FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 14, 2007
Latvia's Lattelecom Selects Widevine for First Baltic High-Definition MPEG-4 IPTV Deployment
Widevine’s downloadable conditional access and DRM solution enables premium content distribution and interactive services to differentiate IPTV offerings
SEATTLE, WA, May 14, 2007 –Widevine® Technologies, the world’s leading provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions, today announced that Lattelecom, the Baltic's first MPEG-4 IPTV solution has chosen Widevine to enable its acquisition of premium content and secure delivery on the H.264 platform to multiple devices in the home.
Lattelecom launched its Apollo service in mid-April in a highly competitive market served by cable and satellite TV. With a full channel line-up, high definition programming and video on demand (VOD), Lattelecom, a leading telecommunications provider in the Baltics, already has huge demand for its new service. In addition to streaming live TV channels, Lattelecom’s DSL users can form personal program sets, order TV shows and movies, create personal archives, select languages and use internet and voice communications.
“Lattelecom chose Widevine because of its good relationships with major content owners. Hollywood is more willing to license content because of Widevine Cypher’s DCAS / DRM solution and, importantly to us, the proven support for HD and H.264, plus all the interactive client PVR and PCTV features that will differentiate our service,” said Gints Kirsteins who heads Lattelecom’s Content Business Division. “Our primary goal is to provide additional, value-added services to our DSL customers in a competitive market dominated by cable television. Previously we launched a service with a proprietary DRM system to deliver content over the internet to PCs, however it was complex and not easy for customers to use. We switched to Widevine because it provided us the flexibility to choose the VOD, middleware and consumer devices that work best for our business and our customers.”
In partnership with Optibase, the systems integrator leading the integration project for Lattelcom, Widevine, Orca, BitBand and Kreatel offer a tightly integrated and highly scalable IPTV platform. “Optibase is committed to providing state-of-the-art IPTV solutions to our customers. By partnering with leading providers in the industry, and pre-integrating the solution, we are able to create these solutions efficiently and cost-effectively,” said Udi Shani, Executive VP Sales at Optibase.
“Widevine is pleased to enable another TelcoTV partner to get to market fast with a solution that gives them the flexibility to add new services and devices in the future,” said Matt Cannard, VP of Marketing. “Once again, Widevine proves that a multiformat content protection solution meets the initial and future business needs of telcos like Lattelecom who require a single solution for protecting content on set top boxes, PVRs and PCs.”
About Lattelecom
Lattelecom is the leading provider of information technology and telecommunications services in Latvia. Users of Lattelecom DSL internet connections increased by 55% during the course of 2006, reaching nearly 107,000 at year’s end.
The Lattelecom Group is made up of six companies – Lattelecom, Lattelecom Technology (previously MicroLink Latvia), Lattelecom BPO, Citrus Solutions and LSS. The Lattelecom Group’s profit for 2006 was 39 million lats which is 12.6% or 4.3 million lats more than in the previous year. Group revenue was 143.7 million lats, 10.3 million lats or 7.7% more than in 2006. The most significant revenue growth was provided by data transmission and internet, contact centre and network construction services.
The Group’s companies also realized a number of international projects last year, for example, at Ukraine’s statistics authority, for the TeliaSonera company, Lietuvas Energia (Lithuania’s electrical utility), and the Lithuanian railways, as well as participating in the establishment of the European scientific-academic network Dante.
The key operational priorities for 2007 are the increase of broadband internet connections and further roll-out of public wireless internet network. Lattelecom will continue to develop business process outsourcing services and information technology services for our Latvian and regional customers to reinforce leadership in these sectors. Also 2007 will see the development of a new service – internet television, where consumers will have the option to set content and give feedback, which will differentiate it from other television services.
For additional information about the Lattelecom Group, please visit www.lattelecom.lv
About Widevine Technologies, Inc.
Widevine is the world’s leading provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions for over 120 video service providers worldwide. Widevine enables telco, internet, mobile, cable and satellite service operators to generate new revenue opportunities through the secure distribution, identification and tracking of multimedia content.
Widevine provides a single content security solution that secures content delivered across major PC platforms, web browsers and video formats with a patented renewable security client and digital copy protection. Widevine Cypher secures Windows, Mac or Linux based platforms and supports all the major video formats including Adobe Flash, MPEG2, H.264, VC-1, Windows Media, QuickTime and RealMedia.
Widevine is a privately held corporation headquartered in Seattle, WA, funded by Bear Stearns Constellation Ventures, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Charter Ventures, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd (DNP), Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN), PaceSetter Capital Group, Phoenix Partners, TELUS (NYSE: TU) and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
For more information see Widevine Technologies at www.widevine.com or at IPTV World Forum Eastern Europe Booth #C1855.
Media Contacts:
Gints Kirsteins
Lattelecom
Tel: +371 67057230
Gints.Kirsteins@lattelecom.lv
Eric Moser
Ruder Finn Chicago (for Widevine Technologies)
Tel: +1 312 329 3908
mosere@ruderfinn.com
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