Broadcast, Broadband and Internet Leaders Invest in OpenTV.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 1999--America Online, General Instrument, Liberty Digital, News Corporation and Time Warner Join Sun Microsystems and MIH MIH Make It Happen (band) MIH Master of International Health (University of Copenhagen) MIH Molar-Incisor-Hypomineralisation MIH Men in Hats (online comic) Limited As Investors In Interactive Television Software Leader; Sun Microsystems to Increase Its Investment OpenTV, the worldwide leader in digital interactive television software, today announced investment in the company by six leading broadcast, broadband and Internet companies. The backing of this consortium will open doors for OpenTV to penetrate the U.S. market, and expand the range of interactive applications available for its platform around the world. Five of the six companies are new strategic investors and partners in OpenTV, including America Online, General Instrument Corporation, Liberty Digital, News Corporation and Time Warner. Sun Microsystems, who was a founding shareholder in OpenTV in 1994, has increased its shareholding as part of this deal. The investment group of six companies, coordinated by Liberty Digital, has purchased $31.25 million of Convertible Preferred Equity. MIH Limited remains the majority shareholder in OpenTV. "We have proven our capability to host interactive television applications and generate revenues throughout Europe and other parts of the world," said Jan Steenkamp, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of OpenTV. "Now we are joining with these industry leaders to enhance our worldwide position and bring digital interactive television to the U.S." OpenTV will use the proceeds from these investments to fund the development of its growing applications business, which will help networks provide enhanced programming, personal communications services See PCS. , "t-commerce" (e-commerce on TV), interactive advertising, and more. In addition, OpenTV will continue the development of its set-top box software business and expand its worldwide sales and marketing efforts. About OpenTV OpenTV is the worldwide leader in interactive television software for the digital set-top box providing a complete end-to-end solution for the development and delivery of interactive services via digital satellite, cable, and terrestrial broadcast. OpenTV set-top box software has been shipped with, or installed in, more than 4.3 million digital set-top boxes worldwide. To date, OpenTV software solutions have been deployed by 13 television networks worldwide, including British Sky Broadcasting British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB — formerly two companies, Sky Television and BSB) is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. (BSkyB) in the United Kingdom and TPS (1) (Transactions Per Second) The number of transactions processed within one second. TPS is a better rating for the performance of hardware and software than the common MHz and GHz rating of the computer. in France. EchoStar's DISH Network(TM) is scheduled to launch interactive services utilizing OpenTV software in the U.S. early next year. OpenTV is a registered trademark of OpenTV, Inc. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The OpenTV set-top box software is licensed to more than 20 digital set-top box manufacturers, and OpenTV's authoring tools are licensed to more than 100 independent developers and content and service providers. OpenTV is a member of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project, CableLabs OpenCable initiative, ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) An international digital television (DTV) standard adopted by the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Argentina. DASE DASE - Distributed Application Support Environment , and JavaTV. OpenTV is a licensee of Personal Java(TM) from Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) ). OpenTV is now supported by investments from seven leading Internet and broadcast companies including America Online (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AOL), General Instrument (NYSE:GIC GIC See: Guaranteed Investment Contract GIC See guaranteed investment contract (GIC). ), Liberty Digital (Nasdaq:LDIG), News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) and Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) in addition to Sun Microsystems and MIH Limited (Nasdaq:MIHL MIHL Midland Inline Hockey League (Midland, Michigan) MIHL Mullet Invitational Hockey League ). Worldwide headquarters for OpenTV is located in Mountain View, with European operations in Paris, France and offices in Seoul, South Korea and Beijing, China. Information on OpenTV is available at www.opentv.com. Note to Editors: OpenTV is a registered trademark of OpenTV, Inc. All rights reserved. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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