Digital Jukeboxes Nationwide Hit High Note With AT&T High Speed Internet

Digital Jukeboxes Nationwide Hit High Note With AT&T High Speed Internet

TouchTunes Signs AT&T High Speed Internet Pact to Feed Thousands of Digital Jukeboxes Across the Country

CHICAGO, July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today a multiyear contract with TouchTunes Music Corporation to provide high speed Internet access to thousands of digital jukeboxes coast to coast, offering a huge selection of music for consumers and a cost savings for operators.

Based in suburban Chicago and Montreal, TouchTunes is the largest provider of digital jukeboxes in the United States where their interactive digital jukeboxes can be found in nearly 20,000 commercial locations. The company introduced the world's first digital-downloading jukebox in 1998 and is now benefiting from the momentum of the trend it started as more and more jukeboxes "go digital," said John Perrachon, chief executive officer of TouchTunes. "We're at the forefront of bringing the digital-download revolution to the jukebox, satisfying consumer demand for more musical choices."

Under the terms of the three-year contract, AT&T will provide high speed Internet access to existing and future TouchTunes digital jukeboxes at bars, restaurants, nightclubs and other venues where its service is available.

Consumers can choose from a huge assortment of music that is stored on the hard drives of the jukeboxes. TouchTunes has licensed nearly 1 million songs for use on its jukeboxes, representing virtually every musical genre imaginable. Furthermore, jukebox operators can easily swap rarely used or older tracks with newer and more popular jukebox selections via the Internet, Perrachon said.

By using AT&T's high speed Internet service, TouchTunes will be able to offer a broader range of new interactive features, including expanded music selections, intravenue connectivity for coordinated/shared music entertainment, live concert feeds, and e-mail/browser functionality for venue owners and managers.

"This agreement will provide significant value for digital-jukebox operators, venue owners, and especially consumers and patrons, who will be able to enjoy even more choices in the music they want to hear," said Vicki Jones, president-Business Communications Services of AT&T Midwest.

"Our ability to provide AT&T high speed Internet access on a nationwide scale will further enhance digital-entertainment technology as new connectivity-dependent features and applications are developed for the benefit of consumers and businesses," Jones added.

TouchTunes currently provides jukeboxes and music services to approximately 1,800 regional operators, who own, install, and maintain digital jukeboxes featuring music as varied as classic ballads, oldies, country, contemporary rock and rap.

Digital jukeboxes represent a sea change in coin-operated music entertainment, offering performance improvement and a return on investment significantly higher than that of traditional CD jukeboxes, Perrachon added. Digital jukeboxes can also deliver interactive video functionality, including visual advertising, as well as artist features, movie clips and touch-screen music links.

Jason Rubin, of A. J. Video, a large TouchTunes operator in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore market, is a broadband fan. "If you have a jukebox heavy on Top 40 tunes and the location needs a lot more country music, you can download it in seconds."

Dan McAllister, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for TouchTunes, noted that locations can avail themselves of the AT&T high speed Internet service for purposes beyond the jukebox, for such applications as e-mail and credit card processing.

AT&T is the nation's leading provider of high speed Internet access, providing businesses with the tools they need in order to work more efficiently and to better compete in today's marketplace.

Note: This AT&T release and other news announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high speed Internet access, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with 55.8 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at http://www.att.com/.

For more information and detailed disclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.sbc.com/news_room.

Subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. provide products and services under the AT&T brand.

About TouchTunes

TouchTunes is the world's leading provider of interactive, music-on- demand, digital-downloading jukeboxes. TouchTunes delivers music and advertising on its network of nearly 20,000 digital touch-screen jukeboxes in commercial locations across the United States and Canada and in Latin America. All jukeboxes in the TouchTunes network are connected via broadband or dial-up and provide an average of over 12 million song impressions every day. TouchTunes has downloaded and played in excess of 1.0 billion songs since inception, growing at a rate of 450 million per year. TouchTunes has signed agreements with all major and most independent music labels, which permit the secure transmission, storing and playing of digitized copies of music masters on TouchTunes' central database and throughout its network of digital jukeboxes. TouchTunes is privately owned and has offices in Montreal (Canada) and Lake Zurich (Illinois). The company's latest information can be viewed at http://www.touchtunes.com/.

Source: AT&T Inc.

CONTACT: Rick Fox, Office +1-312-751-3734, Mobile +1-312-286-4983,
foxr@fleishman.com

Web site: http://www.att.com/
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