TeleCruz Interactive TV Platform to be Featured in Panasonic Televisions; TeleCruz Platform Integrates EarthLink Internet Service for Panasonic.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2001

TeleCruz Technology Inc., the leading innovator of interactive television platforms, today announced with Matsushita Television and Network Systems Company of America (MTNC) plans to integrate the company's patented interactive television platform inside Panasonic televisions. Panasonic TVs that include the TeleCruz platform will feature Internet access from EarthLink (Nasdaq:ELNK), the nation's second largest Internet service provider (ISP), and are scheduled for introduction in the second half of 2001. Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company will exhibit a 32-inch diagonal TV featuring the TeleCruz platform at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, from January 6 through 9 at Panasonic booth number 2001.

"Televisions with the TeleCruz platform merge the rich content and familiarity television viewers are accustomed to, with the entertainment and information they look to the Internet to provide," said Kris Narayan, chairman of TeleCruz. "True interactivity brings broadcast and Internet content onto one screen. It is through vision of companies such as Panasonic and EarthLink that will rapidly bring broadcast and Internet content onto one screen, true interactivity, to the mass market."

The TeleCruz platform technology makes interactive television affordable, easy-to-use and accessible with a feature rich blending of broadcast and Internet content inside television sets. Through its wide assortment of alliances with companies such as such as OpenTV, AT&T, EarthLink, Yack.com and Spiderdance, TeleCruz is poised to drive the growth of the emerging interactive television industry and create a ready-made worldwide mass market for interactive television sets and related services.

"Developing televisions with TeleCruz's interactive platform inside brings Panasonic into the burgeoning interactive television arena," said David Naranjo, manager, Advanced Product Planning of MTNC. "This agreement gives Panasonic customers the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds, TV and the Internet, in one convenient package."

Panasonic TVs with the TeleCruz platform will include Transcast, a portal optimized for the television, which provides news updates, shopping, investment and entertainment information. EarthLink provides an easy connection to the Internet through a simple sign-up process with the click of a remote or wireless keyboard.

Panasonic televisions with the TeleCruz platform will also enable viewers to enjoy Internet and broadcast content on a single screen without the use of a set-top box. The TeleCruz platform integrated directly inside Panasonic televisions will enable interactive TV services such as e-mail, chat and Internet browsing.

The 32-inch Panasonic TV incorporating the TeleCruz platform that will be displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show will be available to consumers in August, at a suggested retail price of $849.

About TeleCruz Technology Inc.

Unique in the interactive television market space, TeleCruz Technology Inc. is the only company focused on integrating interactivity inside the television. The company provides both hardware and software platforms to top industry partners, including four leading television OEMs. TeleCruz's key technology patents embed cost-effective integrated circuits inside the television in an open platform capable of supporting the popular TV services at a cost suitable for mainstream televisions. Through an executive and development team with broad industry experience, TeleCruz has developed a feature rich, flexible and cost-effective platform based on the needs of television OEMs, Internet service providers (ISPs), application service providers (ASPs) and consumers. A privately held company, TeleCruz has raised over $69 million in investments from Gemstar International, Institutional Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, Fujigin Capital (Fuji Bank), Kavanaugh Media Funds, Oakmont Corporation and Sands Brothers. Visit TeleCruz on the World Wide Web at www.telecruz.com.

About Matsushita Electric and Panasonic

San Diego, CA-based Matsushita Television and Network Systems Company develops and manufactures a range of television products and set-top boxes that are marketed and sold in the U.S. by Secaucus, NJ-based Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company (PCEC) or are exported to other countries. In addition to television products, PCEC markets a wide range of Panasonic, Technics and Quasar brand consumer electronics products in the U.S. Both MTNC and PCEC are divisions of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd. (NYSE:MC), one of the world's leading producers of electronic and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use.

Consumers seeking more information on the company's products may contact Panasonic's Customer Call Center at 800-211-PANA or access Panasonic's home page, www.panasonic.com. Journalists interested in PCEC press releases can access them via the Panasonic Web site or through a toll-free fax-back system, 888-734-7490.