HP to Help Starz Entertainment Group Bring Movies to Millions of Subscribers on Cable and Satellite

Business Wire, Dec 6, 2005

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- HP (NYSE:HPQ)(Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced that Starz Entertainment Group (SEG) has deployed an advanced HP storage solution that will streamline the delivery of uncut movies to millions of customers.

SEG will leverage the HP Media Storage solution to store and manage its complete repository of movies and television content, which is delivered to cable and satellite operators and ultimately to its approximately 25 million subscribers via 13 channels, including Starz and Encore.

SEG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, is the largest provider of cable and satellite-delivered premium movies in the United States. Like many other media companies, SEG must be able to manage massive amounts of digital information. For example, a single, full-length movie in digital format can consume 140 gigabytes of storage.

Designed specifically for the broadcast and media industry, the HP Media Storage solution offers extremely fast and efficient access to these huge digital video files. This ultimately helps media companies such as SEG reduce operational costs and improve customer service.

"HP took the time to understand our business needs first. Then, they presented a solution that was carefully tailored to give us the best performance -- and the best return on our investment," said Stephen Smith, manager, Automation and Systems Integration, Starz Entertainment Group. "The HP solution gives us flexibility and manageability that we did not have before."

HP initiated the project by working with SEG to digitize all of its tape-based content and convert it to an industry-specific file format. The solution will support SEG's digital asset environment, which includes content ingestion, re-purposing, management and packaging for distribution.

"HP is helping media and entertainment companies unlock the value of their digitized assets," said Matt Lane, director, Media and Entertainment Solutions, HP. "Our collaboration with Starz Entertainment Group to streamline production and re-purpose content demonstrates how the right technology and the right expertise can make a significant -- and valuable -- difference."

HP solution taps company's powerful storage technology -- and entertainment expertise

Based on open, industry standards, the HP Media Storage solution offers media production and distribution companies both high-speed performance and the capacity to handle future growth.

Using the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array 8000, HP Media Storage creates a fast, efficient, high-availability storage area network (SAN) that provides SEG with 175 terabytes of capacity. The entire system, including all applications accessing it, is based on HP ProLiant DL380 and DL585 servers. StorNext data management software from HP partner Advanced Digital Information Corp. (ADIC) allows the entire storage capacity to be presented to the applications as a single, high-performance file system.

With its SAN architecture, the HP Media Storage solution creates a virtualized storage environment that delivers "shared access," a key benefit for SEG. In this environment, a single copy of a video file resides in one location and all other servers have shared, concurrent access to the file.

This feature significantly increases workflow productivity because no server has to wait to access the file and it reduces bandwidth bottlenecks since the huge video file is transferred within the high-speed SAN rather than on a slower local area network.

Shared access also allows streaming video content to be delivered without creating redundant copies on multiple servers. As a result, SEG allows cable and satellite providers to experience high-performance access, while SEG itself can minimize server and storage resources.

HP also provided the consulting and integration services needed to deliver a comprehensive solution.

Additional information on HP Media Storage is available at www.hp.com/go/mediastorage

About Starz Entertainment Group

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is the largest provider of premium movie services in the United States with approximately 179 million pay units. SEG offerings include the Starz Encore Movie Pack with 13 digital movie channels and more than 750 movies per month, Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand, and Starz Ticket, an on-demand premium Internet movie subscription service available on the broadband platform. Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, www.starz.com.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $86.7 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

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