Adobe Media Player Now Available

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Media Player 1.0 software. An Adobe AIR™ application, this customizable, cross-platform media player provides exciting new ways for viewers to discover and interact with their favorite content, while offering revenue and brand-building opportunities for content publishers. Major television broadcasters and leading content publishers, including CBS, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, PBS, CondéNet, and Scripps Networks have worked with Adobe to provide a broad range of television programming and entertaining video content to viewers. Additionally, Adobe announced Adobe TV, a network in Adobe Media Player with a series of shows that provides expert instruction and original series programming about Adobe products to the worldwide creative community (see separate press release). Adobe Media Player is available for immediate download at http://www.adobe.com/go/mp.

“With Adobe Media Player, we’re bringing viewers and content owners closer together, with an experience that doesn’t constrain them by platform or proprietary software application”

“With Adobe Media Player, we’re bringing viewers and content owners closer together, with an experience that doesn’t constrain them by platform or proprietary software application,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “It’s a merger of TV Guide and DVR for Internet video content. Some great shows, like The Hills from MTV and CSI from CBS, is already available to view and more will be coming soon.”

Broader Reach for Video Consumers

Adobe Media Player can provide high-quality playback of streamed, downloaded or locally-stored video in the Adobe Flash format. For the first time, consumers can download video outside the browser in the Adobe Flash format, which can be viewed in 1080p, 720p or 480i video display resolutions with the most advanced audio quality. Users can also subscribe to television shows and other online video content and then automatically receive new episodes of the shows as they become available. To help viewers discover new content, a broad, searchable catalog of shows from leading media companies and networks is available and it is expected that it will continually expand to include video from additional broadcasters, studios and independent producers. Some of the initial content available on Adobe Media Player includes: CSI: New York, CSI: Miami, Big Brother, Star Trek, Melrose Place, Hawaii Five-O, The Twilight Zone and MacGyver from CBS; clips from The Hills, MTV News and Yo! MTV Raps from MTV Networks; select shows on HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and Fine Living Network from Scripps Networks; Epicurious.com, Style.com and Wired.com from CondéNet; PBS programming and music videos from Universal Music Group. Additional content from MTV Networks’ brands including MTV, Nickelodeon, COMEDY CENTRAL, VH1, CMT, Logo, Spike, The N, GameTrailers and Atom Films will be made available over the next several months.

“As the Internet has matured and video has become more and more popular, content owners are looking for new ways to connect with their audiences, both online and offline,” said Melissa Webster, vice president, IDC Content and Digital Media Technologies. “Audiences want a great playback experience, including streamed or downloaded high-quality video. At the same time, content owners need to protect and monetize their content via premium services or advertising. This is the opportunity that Adobe is addressing with Adobe Media Player.”

New Revenue Models for Content and Media Publishers

Adobe Media Player provides content owners and media publishers with new ways to distribute, measure and build businesses around video content. Unlike existing media players, Adobe Media Player enables viewers to subscribe to free content, giving them control to watch their favorite shows both online and offline. The player also offers next-generation offline monetization and branding options, including viewer-centric dynamic advertising for targeted marketing campaigns and the ability to customize the look and feel of the player to match the brand or theme of the video content. Adobe Media Player can also provide content publishers with anonymous measurement of content usage data, such as when and how often a video has been viewed, in addition to supporting protection options such as protected streaming, advertising protection and video DRM protection.

Adobe’s Growing Video Ecosystem

Leveraging Adobe’s Emmy® Award winning Flash® architecture, Adobe Media Player is a key part of Adobe’s ecosystem for the creation and delivery of next-generation broadcast entertainment. It complements and leverages other Adobe components, including: Adobe Flash Player; Adobe Flash CS3 Professional; Adobe Flash Media Server 3 software for streaming media applications; Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server for content protection; Flash Lite™ mobile video playback technology; Adobe’s range of media authoring tools such as Adobe Creative Suite® 3 Production Premium software for video, audio and motion graphics production; and Adobe Media Encoder for compression and live streaming. Adobe Media Player is an Adobe AIR software application, a revolutionary cross-operating system runtime that brings rich Internet applications to the desktop.

Availability

Adobe Media Player is immediately available as a free download for Windows and Macintosh platforms from http://www.adobe.com/go/mp. To learn more about Adobe Media Player, please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe AIR, Creative Suite, Flash and Flash Lite are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Emmy is the trademark property of ATAS/NATAS. Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.