Entone Teams With VUDU To Deliver Online Video To Telcos

Partnership Brings Together the Best of Broadcast TV and Online Video Services in One Offering

SAN MATEO, California — Entone, Inc., a leading provider of IPTV home connectivity solutions, announced today the integration of VUDU’s industry leading Internet entertainment platform with Entone’s next generation media hubs.

This breakthrough offering, available to telco service operators this summer, will allow Entone’s telco customers to supplement their live broadcast television and digital video recorder (DVR) services with VUDU’s library of more than 14,000 movie and TV titles, including the largest high-definition (HD) library in existence today. Instead of having to choose between an operator managed service or an “over the top” (OTT) Internet video service, for the first time consumers will be able to enjoy the best of both from a single user interface resulting in a dramatic increase in their choice of content.

“Entone has broken new ground with this approach and we encourage operators to follow,” says Colin Dixon, Senior Analyst for The Diffusion Group. “Entone’s approach of embracing rather than defending against online video services is a win-win-win for operators, content providers and consumers.”

Through its partnership with Entone, VUDU will make its movie library available through telco operators deploying Entone’s IP Video Gateways and Media Hubs, providing consumers with a less costly and much more flexible viewing alternative. Entone is a market leader in IPTV with more than 50 telco operator deployments in the U.S. alone.

“This arrangement brings together the best of live television, as supported by Entone’s market leading IPTV home connectivity products, with the best of Internet on-demand movies, as supported by VUDU’s vast movie library from every major Hollywood studio and over 40 independents,” expressed Steve McKay, CEO of Entone. “Previously, consumers had to choose between pay TV services and over-the-top Internet video services where the latter was something you did when you were not watching TV. This is the first time two competing visions are coming together in one unified service. By marrying the two concepts, your online movie library is now available as part of your core TV viewing experience from the same user interface and remote control.”

Entone was an early innovator in IPTV with its flagship product, Hydra™, the world’s first and only commercially available IP Video Gateway. Part of the Entone Connected Home Solution, Hydra supports multiple video streams for enabling video and media delivery throughout a home from a single gateway device. The company’s focus has always been to enable access to rich media, including live television and recorded content, throughout the entire home without requiring the extensive new wiring that competing solutions require. True to this heritage, one of the key differentiating features of the VUDU service enabled by Entone will be its accessibility to all TVs in the home.

“IPTV is becoming an option for consumers and we want consumers to get access to VUDU through the devices they already have in their home,” says Edward Lichty, EVP of Strategy and Content for VUDU. “Entone’s integration with VUDU is a great consumer experience and we are looking forward to VUDU’s inclusion in the next generation of devices to be rolled out by Entone and its telco customers.”

VUDU’s library of more than 14,000 movies and TV episodes, including more than 1,500 HD films, is updated weekly with new releases and library titles. VUDU is the only service to offer both instant start HD and HDX, the highest quality on-demand format available anywhere. Designed to deliver an optimized cinematic experience to owners of 40-inch and larger HDTVs and projectors, HDX with VUDU’s TruFilm™ technology features a virtually artifact free 1080p picture and immersive, high definition sound.

The VUDU Movies On-Demand service will be available to Entone’s telco customers via an IPTV service model or via Entone’s new SelecTV™ service that will be released later this year.