GIST and CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES present Germany's most popular TV magazine on new MEDIAHIGHWAY MHP-middleware.

Business/Technology Editors

IBC 2002

Hall 1 Booth 451

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2002

-- Leading German publishing house Axel Springer and EPG experts showcase at CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES IBC stand

-- TV Program listings, editorial picks and Picture-In guides via remote control

-- New development kit enables seamless integration on MEDIAHIGHWAY MHP-compliant middleware

Germany's most popular TV magazine goes interactive: This year at IBC, CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES and EPG experts from GIST Communications, present the first iTV-version of "HORZU"-magazine, based on the MEDIAHIGHWAY MHP-compliant middleware. This application features TV program listings, TV picks and editorial articles which viewers can access while watching a TV channel. Also offered is Channel Tuning, which lets the viewers tune into any current program directly from the application. With GIST TV Trivia, viewers get more fun and entertainment than ever as they participate in quizzes about their favourite shows. Boasting more than 5 million readers, HORZU is a household name for German TV viewers who turn to it weekly to look up TV programmes.

As part of CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES' new Developers' Program, MEDIAHIGHWAY Community, GIST has integrated its EPG application on the MEDIAHIGHWAY middleware efficiently and seamlessly. All editorial data is directly delivered from the Axel Springer publishing house in Hamburg. GIST's product line also includes a Video-on-Demand Guide offering a movie catalogue, movie synopsis, categorisation, selection and purchasing functions.

Herve Creff, Director, Product Marketing of Interactive Applications at CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES, comments, "We are happy to present Germany's leading TV magazine for the first time ever as a fully DVB MHP-compliant application. Our cooperation with the Axel Springer publishing house and EPG experts, GIST, heralds the coming of the DVB-MHP standard in Germany. Our middleware, authoring tools and conditional access system will bring a comprehensive and complete offering to German TV operators."

Ned Wiley, GIST Vice President Sales and Marketing says, "No other interactive application is as close to the viewer as the program -- and video-on-demand guide -- all the more when linked to the brand and editorial expertise of a popular TV magazine. We are very happy to have one of the world's leading middleware providers demonstrate our EPG concept."

Stephan Zech, publishing manager for TV magazines at Axel Springer in Hamburg adds, "As publisher of Germany's most successful TV magazines, we have covered the technological development of television from its very beginning. At IBC we are proving our dedication to customers, and our focus on value-added iTV services. This is why we believe in the breakthrough for the MHP standard, which we also demonstrate through our co-operation with CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES and GIST."

Note: Screenshots available on request.

ABOUT CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES

CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES is a leading international provider of interactive TV software solutions offering a range of flexible open standard solutions to broadcasters and digital operators around the world. CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES powers more than 14 million set-top boxes which are deployed on every continent on cable, satellite and digital terrestrial networks. Over 30 digital operators and broadcasters have already deployed its interactive TV middleware MEDIAHIGHWAY and the conditional access system MEDIAGUARD, including CANALSATELLITE in France, SUREWEST (formerly WINfirst) in the United States, Astro Measat and ZeeTV in Asia, to deliver true interactive applications to subscribers via interactive applications. CANAL+Group, Sun Microsystems, Sony, Thomson multimedia and Sogecable are equity and strategic partners in CANAL+TECHNOLOGIES.

For more information: http://www.canalplus-technologies.com

About GIST Communications

Gist is the leading independent developer of electronic programming guides (EPGs) and related applications. Gist licenses and deploys its personalisable and customisable applications for use on multiple iTV platforms and distribution channels around the world. The company's product portfolio includes various types of EPGs, the on-screen television magazine known as TVMag and guides for video on-demand (VOD) systems. TVMag will be deployed with the Digeo Basic iTV service in 2002. Gist was founded in 1996 to serve television viewers with personalisable guides to home entertainment. It was the first company to create personalisable interactive TV listings, to deploy online listings for every cable system in the United States and to deliver custom listings over the web into a TV set-top box. Gist has offices in New York City and Berlin. Its corporate web site is located at http://www.gist.com/us/index.html