OpenTV Signs Exclusive Partnership With Interactive TV Games Pioneer; Interactive TV Offers Viewers an Alternative to PC and Console Games

Business Wire, July 11, 2000

Business Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 11, 2000

OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV) (Amsterdam Stock Exchange:OPTV), the leading worldwide provider of software to enable digital interactive television, today announced an agreement with Visiware, the interactive television games pioneer, to distribute the LudiTV games channel exclusively in the Americas and Asia for the next three years.

The agreement allows OpenTV to exclusively offer the largest catalogue of interactive television games available today to cable, satellite and terrestrial operators using the OpenTV digital interactive television platform in America and Asia. Network operators that choose to market the channel will collect subscriptions from viewers and revenue from advertising and TV-commerce positioned alongside the games.

Under the terms of the agreement LudiTV will develop a minimum of twelve new games for the OpenTV platform each year, in addition to the more than 20 games that have already been developed, modifying each for local language and technical differences. LudiTV games include Amazodiam, Moko (platform games), tennis, reversi, blackjack and motor racing.

"We are delighted to see the success of LudiTV interactive television games all over the world. This major deal with OpenTV comes as a reward for the hard work of our development team. Together with OpenTV, we will create the most innovative and exciting television games experience in the world," said Laurant Weill, CEO, Visiware.

"This sector of the DiTV industry is really set to boom, with analysts such as Datamonitor (1999) forecasting revenues of $17.2 billion by 2003. Working with LudiTV is central to our drive to continue our leadership position by penetrating a key market sector. Digital Interactive TV will be a major delivery mechanism for the games software market, particularly in the countries where PCs are still seen as an expensive purchase for the home," concluded Jan Steenkamp, President and CEO, OpenTV.

The LudiTV channel is already available using OpenTV's digital interactive television platform in South Africa (MultiChoice), Turkey (Teleon), Spain (ViaDigital) and France (TPS and France Telecom Cable).

LudiTV is currently in discussions with some of the world's biggest games companies to make arcade video game classics available to digital interactive television viewers. As the processing power of digital television set-top boxes increases and broadband networks expand, new games will offer 3D graphics and multi-player networking.

About Visiware

Visiware is a specialist multimedia software company formed in Sevres, France, in 1996. Visiware is the founder of LudiTV, the first interactive TV channel dedicated to games and application development for digital TV. LudiTV has a highly experienced development team of 68 game designers, project leaders, computer-graphics artists and programmers. Partners and customers include FOX Interactive, France Telecom Cable, ViaDigital, MIH, Viaccess and TPS.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is the leading worldwide provider of software that enables digital interactive television (ITV), providing a complete end-to-end solution for the development and delivery of interactive services via digital satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast. OpenTV set-top box software has been shipped with or installed in more than 7.8 million digital set-top boxes worldwide. OpenTV software solutions have been selected by 30 television network operators in over 50 countries, including British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) in the United Kingdom; TPS and NOOS in France; PrimaCom in Germany; Via Digital in Spain; Galaxy Latin America, the exclusive provider of DIRECTV(TM) in Latin America; and EchoStar's DISH Network(TM) in the U.S.

The OpenTV set-top box software is licensed to 29 digital set-top box manufacturers, and OpenTV's authoring tools are licensed to hundreds of independent developers and content and service providers. OpenTV is a member of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project, CableLabs' OpenCable initiative, ATSC DASE, and JavaTV. OpenTV is a licensee of Personal Java(TM) from Sun Microsystems.

Worldwide headquarters for OpenTV is located in Mountain View, Calif. Information on OpenTV is available at www.opentv.com.

Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated herein, including but not limited to timely identification, development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and other risk factors detailed in the company's Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as amended. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.