Thomson Invests In Geocast Network Systems To Expand Digital Broadcast Televisionís Reach And Bring New Datacasting Services To Millions Of Homes
Thomson multimedia, America's largest television manufacturer, announced today a major investment and development partnership with Geocast Network Systems in an alliance to deploy a comprehensive terrestrial broadcast-based digital television datacasting system and service to millions of homes from coast to coast. Thomson (NYSE: TMS) is making a $15 million investment in Geocast Network Systems and will begin work immediately to develop an advanced digital receiver for the Geocast network that will be sold at retail stores and through the RCA.com Web site. Thomson is the manufacturer and marketer of RCA consumer electronics products. The new RCA-branded Geocast receiver will capture over-the-air digital transmissions and feature an integrated hard disk drive for caching broadcast content. The result will be seamless, high quality playback of rich media content at a moment's notice from home entertainment and information devices. James E. Meyer, Senior Executive Vice President of Thomson multimedia, will serve as a board member of Geocast Network Systems. Geocast is creating a national broadcast network that will utilize local broadcaster's digital TV spectrum to send customized rich-media entertainment and information to personal computers without the need for hard-wired connections or service fees. The service will be advertiser-supported and free to the consumer, much like broadcast television itself. While the first product offered will be an attachment to the home PC, Thomson's investment in Geocast signals its intentions to develop the technology as a key capability of future digital television products, thereby dramatically enhancing the home viewing experience. The first product resulting from the Thomson/Geocast alliance will be an affordable, advanced digital RCA-branded Geocast receiver that will come equipped with a hard disc drive and digital TV tuners and links to the computer with a standardized connection. Local broadcasters and national content providers will furnish their own programming to create a local and national service from Geocast. Consistent with the flexible use of digital television spectrum endorsed by Congress and the FCC, the combined work of Thomson and Geocast will create a datacasting service and product that utilizes the new digital TV channels to send content from local broadcasters. Within the framework of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) over-the-air digital TV standard, itself developed through a decade of industry research and cooperation, Geocast will help broadcasters maximize their digital television spectrum investments. ""Thomson's investment in Geocast is one more step in the process of building a comprehensive new wireless digital data broadcasting service in the United States that will offer rich content initially for the PC, and soon for other home-based digital devices including digital TV sets and emerging information appliances,"" said James E. Meyer, Senior Executive Vice President of Thomson Multimedia. ""In the PC world, the Internet has dramatically changed our economy and personal lives, but its point-to-point architecture was never designed to deliver rich media content to a mass audience. Geocast will change that,"" Geocast CEO Joe Horowitz said. ""With the crucial involvement of Thomson's digital expertise and RCA brand strength - matched with the reach of local broadcasters we have already signed up for Geocast - we can move beyond the Internet to make personalized information and entertainment programming with full-motion video and CD-quality sound instantly available to PC users and, potentially, digital TV receivers.""