercury Inc., Mobil Corp., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Salomon Smith Barney Holdings and Spiegel Inc. WaveTop's ability to deliver high-bandwidth applications to the home without the download delays associated with modems allows advertisers to send more creative multimedia advertisements such as movie and video clips, games, software downloads and micro sites.
RICH CONTENT
WaveTop content providers are among the world's leading media companies, including Time Inc. New Media, which includes the online versions of People, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Money, Fortune and Sports Illustrated for Kids magazines and ZDNet News, online versions of ComputerLife, Family PC and Yahoo! Internet Life. Also providing content are USA Today, The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, CBS SportsLine, PBS ONLINE, Warner Bros. Online, Bloomberg LP, The Weather Channel, N2K's Music Boulevard, barnesandnoble.com, Universal Press Syndicate: Comics, Women's Wire and Prevention's Healthy Ideas, ParentTime, Supermarkets Online, Astrology.Net, Dummies Daily, UltimateTV and NECX. The media partners' content will create channels appealing to the whole family. WaveTop channels include NewsTop, the latest in news, sports, weather, and entertainment news; StockTop, regularly updated stock information and business news; KidsTop, fun, interactive educational content from brand-name, children-oriented programmers; TechTop, the latest technical news, downloads of free software, shareware and bug fixes; FamilyTop, the latest resource information for parents and working women; and FunTop, with the latest samples of games, music, comics and best-selling books.
ABOUT WAVEPHORE
WavePhore, Inc., (Nasdaq: WAVO) is the global leader in connecting people with compelling information in the office and at home. The corporation is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and composed of three business units: WavePhore Networks, WavePhore Newscast and WavePhore WaveTop. WavePhore Networks, the industry leader in data broadcasting provides flexible, high-speed data delivery for information publishers, to more than 90,000 sites worldwide. WavePhore Newscast, is the Web's premier business infosource for enterprise- wide use. WavePhore WaveTop is the first free, advertising-supported, nationwide data broadcast system to deliver multimedia content to broadcast ready PC's in the home. Additional information on WavePhore is available via the Internet at wavephore.com, wavetop.net, wavephore.net and newscast.com.
Certain of the above statements regarding WavePhore constitute forward-looking statements, which may involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, technology changes, competitive developments, industry and market acceptance of new products and services, risk factors listed from time to time in WavePhore's SEC filings.
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE WavePhore, Inc.
/CONTACT: Media: Bernadette Callahan of Neale-May & Partners,
650-328-5555, ext. 120, callahan@nealemay.com; or Investor Relations: Jennifer
Schreier of WavePhore Investor Relations, 602-952-5500, ext. 239,
jschreier@wavephore.com; or Content Providers: content@wavetop.net/
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/Web site: wavetop.net
/Web site: wavephore.net
/Web site: newscast.com
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