FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Nov 28, 2006
Chunghwa Taps Widevine® for Broadcast and VOD Subscriber Expansion
Chunghwa purchases an additional 300,000 renewable security clients from Widevine
Seattle, WA, Nov 28, 2006 –Widevine Technologies, the world’s leading provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions, today announced that Taiwan’s state-owned Chunghwa Telecom has purchased an additional 300,000 Virtual SmartCard clients to secure premium linear broadcast and video-on-demand delivery across a wide range of consumer electronics devices. This is in addition to the 500,000 clients Chunghwa purchased in 2005 for planned subscriber growth.
Chunghwa’s interactive TV service, Multimedia on Demand (MOD), is one of the largest IPTV deployments in the world. Customers of the MOD service can take advantage of a wide range of video-on-demand, near VOD (NVOD), karaoke-on-demand and linear broadcast channels. Widevine Cypher is used exclusively to protect the entire Chunghwa multimedia footprint across Taiwan.
“The expansion of Chunghwa’s core VOD and linear broadcast offerings is an important step forward in realizing our vision of offering MOD services to our entire subscriber base of four million customers,” said Yi-Fong Chang, Managing Director of Chunghwa’s Multimedia Department. ”Our ability to acquire and license premium content for our fixed line business has been greatly enhanced by Widevine’s comprehensive content protection solutions. We chose Widevine over other solutions because of its solid reputation with Hollywood Studios and it is proven in IPTV deployments worldwide.”
“Widevine is up to the challenge of keeping Chunghwa’s content licenses intact,” says Brian Baker, Widevine’s President and CEO. “We are pleased to continue an aggressive expansion across the country and evaluate other opportunities to assist Chunghwa with the major motion picture studios and broadcasters.”
According to IP media research analyst Colin Dixon of The Diffusion Group, “Now that Chunghwa has proven it can scale its IPTV service, it is beginning to look at bringing those services to multiple consumer devices. Operators need a proven, single security solution such as Widevine’s that not only scales but also reaches across set top boxes, PCs and mobile phones.”
About Widevine Technologies, Inc.
Widevine is the leading provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions for IP video operators worldwide. Widevine enables telco, cable, satellite, internet and mobile service operators to generate new revenue opportunities through the secure distribution, identification and tracking of digital content.
Utilizing a combination of downloadable conditional access and digital rights management techniques, Widevine enables operators to acquire and license premium studio content and, through unique patented technologies, reduce capital and operational expenditures. An innovator in the industry and holder of four patents, Widevine invented the downloadable Cypher Virtual SmartCard™ client which today protects more IP video set top boxes, consumer electronics devices and PCs in the industry than any other vendor.
Widevine is a privately held corporation headquartered in Seattle, WA, funded by Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Charter Ventures, Constellation Ventures, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd (DNP), PaceSetter Capital Group, Phoenix Partners, TELUS (NYSE: TU) and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
For more information see Widevine Technologies at www.widevine.com.
About Chunghwa Telecom
Headquartered in Taipei, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE: CHT) has provided Taiwan with telecommunications services, including telephone, mobile, leased-line, Internet access, and other services for over 50 years. Chunghwa is Taiwan’s largest mobile service provider in revenues and subscribers of approximately 8.4 million. Chunghwa also is the largest broadband internet access provider, with nearly 4 million ADSL subscribers, and the largest internet service provider, based on subscribers numbering 4.3 million for HiNet service. Total internet and data revenues exceeded $1 billion for the first nine months of 2006.
For additional information, visit http://www.cht.com.tw/CHTFinalE/Web/
Media Contact:
Eric Moser
Ruder Finn Chicago (for Widevine Technologies)
Tel: +1 312 329 3908
mosere@ruderfinn.com
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