Solution Aims to Reduce Authoring Costs and Offer New Revenue Opportunities to Publishers
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – January 6, 2009 – Ascent Media Group announced today that it has teamed with Akamai Technologies, Inc. and Sofatronic to create an integrated digital workflow and distribution solution for the production, hosting and delivery of BD Live™ functionality for Blu-ray Discs.
Available through Ascent Media’s Blink Digital, the platform provides a more efficient and cost effective way for movie studios and content creators to harness the full power of BD Live’s Internet-enabled features, such as bonus content, online community, and interactive and e-commerce applications. Live demonstrations of the technology will be held January 8-9, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. during the International CES Conference in Las Vegas, NV at the MGM Grand Hotel in the Signature Suite (entrance located at 145 East Harmon Ave.).
“In partnership with industry leaders Akamai and Sofatronic, we are able to offer studios a new solution to BD Live functionality which simplifies the process of delivering this new and exciting interactive experience to the consumer,” said Jose Royo, CEO of Ascent Media Group. “Our head-to-toe package still leaves room for flexibility, plus our best-in-breed partnership allows us to deliver high-quality performance with greater efficiencies for our studio and Blu-ray distribution partners.”
Under the joint initiative, Sofatronic is responsible for the development of a new software platform based off its Kaleidoscope™ technology, a development platform for interactive entertainment on Blu-ray. Akamai’s global distribution platform will enable Internet-connected devices to support large file downloads and acceleration of rich, interactive media content and applications. Blink Digital is responsible for providing creative delivery, design, authoring and programming services and BD Live integration for high quality Blu-ray Disc production.
“Blu-Ray is one of the first convergent devices to hit scale in the connected living room,” said Akamai’s Chief Strategist, Digital Media, Tim Napoleon. “Studios recognize the power of the Internet, and with that, the entertainment paradigm is shifting. BD Live is designed to help studios build social communities around entertainment content and get more for their investment through a platform for merchandising brands, promoting future sales and creating direct relationships with consumers. Akamai’s expertise in delivering rich, dynamic content coupled with Sofatronic’s unmatched BD Live development tools and Blink Digital’s proven track record of high-quality authoring services, will give studios an edge when developing a BD Live experience.”
Together, the three companies have addressed many of the outstanding industry issues that previous BD Live platforms have experienced by providing improved authoring tools, better disc quality assurance, increased menu functionality, secure retailing interface, improved bonus content download times, and fixed disc pricing.
“Sofatronic is exclusively focused on Blu-ray and interactive TV technology development,” said Isaac Larbi, CEO of Sofatronic USA. “Through this partnership, we are better able to meet consumer demand for progressive Blu-ray entertainment by offering a seamless one-stop development solution to studios and Blu-ray distribution partners.”
BD Live offers a wide array of interactive features to the home entertainment ecosystem. With the highly interactive BD Live platform, personalized avatars can be created, subtitles can be frequently updated and viewers can simultaneously interact with others while watching a movie. By instantly connecting users to the Web and empowering them to browse and download online content with special features, new trailers and games, BD Live enables content creators to deliver an interactive service, as opposed to a static product that becomes obsolete once it has been shipped.
About Ascent Media Group
Santa Monica, California-based Ascent Media Group, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ascent Media Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCMA), which provides creative and technical services to the media and entertainment industries. Through more than 40 facilities in regions of Southern California, New York, Atlanta, London and Singapore, Ascent Media provides effective solutions for the creation, management and distribution of content to major motion picture studios, independent producers, broadcast networks, cable channels, advertising agencies and other companies that produce, own and/or distribute entertainment, news, sports, corporate, educational, industrial and advertising content. For more information visit: www.ascentmedia.com
About Akamai
Akamai provides market-leading managed services for powering rich media, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai’s services have been adopted by the world’s most recognized brands across diverse industries. The alternative to centralized Web infrastructure, Akamai’s global network of tens of thousands of distributed servers provides the scale, reliability, insight and performance for businesses to succeed online. Akamai has transformed the Internet into a more viable place to inform, entertain, interact and collaborate. To experience The Akamai Difference, visit www.akamai.com.
About Sofatronic
Sofatronic is a TV technologies provider for the next generation HD format Blu-ray and Tru2way™ solutions. Sofatronic was founded in 2006 by and has offices in Hamburg and Los Angeles. The development platform Kaleidoscope is an integration tool for developing a variety of unique interactive applications. It is currently in use for BD-J and BD Live development in both North America and Europe; and is providing the Home Entertainment Industry with new possible revenue outlets with the latest connected and interactive features and services.
