Newly-Renamed 'ActiveVideo Networks' Continues ICTV Mission 'To Enable Television to Keep Up with Its Audience'

Newly-Renamed 'ActiveVideo Networks' Continues ICTV Mission 'To Enable Television to Keep Up with Its Audience'

NEW ORLEANS, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- ICTV(R), which provides ActiveVideo(R) solutions that infuse TV with Web content and interactivity, announced today that it is changing its name to ActiveVideo Networks(TM) to better communicate the company's content and technology leadership that is driving television engagement for a new generation of viewers.

The new name reflects an environment in which television meets and exceeds audience demands and capitalizes on the company's extensive investment in the ActiveVideo brand over the past two years. The name underscores ActiveVideo Networks' dominant position in catapulting television into a future of diversity, personalization and targeting, in which audiences have the ability to find, share and create programming of interest.

The ActiveVideo Networks name is being unveiled this week at The Cable Show and the tru2way Developers Conference here.

"Television today is undergoing the single greatest transformation in its history," said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo Networks. "As network operators and programmers are driven by viewers to move beyond linear programming, the challenge is to bring to television the array of voices and choices that viewers enjoy on the Web. ActiveVideo Networks is uniquely positioned to enable television to keep up with its audience."

"Given the dramatic changes that the company has undergone as we've grown to serve more than one million households over the past few years, it's important that our name accurately convey our vision of the future of TV," said Gary Lauder, chairman of ActiveVideo Networks. "Our merger with Switched Media, our launch of the ActiveVideo brand, our creation of the ActiveMedia Group to develop programming and even our move to downtown San Jose have positioned ActiveVideo Networks to be a major contributor to a universe of unparalleled choice and control for television viewers."

ActiveVideo allows television viewing to be shaped by a wide range of entities, including traditional and Web-based programmers, local cable affiliates, consumer electronics companies, advertisers, social networks and even the audience itself. ActiveVideo immerses consumers in an engaging experience that combines Web video, Web 2.0 functionality and traditional television -- including today's widescreen, 16:9, Dolby-surround HD home entertainment environment.

With ActiveVideo, viewers can navigate a completely interactive environment of both linear and broadband programming including rich interfaces and graphics optimized for TV and remote control navigation; social networking; personal media; niche content; and targeted, actionable advertising. ActiveVideo programmers include a wide variety of leading brands, including Fox, CNN, HSN, TAG Networks, Reuters, AccuWeather and others.

About ActiveVideo Networks

ActiveVideo Networks(TM), formerly ICTV(R), provides programming and technology that infuse television with Web content and interactivity. Based on standard Web authoring and delivery technologies, the company's ActiveVideo(R) Distribution Network simply and inexpensively enables expanded programming, navigation and advertising possibilities, allowing viewers to define and share TV experiences. ActiveVideo combines Web-based media and targeted, clickable advertisements with the high-quality video, immediate responsiveness and remote control navigation of television for uniform interactivity across all digital set-tops and Web-connected televisions. ActiveVideo Networks is based in the heart of Silicon Valley, with offices in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Beijing and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.avnetworks.com.

Source: ActiveVideo Networks

CONTACT: Paul Schneider for ActiveVideo Networks, +1-215-702-9784,
Office, +1-215-817-4384, mobile, pspr@att.net

Web site:

http://www.avnetworks.com/

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