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SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT and FT.Com Select Maven to Capitalize on Explosive Growth in Online Video Consumption Across Europe

Posted on: Thursday, 6 September 2007, 09:10 CDT

Maven Networks Inc., a leading Internet TV platform provider, today announced that two internationally renowned global media companies, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT and FT.com are launching major new consumer video offerings on the Maven Internet TV Platform™. SONY BMG and FT.com chose Maven for its leading-edge, highly scalable technology platform that makes it easy to manage and syndicate online video to a global audience while retaining brand and advertising control.

SONY BMG aims to syndicate "SONY BMG Musicbox", its premier online consumer video experience, to its network of hundreds of web properties in up to 19 European countries and multiple languages. The Maven-powered SONY BMG Musicbox players, featuring content from a wide range of SONY BMG artists, will be automatically delivered in each market's native language through geo-targeting, and monetized through interactive advertising to millions of potential monthly unique visitors. The SONY BMG Musicbox initiative leads the company's strategy to develop a worldwide, direct-to-consumer branded music video experience for its extensive media library of thousands of music video assets.

"SONY BMG is delivering a visually rich and compelling video experience to satisfy the huge demand for Internet video," said Ulrich Jaerkel, Senior Vice President, Digital & Business Development of SONY BMG in Europe. "Our Maven-powered players are a critical part of our overall strategy to develop a direct-to-consumer proposition based on our ever-growing library of world-class content, creating great value for both our artists and their fans. Working with Maven as one of our critical technology partners will allow us to rapidly deploy video players across Europe, and enable us to create and control our own syndication network to maximize audience reach and monetization opportunities."

FT.com, the leading business information brand, internationally recognized for its authoritative, accurate, and incisive news, comment and analysis, will use Maven's state-of-the-art syndication platform to deliver all of its video content on FT.com.

"As Maven has experienced in the U.S. and Canada, industry-leading media organizations require a flexible and scalable Internet TV platform to keep up with the demands of the growing international audience" said Hilmi Ozguc, founder and CEO of Maven Networks. "We're thrilled to partner with leading media innovators to expand our capabilities globally into the European market and to enable them to obtain the scale and flexibility necessary to meet to the demands of their consumers and advertisers."

A demonstration of Maven's technology will be shown during the IBC 2007 Exhibition in Amsterdam, September 7 -11, at the Adobe stand located in Hall 7, Stand 721 in the RAI Convention Center.

About Maven Networks

Maven Networks (www.maven.net) is powering the Internet TV revolution. As a critical technology partner, Maven enables professional media companies to quickly and easily create, distribute and profit from direct-to-consumer Internet TV channels and networks. The Maven Internet TV Platform™ is used by industry-leading organizations around the globe such as CBS's CSTV, The Financial Times, Hearst, SONY BMG, Sony Pictures Television, TV Guide, and Univision Online.

About the Financial Times and FT.com

The Financial Times and FT.com, one of the world's leading business brands, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed in 23 cities across the globe, has a daily circulation of 426,451 (ABC figures, July 2007) and a readership of more than 1.3 million people worldwide. FT.com is one of the world's leading business information websites, and the internet partner of the FT newspaper. Since its relaunch in May 2002, the website has continued to be the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 5.29 million unique monthly users (ABC electronic figures, January 2007) generating 40.4 million page views and has 100,000 subscribers.

About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is 50% owned by Bertelsmann A.G. and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America.

Source: Business Wire

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