Minerva Networks And TVN Entertainment Offer Complete Content Distribution, Management, And Delivery Solution For Broadcast-Quality Video-On-Demand Services

Market Wire, 20050229

Minerva(R) Networks, a leading provider of video networking solutions that enable the convergence of television and the Internet, and TVN Entertainment, a leading digital media distribution services company, have partnered to offer an integrated solution for distributing, managing and delivering broadcast-quality video-on-demand (VOD) services over broadband IP networks. The solution, which integrates TVN's asset delivery and licensing services with Minerva Networks' IP Television Headend platform, will be showcased at the California Cable Television Association's (CCTA) annual Western Cable Show "Broadbandwagon," being held November 28 - December 1, 2000 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (Booth #1601).

The comprehensive solution enables network operators to easily acquire, license, and manage VOD content for distribution from their IP Television Headends to subscribers. Minerva and TVN will co-market the solution to Competitive and Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs and ILECs), Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), and other broadband network operators in the United States.

"TVN Entertainment forecasts IP Television as a major market for Minerva's services in the next 1-3 years," said Jim Riley, senior VP of Business Development at TVN. "Minerva Networks has developed a dynamic, IP-based system that provides an ideal platform for integration with TVN's proprietary asset management services and secure transport system - Digital Content Express."

"Our customers need easy access to a broad spectrum of content," said Patrick Sweeney, VP of Marketing at Minerva Networks. "The seamless integration of our IP Television Headend with TVN's services and media delivery network makes access to content for video-on-demand services easy, secure, and cost-effective."

AFully Integrated Solution

Movies, documentaries, and other video content is MPEG-compressed and stored at TVN's state-of-the-art operations center in Los Angeles, where it is tracked and managed by TVN's ADONISS content management system. Minerva iTVManager, running at the network operator's IP Television Headend, continually communicates with ADONISS, enabling the network operator to select content stored at the TVN operations center. The movie files and associated meta data (title, description, actors, pricing, run-times, and more) selected are transmitted by TVN's secure satellite delivery network to file servers at the operator's headend. Once the content reaches the headend, Minerva iTVManager administers its delivery to subscribers, performs transaction reporting and analysis, and automatically conveys system and end-user data. ADONISS can then process the data, monitor service provider agreements, generate invoices, and produce subscriber analysis reports.

About Minerva Networks, Inc.

Minerva Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of carrier-class video networking solutions that enable the convergence of television and the Internet. Our media management software, media encoders, media gateways and media transcoders are the essential components of IP Television Headends for the delivery of video services over broadband IP networks. Broadband network operators worldwide use Minerva Networks' solutions to deliver next-generation entertainment, communication and e-commerce applications. Minerva Networks is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, and is available on the Internet at www.minervanetworks.com.

About TVN Entertainment, Inc.

TVN is a leading digital media distribution services company. The Company has more than ten years of experience in the secure management and delivery of professional grade video and audio content, including movies, sports, special event pay-per-view programming, infomercials and advertising. Additionally, TVN is now enabling the deployment of video-on-demand (VOD) programming through its Digital Content Express suite of services. The Company's proprietary content management system, ADONISS, provides content owners and distributors with the ability to securely control, manage and deliver their digital assets independent of vendor hardware to multiple distribution platforms, including cable, DSL, broadcast, theaters and DBS. TVN owns and operates a state-of-the-art broadband Digital Network Operations Center at its Burbank headquarters. The fully redundant center provides digital encoding, storage, encryption, compression, playback, uplink, monitoring, space segment, scheduling, conditional access, and royalty administration.

(C)2000. Minerva Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Minerva and iTVManager are trademarks of Minerva Networks, Inc. TVN Entertainment, TVN, ADONISS, Digital Content Express, and logos are official service marks of TVN Entertainment Corp.