WWE chooses TVN Entertainment for VOD; Agreement Marks Premier VOD Satellite Delivery of WWE 24/7
BURBANK, Calif. & STAMFORD, Conn., Feb 25, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) — TVN Entertainment Corporation, the leading provider of on demand television programming, management and distribution services, and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE), the largest provider of event programming in the world, today announced the signing of a wide-ranging VOD Preferred Partner services agreement.
The agreement covers VOD services and distribution for WWE(R)’s new subscription on demand service, WWE 24/7(TM). The new SVOD offering will feature highly-rated Pay-Per-View, cable and syndicated broadcast content, best-selling home videos, new original productions and proprietary broadband, from the WWE and other acquired national and regional wrestling brands. As a TVN Preferred Partner, WWE 24/7 may utilize TVNow, the only industry-wide rapid VOD encode/transport service – which allows content owners to capture live programs/events and make them available “on demand” to customers within hours of the original broadcast. WWE and TVN may also pursue opportunistic and strategic revenue opportunities related to future applications and ITV developments.
“One of our business goals is to effectively utilize our valuable library of more than 75,000 hours of wrestling content covering the WWE, WCW, ECW, and other brands,” said Tom Barreca, Senior Vice President of WWE Enterprises. “Our agreement with TVN is a tremendous strategic catalyst to our upcoming rollout across cable operators later this month. This agreement should energize both our distributors and our avid fan base, which is anxious to enjoy WWE 24/7 on their schedule.”
“We are extremely happy to expand our relationship with WWE, bringing enormously popular programming to VOD via TVN’s advanced platform,” said Jim Riley, TVN Executive Vice President. “WWE 24/7 is precisely the kind of unique, branded programming that will energize a new customer category to sample and embrace VOD.”
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Additional information on the company can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. WWE 24/7 is a subscription video on demand service being made available through cable and satellite television providers and leveraging WWE’s 75,000-hour library, the largest of its kind in the world, featuring the leading wrestling and other sports entertainment brands and programming. More information on WWE 24/7 can be found at www.wwe24-7.com.
About TVN Entertainment Corporation
TVN Entertainment, a Video On Demand (VOD) content solutions company, is the leading provider of on demand television programming, management and delivery services. TVN currently distributes more than 2000 hours of VOD programming from over 70 content providers. In addition to comprehensive programming services, TVN Entertainment offers the only single-source management and distribution solution for VOD and live events, including content aggregation, packaging, encoding, asset management and secure transport via satellite to all video service providers. TVN Entertainment has been chosen as the VOD solution for many leading MSOs, including Adelphia, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Insight and Mediacom. For more information visit www.TVN.com.
Trademarks: The names of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks which are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the conditions of the markets for live events, broadcast television, cable television, pay-per-view, Internet, entertainment, professional sports, and licensed merchandise; acceptance of the Company’s brands, media and merchandise within those markets; uncertainties relating to litigation; risks associated with producing live events both domestically and internationally; uncertainties associated with international markets; risks relating to maintaining and renewing key agreement, including television distribution agreement; and other risks and factors set forth from time to time in Company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results could differ materially from those currently expected or anticipated. In
addition to these risks and uncertainties, our dividend is based on a number of factors, including our liquidity and historical and projected cash flow, strategic plan, our financial results and condition, contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends and such other factors as our board of directors may consider relevant.
SOURCE: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
