Media Station Completes $15.2 Million Global Investment Round.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers ANN ARBOR Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2000 Investment Accelerates Broadband Growth Worldwide - Confirms Media Station's Lead Role In Market Media Station, Inc., the leader in interactive technology and content aggregation for broadband on-demand multimedia, announced today that Japan's leading telecommunications company See telecom company. and the world's leading manufacturer of cable modems were among seven global companies to have participated in a $15.2 million round of private equity financing Equity Financing The act of raising money for company activities by selling common or preferred stock to individual or institutional investors. In return for the money paid, shareholders receive ownership interests in the corporation. . NTT NTT Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation NTT New Technology Telescope NTT National Technology Transfer, Inc NTT Name That Tune (TV game show) NTT National Tree Trust NTT Number Theoretic Transform Communications, Japan's leading e-commerce platform provider, and Motorola (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : MOT), two of the most prominent players in today's international communications market, were joined in Media Station's first international strategic investment round by Broadwing (NYSE: BRW BRW Business Review Weekly (business magazine; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) BRW Business Report Writer BRW Barrow, AK, USA - Barrow (Airport Code) BRW Business Requirement Worksheet ), a premier next-generation communications provider; and Exelon Capital Partners, a subsidiary of PECO PECO Países da Europa Central e Oriental (Portugal) PECO Philadelphia Electric Company PECO Public Education Capital Outlay PECO Pelagic Cormorant (phalacrocorax pelagicus) Energy (NYSE: PE). In addition to NTT Communications, two other important Japanese firms, Toppan Printing and Global Technologies, participated in the investment round. Media Station also received equity financing from the investment banking firm of Jeffries & Company. Funds will be used to expand Media Station's edge network, and to support the company's consumer marketing efforts. "The investment community is recognizing that one of the hottest segments in the Internet commerce area is the availability of rich, interactive entertainment and educational content," said Van Baker, Vice President, e-Commerce for The Gartner Group (company) Gartner Group - One of the biggest IT industry research firms. Address: Connecticut, USA. . "On-demand broadband multimedia could be the next big opportunity for the entertainment industry." "Media Station has attracted global attention - from an investment, technology and distribution standpoint - by committing itself to the highest quality product," said Jim Maslyn 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 Media Station. "We deliver current and best selling titles, not market also-rans. We are unequalled in our ability to be first to the market with a title; and we can provide titles that no other service can offer, because of our Media Remote(SM) and bandwidth-management technologies." "While broadband multimedia on-demand 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. has a lead in the global market place, Japan as well as other Asian countries are gaining momentum in that area," said Mr. Amiya, Senior Vice President, NTT Communications. "We expect that Media Station's tremendous head start in the critical areas of technology for broadband management and multimedia content aggregation will make SelectPlay a global force in one of the next great revolutions in the home entertainment industry." SelectPlay offers cable and broadband partners the ability to create new revenue sources through the distribution of the industry's most extensive line of multimedia providers. SelectPlay has forged content relationships with Disney Interactive, Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive was a video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company. Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 in order to compete in the computer and video game arena. , Havas Interactive's Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, is an American computer game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine, California. History Blizzard Entertainment was founded by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse , Knowledge Adventure and Sierra; Activision, GT Interactive, Humongous Entertainment, Interplay and Launch.com. The company's patent pending bandwidth manager Software that can prioritize communications by allowing high-priority traffic to use more available bandwidth in the network than lower-priority data. For example, real time video can be given more bandwidth than file transfers. ensures that anyone with a broadband connection See broadband and wireless broadband. can have immediate 24/7 access to the latest CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). games, sports, leisure, music and educational titles. "Broadwing's investment, like our selection of SelectPlay as the exclusive broadband multimedia on-demand service for our ZoomTown.com subsidiary, is a result of the attractiveness of Media Station's business philosophy," said Mike O'Brien, president of ZoomTown.com. "We are attracted to the number of hit titles that SelectPlay offers, as well as SelectPlay's technology allowing a subscriber to play the latest and best games." "The products that will succeed in today's home entertainment marketplace ultimately must be easy to use, and provide an enjoyable experience for consumers," said Dick Smith, Corporate Vice President & Director of Business Development for Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector. "Our investment recognizes that Media Station's Media Remote(TM) and bandwidth management Controlling the traffic flow in a network. See bandwidth manager. technologies have enabled broadband subscribers to replicate the ease and quality of the CD-ROM experience." SelectPlay's base technology, the Media Remote(SM) system, is the only technology that enables real-time play of top-selling titles at speeds as low as 256 Kbs, as well as playing the most multimedia intensive titles in the marketplace under typical broadband network conditions. Media Station's SelectPlay distribution partners include Broadwing, AT&T, Comcast, Sprint, Time Warner Cable This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , Qwest/U S WEST and many other high-speed carrier partners. About NTT Communications NTT Communications, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (日本電信電話株式会社 Corporation, provides long distance and international telecommunications reaching over 200 countries worldwide. Headquartered in Tokyo, NTT Communications' Arcstar services operate in about 50 countries and have significant presence in Asia Pacific, North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and Europe. Arcstar global services provide managed data, multimedia and Internet services to some of the largest companies in the world. NTT Communications' investment in its Managed Services An umbrella term for third-party monitoring and maintaining of computers, networks and software. The actual equipment may be inhouse or at the third-party's facilities, but the "managed" implies an ongoing effort; for example, making sure the equipment is running at a certain quality , IP Infrastructure and Internet Portal will meet the growing demand for electronic commerce-based services from its business customers and home users. NTT Communications, with the OCN OCN Open College Network OCN Oceanography OCN Open Computer Network OCN Operating Company Number (NANPA) OCN Oncology Certified Nurse OCN Of Course Not OCN Orange County News Channel OCN Optical Carrier Level N brand, is already one of the largest ISPs in Japan. For more information about NTT Communications, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ntt.com/index-e.html About Motorola, Inc. Motorola, Inc. is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 1999 were $33.1 billion. For more information, visit Motorola on the Web at www.motorola.com. About Broadwing, Inc. Broadwing Inc. (NYSE: BRW) combines unparalleled customer service with the industry's most advanced and flexible 18,000 mile next-generation fiber optic network and award-winning IP backbone, to create data and Internet solutions that are innovative, reliable, and provide businesses a competitive advantage. Broadwing will be the first provider with a fully-deployed optical network and sets the standard for customer accountability with the industry's only Installation Guarantee. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio “Cincinnati” redirects here. For other uses, see Cincinnati (disambiguation). Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. and Austin, Texas with 6,000 employees in 52 sales and service offices across the country, Broadwing can be found on the Web at www.broadwing.com.Media Station's SelectPlay(R) service is the exclusive interactive on-demand multimedia product available on Broadwing's ZoomTown.com high-speed Internet subsidiary. About Toppan Printing Co., Ltd Since its founding in 1900, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. has played key roles of worldwide leadership in printing industry, generating global awards and US$10 billion in revenues. Today, the Company's operation extends beyond conventional courses of printing, but shows strong performance in each field, including securities and cards, commercial printing, publications printing, packaging, industrial materials, electronics, business forms, and multimedia. Toppan's shift to IT industry is well defined by our business models like online map solutions of "Mapion" and Japanese dominant content aggregation service, "Bitway." For more detailed information, please visit our website, http://www.toppan.co.jp/english/index.html About Exelon Capital Partners Exelon Capital Partners is a division of Exelon, a PECO Energy Company enterprise. With headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, PECO Energy is one of the largest electric and gas utilities in the United States. PECO Energy's annual revenues exceed $5 billion. PECO Energy established Exelon to manage all of its unregulated businesses apart from wholesale power generation and marketing. Exelon's core businesses include unregulated retail energy sales, energy services, utility infrastructure services, and communications. Exelon Capital Partners was established to leverage these core businesses and the company's other resources through investment in new businesses. About Jefferies & Company, Inc. Jefferies & Company, Inc. is an institutional brokerage firm focused on trading in equity, high yield, convertible and international securities, as well as research for institutional investors, and an investment bank providing capital raising, merger, acquisition, and restructuring services for middle market companies. Jefferies is also a leader in equity trading for institutional investors, as recognized by numerous consulting and survey organizations. Further information about Jefferies, including a description of trading, research and investment banking services, can be found at Jefferies' Web site, www.jefco.com. About Media Station, Inc. Media Station, Inc., a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. with offices located in Ann Arbor, MI, and San Francisco, CA, is a leader in delivering interactive technologies and services to the PC, enabling the user to remotely play multimedia titles installed on a server residing at the broadband service provider An ISP, telephone company, cable company or other carrier that offers high-speed communications to homes and businesses, typically for Internet access. Cable modems, DSL and T1 lines are the common technologies. See broadband, cable modem, DSL and T1. . The company's established success has been based on its underlying proprietary technology innovation and its creative development studio, which over the last seven years has developed more than 100 titles that have sold over 6 million units worldwide in over 14 languages. Media Station's stable and scaleable technology established one of the lowest call rates for customer support in the industry. The company has also received numerous industry awards, including the prestigious award for Excellence in Product Development. The company's mission is to lead the delivery of interactive media over broadband networks. For more product or corporate information visit www.mediastation.com or www.SelectPlay.com, or contact Allan McLennan, SVP/Chief Marketing Officer at 415-391-9913 or Jim Maslyn, CEO directly at 734.971.1112 for investment comment. Media Station and MediaRemote are registered trademarks of Media Station, Inc. SelectPlay, and Interactive Media On-Demand are service marks of Media Station, Inc. All other product and company names may be trademarks of their respective companies. |
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