| 19th May 2005 - The current hits by the biggest stars
in pop music will be available 24/7 for the first time
on cellular smartphones and other smart devices, in full-motion,
high-quality digital sound and at full-frame. And unlike
any other mobile TV channel, it is being offered free
to anyone with a "smart" device equipped with
a current technology media player.
SmartVideo Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: SMVD), which
earlier this year launched the industry's only mobile
video service that offers TV-quality fully synched audio
and video to wireless phone subscribers of all major
global carriers, has today announced a partnership with
the Digital Music Video (DMV) Network to launch an advertising-supported
video channel that features the top artists from virtually
all the major labels. By signing this deal, SmartVideo
is diversifying its revenue stream by sharing in the
proceeds generated by these ads.
The announcement is being made in conjunction with
SmartVideo's President and CEO Richard E. Bennett's
presentation at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's
Leadership Forum: Broadband and Beyond, held in New
York City yesterday.
Instead of mere ring tones and wallpaper, or jerky,
tiny images that rival mobile services offer, SmartVideo
and Digital Music Video Network's channel offers the
closest the mobile entertainment market has come to
emulating actual TV.
SmartVideo developed the best-in-class information
compression technology that delivers full-motion, fully
synched video and audio even to current 2.5G devices.
DMV Network, which is owned by the largest company supplying
hit music videos to retail and public outlets, could
not deliver its huge library of music videos to phones
until it hooked up with SmartVideo's advanced video
and audio solution.
When the service launches in early June, it will be
available to the 11 million-plus people with devices
equipped with a WindowsMobile Media player. Soon after,
the free service will also be available across the U.S.
to anyone with a mobile device running the Symbian or
Palm operating systems and bundled with the current
generation of media players. Because SmartVideo streams
the music videos, rather than downloading them to the
phone, delivery is faster and the copyright security
of the songs is further protected.
The DMV Network is entirely supported by advertisements
- both ad overlays during the videos and 15-second interstitial
spots between them - and is available to consumers at
no charge. Users will simply access the service through
their phone or PDA's public Internet browser, with no
need to subscribe or to install any new software.
And then the hottest music videos from the biggest
artists will be accessible anywhere in the U.S. SmartVideo
streams at a minimum of 15 frames per second (FPS) on
current 2.5G wireless networks, and at 24+ FPS on new
3G networks. Currently, there are approximately 70 million
smartphone or PDA device models in the United States
that support SmartVideo's mobile video service.
Content on the free channels, beginning with one featuring
Top 40 hits, will be programmed entirely by the DMV
Network, which has more than 40,000 music videos, making
it the second largest music video library in the world.
SmartVideo and the DMV Network plan to launch additional
channels - dedicated to urban, dance, country, and other
music genres - in the near future.
"Fans of music videos are members of the young,
savvy demographic that are also early adopters of mobile
media," said Richard E. Bennett, Jr. "We are
excited to be able to satisfy the demand for musical
content on wireless phones while also blazing the trail
for a fully ad-supported channel, the closest thing
in the mobile media arena to a traditional broadcast
network. We believe that this channel will educate smartphone
users on the entertainment value of mobile video and
help us attract new subscribers to our other mobile
video offerings. We are excited about the prospect of
diversifying our existing revenue stream with the addition
of advertising revenue to our current subscription only
base."
The deal with the DMV Network is the latest content
agreement announced by SmartVideo, which offers mobile
video subscriptions starting at $12.95 per month. SmartVideo
also offers live, streaming, and video-on-demand programming
from Fox Sports Network, ABC News, ABC NewsNow, NBC
Universal (CNBC, MSNBC and NBC Mobile), The Weather
Channel, IFILM, DIC Kid's Network, Professional Championship
Wrestling and dozens more.
"The Digital Music Video Network is in very good
company, along with the other content available on SmartVideo,"
said Jim Robinson, president of the DMV Network. "The
high quality, full motion video blows everyone away
when they see it on a phone the first time. Along with
its iron-tight security controls, SmartVideo is the
ideal partner with which to launch our network on the
third screen."
About DMV Network
DMV Network, located in Orlando, is jointly owned by
the world's leader in music video distribution services
for the music industry.
About SmartVideo Technologies
SmartVideo Technologies offers the first and best-in-class
services for broadcasting live, on-demand and download-and-play
television content for mobile video consumers around
the world. SmartVideo's television solutions deliver
sharp video images with fully synched video and audio
for broadcast to video-enabled cell phones and other
handheld devices, via current and next-generation cellular
and Wi-Fi systems. SmartVideo's proprietary technologies
include a full suite of television content management
services for wireless telco carriers as well as content
owners, to provide an end-to-end mobile television broadcast
and business solution. SmartVideo's robust library of
content includes news, weather, sports, children's programming
and more, from such leading international brands as
ABC News, NBC Universal, Fox Sports, The Weather Channel
and dozens of others. SmartVideo's mobile video solutions
provide exceptional image quality on all existing 2.5G
and Edge cellular networks, and near-broadcast quality
on 3G and Wi-Fi networks. SmartVideo is a Microsoft
Windows Media(R) 9 Series Certified Hosting Provider.
For additional information and to subscribe to SmartVideo's
Live TV content packages visit www.smartvideo.com or
using your smartphone visit www.windowsmedia.com/mobile.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute
"forward-looking" statements, usually containing
the words "believe," "estimate,"
"project," "intend," "expect,"
or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant
to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements
inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to
such differences include, but are not limited to, the
inability of SmartVideo to obtain the additional financing
needed to fund operations, the failure of SmartVideo
to convert its present and future customer contracts
into profitable arrangements for SmartVideo, unexpected
costs, delays and other difficulties related to the
timing and success of product development and marketing
plans, adverse changes in the market for the delivery
of full-motion, streaming video content, the failure
of SmartVideo's hosting infrastructure, the complexity
of SmartVideo's services and delivery network, pricing
and other activities by competitors, difficulties involved
in retaining and motivating key personnel and other
risks detailed in SmartVideo's periodic report filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making
these forward-looking statements, SmartVideo undertakes
no obligation to update these statements for revisions
or changes after the date of this release. Microsoft,
Windows Media, Powerpoint and Windows are registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United
States and/or other countries.
SOURCE: SmartVideo Technologies, Inc.
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