Canal+ Technologies and Metabyte Networks Announce Strategic Alliance for Personalized Interactive Television.Entertainment Editors & High-Tech Writers FREMONT, Calif. & PARIS--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2001 Canal+ Technologies and Metabyte Networks Partner to Bring Advanced Personalization and Targeting Functionality To MEDIAHIGHWAY Interactive TV Middleware and Applications; Canal+ Technologies Leads Metabyte Networks' Latest Funding Round CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES, a leading international provider of interactive TV software solutions, today announced a strategic alliance with Metabyte Networks, a personal TV technology and services company, to integrate Metabyte's MbTV personalization technology with the MEDIAHIGHWAY middleware and PVR See DVR. platform. The MbTV technology enables targeting of interactive television applications while protecting viewers' privacy. As part of this alliance, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES led Metabyte Networks' latest funding round, which raised $10 million in total. This alliance will enable digital TV operators using MEDIAHIGHWAY to take PVR-based services and interactive applications to the next level by targeting individual households with differentiated offers, based on the profile residing within each set-top box The cable TV box that sits on "top" of the TV "set," although it is often located several feet away in an equipment rack. The set-top box descrambles the premium channels and provides a tuner for the higher cable numbers that very old TVs did not support. . Metabyte's MbTV personalization technology automatically builds a profile (MbTV Thumbprint (TM)) of a household's TV watching preferences. This profile then acts as a filter to recommend, deliver and store relevant content. It guarantees viewers' privacy since each profile, stored in the set-top-box, never has to leave the home. "Our investment and alliance with Metabyte Networks reflects our continued commitment to keep MEDIAHIGHWAY middleware and applications at the forefront of interactive TV innovation. The combination of PVR functionality with the vast choice of channels and services available to digital TV users will lead to creating unique value in providing the tools that can personalize this TV experience," said Michel Campioni, vice president of strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. and business development for Canal+ Technologies. "The ability to present viewers with content suggestions that match their tastes or with targeted promotions and ads will help drive additional revenue streams as well as increase subscriber loyalty." "With 10.5 million digital set-top boxes porting their software, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES is leading the way for development and deployment of interactive TV technologies and applications globally and we are proud to help build on this momentum with the MbTV personalization technology," said Manu Mehta, president and 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 Metabyte Networks, Inc. About CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES A subsidiary of the CANAL+ Group, the TV & Film division of Vivendi Universal, CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES is a leading international provider of interactive TV software solutions. Over 20 digital operators and broadcasters have already deployed its interactive TV middleware MEDIAHIGHWAY(TM) and the conditional access system A conditional access system (CAS) is a system by which electronic transmission of digital media, especially satellite television signals through cable, is limited to subscribed clients. This is called conditional access. MEDIAGUARD(TM), including CANALSATELLITE in France, ITV (1) See interactive TV. (2) (iTV) The code name for Apple's video media hub (see Apple TV). Digital in the United Kingdom, WINfirst in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Astro Measat and ZeeTV in Asia, to deliver true interactive applications that are changing the perception of what consumers can expect of TV. Its software runs in 10.5 million digital set-top boxes in digital cable, satellite and terrestrial environments. Sony, Thomson Multimedia, Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. and Sogecable are equity and strategic partners in CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES. For more information: http://www.canalplus-technologies.com About Metabyte Networks Metabyte Networks, Inc., is a personal TV technology and services company, developing personalization software, PVR technology and personal TV services that leverage the emerging capabilities of digital broadcast delivery systems. The company's mission is to harness new revenue streams for the broadcast industry by targeting the ever-expanding content choices of modern television. The MbTV suite of personal TV products and services integrates with the existing cable and satellite infrastructure and is fully portable to all leading interactive TV operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. and middleware. Investors in Metabyte Networks include THOMSON multimedia (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :TMS TMS Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (alternative medicine for depression) TMS Test Match Special (sports - cricket) TMS Texas Motor Speedway TMS Transportation Management System TMS Toyota Motor Sales ), a world leader in digital consumer electronics, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES, a leading international provider of interactive TV software solutions, Scientific Atlanta, a dominant force in worldwide set-top box deployments and Seagate, a leading manufacturer of hard disks. In addition, Metabyte Networks has alliances with, Nielsen Media Research, Starz Encore Group, and C-Cube (now part of LSI LSI: see integrated circuit. (Large Scale Integration) Between 3,000 and 100,000 transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, VLSI and ULSI. Logic, NYSE:LSI). For more information about Metabyte Networks, visit http://www.mbtv.com. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion