Major Consumer Electronics, Technology and Broadcast Companies Announce the Formation of dotTV Consortium

dotTV™ to Develop Standards for Next-Generation Interactive TV Viewing Experience

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — A group of major consumer electronics, technology and broadcast companies today announced the formation of dotTV, an industry consortium whose mission is to build a next-generation interactive TV viewing experience leveraging social networking and online video to engage viewers. As viewers increasingly demand an anytime, anywhere, any-device viewing experience, dotTV seeks to bring the interactivity of online media and social networking to the TV and set-top box. Members of the consortium include broadcasters KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), EBS (Educational Broadcasting System), and SBS, technology providers Irdeto and VMark, Inc. and major consumer electronics makers Samsung and LG.

“By leveraging the confluence of digital terrestrial television tuners, DVRs and Internet access in Digital Televisions, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics devices, dotTV is developing a platform that provides viewers with a more social, interactive viewing experience,” said Won-Kun Lee, Executive Vice President of KBS. “By supplementing our broadcast content with relevant metadata, viewers will be able to search for content of interest, retrieve more information about specifics presented in the content as well as share this content with friends over any connected viewing device. Combining the power of social networking and online video with broadcast television is the next step in engaging the viewer anytime and anywhere.”

“Television viewers will be able to record content, mark individual scenes of interest by means of a video bookmark, and share these bookmarked scenes with friends and communities of interest over the internet, all while respecting the rights of copyright holders,” added Dr. David Lee, CEO of VMark, Inc. “This ability for ‘scene-sharing’ enables the viral distribution of content over social networks and generates traffic to sites or locations where media and broadcast companies can once again engage their viewers. With the close proximity of CE manufacturers, content providers and broadcast studios, Korea provides the ideal test bed for dotTV.”

“Digital TV operators must innovate to stay ahead of the competition, and the dotTV initiative — which includes technology providers across the value chain working to leverage their specialties in security, interactivity, consumer electronics and the Internet — is an example of that innovation,” said Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto.

By providing a richer, engaging entertainment experience that can be shared among friends, over multiple media channels and across heterogeneous devices, broadcasters will build audience loyalty, augment the distribution of their content, and increase the overall viewing time of content. With relevant metadata associated with content segments, advertisers will be able to deliver relevant and targeted advertising. Manufacturers of consumer electronics devices see dotTV as an opportunity to deliver enhanced functionality in their products.

Initial services based on the dotTV standard will be deployed in Korea in 2009 with expansion to other regions soon thereafter.