NRTC Investment to Help Rural Telcos

Investment in Avail/TVN Ensures Rural Telco Members Ability

For Immediate Release
DATE: May 18, 2009
Contact: Andrea Cumpston
Phone: 703-787-7156
E-mail: acumpston@nrtc.coop

  
May 18, 2009 [Herndon, VA]—The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) today announced a strategic investment in Avail Media, a Reston, Virginia-based industry leader in providing managed content aggregation services for the deployment of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).  As part of the same transaction, Avail Media has completed a merger with TVN Entertainment, the world’s largest video-on-demand (VOD) company.  The NRTC investment enables access to all the best programming available from Hollywood, network providers, and independent producers, as well as ensures members a stake in a robust, next-generation IPTV transport platform.
 
“Our Telco members have made significant investments in their communities by deploying broadband through DSL and fiber,” said NRTC President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Phillips.  “This investment confirms our belief in IPTV and our commitment to help our rural Telco members succeed,” said Phillips.  “We continue to invest in their future success by helping make IPTV programming and next-generation video services a source of revenue growth for our members, and delivering enhanced video services for their customers,” he said.  The investment will make NRTC a major shareholder in the combined company and the Cooperative will acquire a seat on their board of directors.
 
“Our combined platform provides comprehensive distribution capabilities for today’s content and is poised to deliver the future of digital media services,” said Ramu Potarazu, CEO of the newly combined company.   “Whether it is delivering video to the television screen today, or to the PC and mobile device tomorrow, we share a common goal of helping deliver the emerging new services that consumers want.  Our partnership with NRTC means that rural America will be among the first to benefit from these new services,” explained Potarazu.
 
“New interactive services and video over broadband are coming quickly,” said NRTC CEO Phillips.  “The Avail and TVN vision of personalized, on-demand video consumption, emerging video technologies, like over-the-top-video, combined with the extensive NRTC programming line-up, will put our members in the position to create an unrivaled entertainment experience for their customers,” said Phillips. 
 
Concurrent with this investment, Avail Media completed a merger with TVN Entertainment, the world’s largest television-on-demand company, reaching over 46 million households with more than 120 million viewers throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.    With the addition of TVN Entertainment’s service portfolio, the combined company becomes the largest independent provider of end-to-end content aggregation, management, and distribution offerings.
 
“NRTC entered the IPTV programming market in 2007 because our members asked us to create an offering that would rival anything available in the market.  NRTC leveraged our video experience in the satellite television business to develop an unmatched content line-up exclusively for the benefit of our rural Telco members,” said Phillips.
 
NRTC has been a pioneer in introducing advanced telecommunications services to improve the quality of life in rural America. During the mid-1990s, NRTC provided the first external funding and led in the launch of DIRECTV, activating nearly 2 million of its initial subscribers. More recently, NRTC repeated that success by investing in WildBlue, a satellite Internet access provider, and activating all of WildBlue’s first-year customers.  And last month, NRTC closed an investment and distribution agreement with DigitalBridge, a leading WiMAX broadband company, to help expand broadband Internet services to unserved and underserved communities.
 
“For the second time in less than a month, NRTC will help advance the technological revolution in rural communities, this time by providing the best platform for new IPTV services and the most video-on-demand content,” explained CEO Phillips. “Our members have spent nearly 25 years making sure people in those communities are not left behind technologically. Today, we take another giant step.” 
  
About NRTC
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) represents the advanced telecommunications and information technology interests of nearly 1,500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 states.  Founded in 1986, NRTC provides products and services developed specifically to meet the needs of rural utilities and their customers, such as high-speed Internet access via satellite, full-service Internet access and support, advanced metering infrastructure, SmartSCADA, wireless technologies, power quality products, long distance programs, mobile phone service, IP backbone services, direct broadcast satellite service (DBS) with DIRECTV and programming for Internet protocol television (IPTV). For more information, visit www.nrtc.coop. 
 
About Avail Media, Inc.
Based in Reston, Virginia, Avail Media is the emerging leader in providing managed content aggregation services through a fully-integrated, headend infrastructure for the profitable deployment of IP video. Avail Media is the only company today to deliver to its affiliates a combined MPEG-4 linear IPTV, HD Overlay (MPEG-2/4) programming solution. The Avail Media solution includes a full content lineup of live television programming with hundreds of channels, all quality-encoded in MPEG-4, IP-encapsulated, encrypted, and designed for future value-added services. Avail Media's system has been designed for use by video providers of multiple types—w hether triple-play, quad-play, or pure video play. For more information, please visit www.availmedia.com. 
 
About TVN Entertainment
TVN Entertainment Corporation, the leading television on-demand company, works with every major studio, network, and telecommunications video provider in North America.  TVN is the preferred provider of original on-demand programs and networks.  TVN supports an open, advanced technology platform, and offers the most comprehensive, end-to-end solution for licensing, managing, distributing and marketing on-demand content to virtually any platform.  For more information about TVN’s products and services, please visit www.TVN.com.
 
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