New Media Network Parners With TVN Entertainment To Launch Digital Music Venture

New Media Network (NMN) and TVN Entertainment Corporation have formed a business relationship to launch a new digital music and entertainment venture, announced Ian Duffell, President and CEO of New Media Network. TVN, a digital cable content and services provider, has acquired a majority stake in NMN, to add a digitally downloaded music service to the roster of digital products and services the Company provides to consumers via broadband and the Internet. ""We are delighted that NMN's vision for digital delivery of music and entertainment will now be enhanced by the addition of TVN's infrastructure and capabilities,"" commented Ian Duffell. ""The combined resources of the two entities propels NMN into a unique position in this fast moving arena."" This new music and entertainment venture will be branded eGroove and spearheaded by its founder Ian Duffell - former President and CEO of Virgin Entertainment Group. Unlike conventional music stores, eGroove's brick-and-mortar retail stores, which Duffell has dubbed bits-and-mortar, will feature free-standing multimedia stations to provide music products ""on-demand"" ñ complemented by a world class Internet destination (www.egroove.com) selling digitally downloaded music and media products. The stores will carry a wide range of physical inventory comprising new releases, hits and current catalog. In addition, the stores will be capable of producing a comprehensive deep catalog, including specialist genres, which will be manufactured on-demand in the store. This offers a solution to the depth of inventory problems encountered in all but the largest music retailers in major cities. eGroove's vision is to create an exciting and uniquely traditional retail environment - with a twist. The stores will house both physical inventory and digitally stored product - to ensure that customer expectations are always met. At the same time, the technology has a chameleon-like quality equipped to produce music in any format - be it CD, DVD or even perhaps a microchip. Customers will log in at one of the stores, to the multi-media station through a touch-screen monitor and keyboard, or at home via the Internet. A secure customer database will keep track of individual tastes and interests, allowing each user to access their individual profiles in any of the stores or via the Web. Once logged on, they will be able to preview an extensive music database offering search capability by artist, title and genre, as well as music samples, interviews, reviews, gift registries, chat rooms and more. The customer will be offered several purchase options, including traditional physical inventory, product stored digitally and manufactured from the local server and the ability to ship direct to the address of the customer's choice. The eGroove System offers the latest in security, digital compression and distribution. Using standards being adopted by the record and film industries, the System uses state-of-the art software to ensure secure delivery of product, whilst maintaining the highest audio quality. eGroove stores will be inter-connected via a private communications network provided by TVN's broadband, satellite and cable network. ""TVN continues to expand its array of digital products and services delivered to consumers. Clearly, music is a key component of our digital product menu,"" commented Stuart Z. Levin, TVN Chairman & CEO. ""Our NMN acquisition will be integrated into our broadband and Internet initiatives. We're also excited that Ian Duffell will lead this new venture, with his remarkable track record in music distribution and marketing."" About TVN EntertainmentTVN Entertainment Corporation is a leading supplier of pay-per-view programming and transactional services for the cable and satellite television industries. Transactional services provided by TVN include near-video-on-demand movie and event entertainment programming for consumer based cable and satellite users and a digital video-on-demand movie service for the cable industry. TVN also provides the Panda Shopping Network, a live television home shopping service and its GRTV Network, a media time-buying and direct response network. TVN's Web site can be found at www.tvn.com. About New Media NetworkNew Media Network, founded in 1998, combines the efficiencies of Internet-based commerce with the traditional strengths of store-based entertainment retailing. This business model, in development over the last two years, combines strategic planning with the experienced industry experts and the newest digital technologies, creating a distribution vehicle which has the ability to continually satisfy the changing needs of consumers. Source: TVN Entertainment Corporation; New Media Network