Azureus and the Independent Television Festival Partner to Offer Global Audience for Aspiring Television Creators

Business Wire, May 24, 2007

Millions of Users Can Participate in ITVF's Competition by Submitting an Original Television Pilot or Webseries Via Vuze

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Azureus, a global leader in aggregating and distributing long-form, high quality video via the Internet's most popular media peer-to-peer (P2P) application, today announced a unique partnership between the Independent Television Festival, Inc. (ITVF) and its leading global video aggregation and distribution platform, Vuze (www.vuze.com). Vuze will become the exclusive host of the online Webseries competition, the exclusive online submission point for all high-resolution (DVD/HD quality) video entries into the Festival and an alternate submission point for ITVF's television pilot category (starting June 4th). Additionally, Vuze will be the only submission point for the television pilot category after June 8.

Both the Vuze community of users as well as a panel of industry experts will judge all Webseries and television pilot video entries submitted on Vuze. Winners will not only receive cash prizes, but the partnership with Vuze will give independent creators two unequalled points of contact: exposure to the makers and breakers of the television industry, with the bonus of a built-in global audience of millions to support their production through release. All Webseries entries and television pilot winner and finalists will continue to be showcased on Vuze after the completion of the competition. More information and a special ITVF channel can be found at www.vuze.com/itvf.> "We are proud to join ITVF in recognizing the vast creative talent in the television industry and believe Vuze is the perfect platform to share that talent with the rest of the world," said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Azureus. "Through Vuze, festival entrants will have the opportunity to present their submissions in the way that they want them to be seen - long-form and high definition - and share their work with an established user-base of millions."

Recently launched in April 2007, Azureus' new platform, Vuze, serves as an alternative, low-cost distribution and marketing platform to distribute compelling, high-resolution content to a fast growing global audience of millions of active users. Both large and small content owners can promote their works to their fan base through comprehensive discovery tools including search, browsing, channels and tagging, as well as gauge market interest in specific territories. The entire experience from search and discovery, to payment, download and play, is tightly integrated into the application.

"As more and more entertainment moves towards the online medium, it has been our goal to ensure our pilot-makers are involved with and aware of all of the opportunities therein presented," said AJ Tesler, executive director of ITVF. "Our new relationship with Azureus is very exciting in that regard. We are thrilled that the most popular P2P provider joined us in our goal to bring the world and entertainment industry undiscovered creative talent and content."

Further demonstrating the platform's success, Azureus recently announced partnerships with several high-profile content providers, including the BBC Worldwide (including BBC HD), Showtime Networks, A&E Networks (including A&E, The History Channel, and The Biography Channel), Nelvana Enterprises, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4 TV, National Geographic, Starz Media, more than 20 other media companies and thousands of self-publishers. Additional content from other premium partners will be made available on Vuze throughout the year.

About Azureus Inc.

Azureus Inc. is the provider of the most popular P2P application for the transfer of large media files. With more than three years of technology innovation, proven robustness, and more than 140 million downloads of its application, Azureus users connect with one another from more than 100 countries and 40 languages. Today, Azureus operates Vuze, a leading global video aggregation and distribution platform driven by the exchange of long-form, High Definition or DVD quality videos, as well as licensed digital content from leading media companies. The company has recently announced content partnerships with Showtime, A&E Networks (including A&E, The History Channel and The Biography Channel), BBC Worldwide, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4 TV, National Geographic and Starz Media. The new commercial-grade platform is supported by powerful peer-sharing technology, enabling its vast global community the ability to browse, share, search and discover unique multimedia entertainment in a high-resolution format. Visit www.vuze.com for more information.

About Independent Television Festival, Inc.

Presented by title sponsor Comcast, ITVF is receiving submissions in a number of categories from around the globe. Those categories include comedy, drama, alternative (reality, game show, talk show, etc.), documentary, Webseries, and out-of-competition pilots. Entrants and their pilots will be introduced to ITVF's esteemed executive and advisory board, which is comprised of some of the most respected people in the entertainment and television industries. Last year's festival winners went on to major success: