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FINNISH CABLE TV STARTS COMMERCIAL iTV SERVICES WITH ORTIKON INTERACTIVE'S SOLUTION

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Ortikon Interactive Ltd, announces that its ORTIKON ACE® MHP-based interactive TV services, platform and head-end management solution have passed all the acceptance tests set by the major Finnish cable consortium comprising 3KTV (Finnet), TTV (Elisa), Turku Cable and VLP (Vaasa Telephone Company), which together reach over 60% of Finnish cable households.

In the autumn of 2004, the consortium will launch commercial interactive MHP services which will include launcher, DVB-HTML browser, EPG, e-mail, welfare services, eLearning solutions, T-Commerce services, enewspapers, mobile communication services with SMS and enhanced MMS solutions and pay-TV package-ordering services. Ortikon Interactive will also supply their head-end solution for automatic service-information management and tools for object carousel management. The whole package is based on the ORTIKON ACE® Platform which offers interfaces to payment, subscriber management, content databases and return channel systems as well as to CRM systems.

The ORTIKON ACE® product family, the world's largest complete interactive MHP service package for digital television, will be demonstrated on the Ortikon Interactive stand at IBC 2004 in Amsterdam 10.-14.9.2004. - Hall 4, Stand 4.244

Immediate availability and scalability

"We compared different MHP solutions and the ORTIKON ACE® solution best meets our stringent and extensive technological and functional requirements. It is also the only solution ready for immediate use," says Mika Arjanne, Technology Director at TTV. "The platform approach offers scalability and modularity, which are important factors as we are expanding our existing offering to viewers with new kinds of MHP service."

A pilot service was used to test the technical functions and the usability of the new services. "The pilot and the feedback from our pilot users were important in the development of MHP-based value-added services. We are now ready to offer MHP services to all of our 280.000 households," explains Mikko Saarentaus, Content Director at 3KTV.

Faster content creation and production

To expedite content creation and production, Ortikon Interactive has launched content-production guidelines for DVB-HTML-based digital television browser. By using this specification (available at www.ortikon.com) contents and services are easily created to an MHP compatible digital TV environment.

For the past year, the ORTIKON ACE® Browser has been used by Finnish cable TV operators to facilitate the transition of new businesses, e.g. publishers and ISPs, into the digital TV world. The browser supports the open DVB-HTML standard and enables almost any XML-based content to be easily and cost-efficiently transformed for DTV transmission.

The ORTIKON ACE® Publisher is designed for small-scale content production for digital TV. The desired content is fed via an easy user interface to the preview window, which shows how the text and pictures will appear on digital TV.

New business opportunities

Service production has attracted businesses outside the traditional media. For example, real estate agents and restaurants have found that this new marketing channel offers easy access to the right target groups with the possibility for real interactivity. Regional TV operators have also realized the importance of reaching the local public via services such as news, targeted interactive advertising and enewspapers.

Further information from:
Antti Vahvaselkä,
Vice President of Sales and Marketing,
ORTIKON INTERACTIVE Ltd
Kuninkaankatu 30
FI-33200 Tampere,
Finland
antti.vahvaselka@ortikon.com

Mobile +358 44 757 5714
Fax: +358 3 225 8775
info@ortikon.com
www.ortikon.com

Notes to editors:

About ORTIKON ACE® Solution:

ORTIKON ACE®Solution provides a full digital television value-added service solution covering standards-based authoring tools, service platforms, a set of value-added services and applications, head-end professional software products and professional services.

About Ortikon Interactive Ltd: Ortikon Interactive Ltd is a professional digital media technology company in Tampere and Helsinki, Finland. The core of the company's business idea is to provide new technologies that integrate television, Internet and mobile phones together in a new way. Ortikon solutions cover platform for interactive value-added services in digital TV, value-added services and applications, head end professional products, iTV service and application development, standard-based authoring tools, technical consultation and systems integration.