"Today is a milestone for Akimbo as we join with the legendary consumer electronics brand - RCA, and Movielink, a leading broadband VOD movie service which offers premium Hollywood content," said Chief Executive Officer Joshua Goldman. "It has always been our vision to supply consumers with a robust video collection and the combination of Thomson's latest technology and Movielink's broad film library will provide an unparalleled entertainment experience."
“Akimbo's Internet video-on-demand service, now enhanced by Movielink's outstanding entertainment library, exemplifies the kind of industry-changing innovation that gave birth to the RCA brand and that we continue to strive for.”
"We are committed to offering consumers as much flexibility as possible to access movie content online securely and legally," said Movielink Chief Executive Officer Jim Ramo. "We are very happy to work with Akimbo to make it easy for consumers to download movies and watch them directly on their televisions."
"Thomson's goal is to provide consumers with great technology in products that make entertainment easier and more enjoyable," said Karsten Verhaegan, Vice President, IP Video Solutions, Thomson Access Platforms and Gateways of Thomson. "Akimbo's Internet video-on-demand service, now enhanced by Movielink's outstanding entertainment library, exemplifies the kind of industry-changing innovation that gave birth to the RCA brand and that we continue to strive for."
The new RCA Akimbo Player, priced at $199 with rebate, will offer a high quality audio and video experience, broadband connectivity and a powerful processor for improved UI performance. Its Ethernet and dual USB ports will provide consumer options for peripherals and home networking connectivity, such as through the use of wireless 802.11g adapters. The hard disk drive will allow Akimbo subscribers to store up to 150 hours of movies and video for on-demand playback. The RCA Akimbo Player is based on Thomson's next generation IP1100 IPTV platform which offers an array of advanced compression codecs to deliver improved video performance at lower bandwidths.
Akimbo is providing the software and service for the new RCA Akimbo player, based on the existing Akimbo Service. Akimbo's award-winning Internet video-on-demand service bridges the gap between broadcast and broadband and offers a complementary service to existing broadcast, cable and satellite systems. The Akimbo collection includes on-demand video and movies from 150 providers in 85 different categories and some 8,000 titles, with more added each week. Programs include well-known film and television fare as well as hard-to-find specialty video in areas like extreme sports, education, music, healthy sustainable living, independent films and foreign languages.
About Movielink
Movielink (www.movielink.com) is an online movie download service offering U.S. broadband customers an extensive selection of recently released films and classic movies covering every genre, from action, comedy, drama, family and romance to sci-fi, horror and thrillers. The service is owned and operated by Movielink, LLC, a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Movielink content offerings are drawn from the current releases and vast libraries of those studios as well as from those of Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox and leading independent studios.
About Thomson - Partner to the Media & Entertainment Industries
Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) provides services, systems and technology to help its Media & Entertainment clients - content creators, content distributors and users of its technology - realize their business goals and optimize their performance in a rapidly changing technology environment. The Group is the preferred partner to the Media & Entertainment Industries through its Technicolor, Grass Valley, RCA and Thomson brands. For more information: www.thomson.net.
About Akimbo
With the Akimbo Service, your wish is on demand(TM). Akimbo was named "Best of What's New" by Popular Science and accepted 2005 Digital World Innovations and CES Best of Innovations 2005 awards. With 12 patent applications featuring more than 150 patent claims, Akimbo is the first company to deliver digital-quality video-on-demand to any television via a broadband-Internet connection. Akimbo has offices in San Mateo, Calif. and is a privately held company funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sprout Group and Zone Ventures. For more information, visit www.akimbo.com
(The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.)
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