Monday, January 14, 2008

OpenTV and Auction Network Announce Deal

OpenTV Participate(TM) Solution to power first-ever Internet and TV network devoted to the auction industry in the US

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. , a leading provider of solutions for the delivery of advanced television and cross-platform interactive services, announced today that Auction Network, the first-ever US television network devoted to the auction industry, has chosen the OpenTV Participate solution to power its live Internet auction business and upcoming television launch.

Auction Network, whose programming will feature televised and live auctions ranging from thoroughbred horse sales in Kentucky to Ozzy Osbourne's celebrity auction to wine auctions from around the world, will use OpenTV Participate to handle all auction transactions, allowing viewers to interact in real-time with television programming via Web, IVR voice telephony, portable devices and, in the future, set-top boxes. Auction Network delivers the thrill and excitement of live auction programming with the interactivity to make it easy to view items, place bids and become the high bidder, even if the auction is on the other side of the world.

"Auction Network has a unique and exciting vision that fully embraces many of the new concepts OpenTV has been developing in our enterprise product strategy for broadcasters," said Ben Bennett, OpenTV's Chief Operating Officer. "One of the most important concepts, in our view, is the absolute pre-requisite for broadcasters to have a direct two-way relationship with their viewers -- Auction Network is a wonderful example of that capability."

"With Auction Network launching as a 24/7 streaming Internet Network rapidly migrating to live TV, the biggest challenge we faced was seamless integration of traditional and new media broadcast technologies with customer interaction and data aggregation," said Pam McKissick, Auction Network's Chief Executive Officer. "OpenTV Participate allows us to do that without over-complicating our daily operations. We have found that OpenTV Participate is a visionary, second-generation system that dramatically alleviates issues our cutting edge broadcast network might face."

OpenTV Participate's powerful servers enable unlimited concurrent auctions to be set up using simple wizard-based auction logic that supports more than 17 types of auction events. OpenTV Participate's fully integrated scheduling and studio console applications will give auction clerks, production staff and auctioneers live auction data providing dynamic TV programming, originated in studios and on location, with real-time viewer participation and instant business analysis.

OpenTV Participate's modular solution also enables Auction Network to manage viewer registration, billing, fulfillment, accounts, customer care, loyalty schemes, and marketing using a single back-office application. With its state of the art CRM and marketing modules, and cross-platform data aggregation, OpenTV Participate will provide Auction Network with flexible business reporting, deep insight into customer behavior, global business analysis and instant communication with consumers at the touch of a button. In addition, the product can provide added-value content such as trivia, sponsor messages and interactive and targeted advertising.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world's leading providers of solutions for the delivery of digital and interactive television. The company's software has been integrated in more than 96 million digital set-top boxes and digital televisions around the world, and enables enhanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, enhanced television, interactive shopping, interactive and addressable advertising, games and a variety of consumer care and communication applications. For more information, please visit http://www.opentv.com

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