ICTV in ActiveVideo Deal with iPanel Technologies

--Deal Targets China and other Asia-Pacific Markets

--Company Appoints New VP's of Programming and Business Development

ICTV, a Silicon Valley-based company that offers solutions for
bringing Web media to television, announced last month that it has
signed a deal with iPanel Technologies, a provider of embedded
software platforms for digital and IPTV services and applications. The
deal is designed to increase the availability of ICTV's flagship
ActiveVideo technology and service in China and other Asia-Pacific
markets. (Note: ActiveVideo technology mixes linear and on-demand
programming with broadband content from the Internet, and delivers it
as personalized MPEG video streams. Because content can be created
and modified using standard Web tools and creatives, ICTV claims,
network operators, programmers and advertisers can create content
once for delivery via the company's ActiveVideo Distribution Network
to any cable or IPTV set-top box, regardless of hardware, software and
EPG differences. Viewers can then navigate through, and interact with,
the individual elements of the stream, using key clicks of their remote
controls. ICTV bills ActiveVideo channels as allowing "network
operators and programmers to provide an unlimited variety of content
in a personalized experience that includes access to entire libraries of
video, navigational elements, channel branding, targeted, interactive
banner advertisements, and links to ad showcases.")

Under the terms of their agreement, ICTV and iPanel will use iPanel's
middleware and browser to directly enable ActiveVideo interactive
streaming media, thus bringing what they describe as a "rich, actionable
media experience" to any set-top box running iPanel's software suite.
The companies will also collaborate on marketing and promoting their
combined solution to Asian cable and satellite operators, in conjunction
with each company's individual sales efforts. "Our customers recognize
the enormous importance of bringing the Web video experience
directly to the television," iPanel president, Xu Jiahong, said in a
prepared statement. "ICTV's innovative technological approach and the
breakthrough capabilities of ActiveVideo through iPanel's
overwhelming market share will help digital and IPTV service
providers in China and the Asia-Pacific region to improve broadly their
users' TV viewing experience and to increase significantly their
capability to generate targeted advertising revenues." Added ICTV
president and CEO, Jeff Miller: "iPanel's pre-eminent role in the
Asia-Pacific market--and particularly in China--will play a key role in
our ability to accelerate deployment of ActiveVideo to the largest and
most promising market for interactive programming, retailing and
advertising."

In other ICTV news:

• The company has appointed Mark Dawson as VP of programming
  services for its ActiveMedia Group. Dawson joins ICTV from
  Gemstar-TV Guide, where he was director of cross-platform TV
  guidance product management, and where his responsibilities included
  the launch of the company's My TV Guide suite of services. At ICTV,
  he will be responsible for driving the creation and launch of
  ActiveVideo programming, including original content, by the various
  broadcasters and content providers that have formed ActiveVideo
  programming partnerships with ICTV, including HSN, Fox, CNN, and
  Reuters. "The widespread deployment of interactive services to the
  television has been limited by fragmented approaches available to
  content providers, advertisers and ultimately the consumers," Dawson
  said in a prepared statement. "ActiveVideo is unique in its ability to
  offer a standards-based, end-to-end intuitive experience: programmers
  can author content once for every set-top box and Web-connected
  device, and viewers can personalize, navigate through and interact with
  television content just as they would on the Web." Prior to his stint at
  Gemstar-TV Guide, Dawson worked at Helio, Fox Sports Interactive
  Media, Microsoft, News Corp., and Fox Home Entertainment's Fox
  Interactive gaming division.
• The company has appointed Duncan Campbell as VP of business
  development. Campbell, who has worked at a number of cable channels
  and interactive TV companies, was most recently general manager and
  head of US operations at UK-based interactive TV production
  company, Two Way TV. At ICTV, he will be tasked with building
  relationships with broadcast, cable and new media programmers for the
  creation and deployment of new, interactive programming channels on
  the company's ActiveVideo Distribution Network. "Maintaining brand
  loyalty amidst an increasingly large array of Web content options has
  become a significant challenge for programmers," ICTV's SVP of
  business development, Michael Taylor, said in a prepared
  statement. "Duncan Campbell's background in production, advertising
  and the development of new opportunities for content providers
  uniquely enables him to discuss at a variety of corporate levels how
  ActiveVideo can keep viewers' attention on the television." Added
  Campbell: "One of the great challenges for programmers today is how
  to give television viewers the same levels of interactivity and
  personalization that they find on the Web. The fundamental simplicity
  of ActiveVideo--Web-based content creation and remote control
  navigation--enables the rapid development of programming in an
  environment that encourages viewer interaction." Prior to his stint at
  Two Way TV, Campbell worked for a year as a consultant to GSN, a
  channel that pioneered participation TV programming in the US, and
  spent six years in two executive positions at GoldPocket Interactive, the
  interactive TV company that was acquired by Tandberg Television in
  2006: as its VP of business development, programming and content
  production, and then as SVP of business development and advertising
  of its OneMedia division. His resume also includes stints working in
  production at CNN (where he was a producer for "Larry King Live"
  from 1989-1992), Fox News (where he was a senior producer), and
  HGTV (where he was an executive producer and show creator). He
  holds a BA in history and political science from Duke University.