CHICAGO, June 9, 2003 — Today at The National Show, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s (NCTA’s) annual convention, Microsoft Corp. and Cablevisin (CVC), a subsidiary of Grupo Televisa S.A., announced that Cablevisin plans to use Microsoft®
TV software to deliver digital TV services to its subscribers via its digital cable network. Cablevisin, Mexico’s largest cable operator intends to roll out services powered by Microsoft TV beginning in the second half of this year and expects to enroll more than 450,000 subscribers in Mexico City within the next year.
Cablevisin plans to deploy Microsoft TV Interactive Program Guide (IPG) first; later in 2004 it plans to utilize the added capabilities of Microsoft TV Foundation Edition, which was launched today at The National Show.
“We chose Microsoft TV digital TV software because it allows us to provide interactive services to our existing subscribers without incurring additional upgrade costs to our set-top box infrastructure,”
said Jean Paul Broc, chief executive officer of Cablevisin.
Microsoft TV IPG features an interactive program guide that improves consumers’ digital TV experience by providing speedy scrolling and channel tuning and by making it faster, easier and more intuitive for television viewers to find shows and customize their viewing. Microsoft TV IPG leverages the network operator’s existing broadcast infrastructure by supporting its television listings, interactive advertising, video-on-demand (VOD) services and other features.
Microsoft TV Foundation helps network operators get more value from their digital cable investments, creating a better user experience and better on-demand take rates, as well as providing them with the ability to better merchandize digital cable services, including managed content. Foundation scales to meet network operators needs, from thin-client to more-advanced devices.
“Cablevisin is a leader in providing the best in new technology, content and services to its customers,”
said Tim Fritzley, vice president of sales and solutions for Microsoft TV at Microsoft.
“It will be offering some of the most advanced services in the Americas. We have worked closely with Cablevisin to provide the best software solutions that will help it be more agile in delivering more value to its customers while keeping infrastructure costs low.”
Cablevisin will deploy the services on Motorola digital set-tops.
About Cablevisin
Cablevisin is the largest cable television operator in Mexico based on its number of subscribers and homes passed. Its concession area consists of Mexico City and surrounding areas in the State of Mexico, one of the largest cable television markets in Latin America and one of the largest cities in the world in terms of population. Cablevisin is the only cable television operator and high-speed Internet access provider through cable modem in Mexico City, as well as the only provider of digital cable television services in Mexico.
About Televisa
Grupo Televisa S.A. is the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, and a major player in the international entertainment business. It has interests in television production and broadcasting, programming for pay television, international distribution of television programming, direct-to-home satellite services, publishing and publishing distribution, music recording, cable television, radio production and broadcasting, professional sports and show business promotions, paging services, feature film production and distribution, dubbing and the operation of a horizontal Internet portal. Grupo Televisa also has an unconsolidated equity stake in Univision, the leading Spanish-language television company in the United States.
About the Microsoft TV Platform
Microsoft TV is a family of standards-based client and server software products and related developer tools which help network operators create digital TV services that delight subscribers and derive more value from digital TV investments. Microsoft TV enables the delivery of new services such as video-on-demand, On-Demand Storefronts, interactive program guides, managed content services, digital video recording, enhanced programming, e-mail, instant messaging and more across a full range of set-top boxes and TV devices. More information about Microsoft TV can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/tv/.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
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