OpenTV Appoints Technology Veteran Arata Hirao as General Manager, Representative Director of OpenTV Japan

OpenTV Appoints Technology Veteran Arata Hirao as General Manager, Representative Director of OpenTV Japan

SAN FRANCISCO and TOKYO, March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. (NASDAQ:OPTV), one of the world's leading interactive television companies, today announced the appointment of technology and broadband veteran Arata Hirao as general manager and representative director of OpenTV's Japanese operations. Drawing from his industry knowledge and experience, Hirao will help drive OpenTV's business growth in Japan.

Hirao brings nearly 30 years of experience to OpenTV from a wide variety of technology sectors including cable, broadband, mobile and internet computing, software and applications. Most recently, he served as president and representative director at Critical Path Japan, Inc. where he lead sales, streamlined operations and drove profitability for the hosted service solution company. Hirao also held key sales and management positions with Openwave Systems Japan Co. Ltd., Invisix Asia Pacific, Inc. and Nortel Networks Japan. At Nortel Japan, he developed the product marketing organization, served as vice president of technology services where he created a respected customer service organization, developed a channel program and was in charge of technology assessment for broadband on cable.

"It is with enthusiasm that we welcome Arata Hirao to OpenTV," said Michael Ivanchenko, OpenTV's senior vice president & managing director Asia Pacific. "His wealth of experience will help us immensely in further developing and realizing the full potential of our suite of digital TV products and services, and better serve the business needs of the Japanese technology, broadband and cable markets. Arata-san will be instrumental in driving OpenTV sales and partnerships throughout Japan."

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world's leading interactive television companies. Deployed in over 50 million digital set-top-boxes in 96 countries, the company's software enables a wide array of functionality, including enhanced television, interactive shopping, interactive and addressable advertising, games and gaming, personal video recording, and a variety of consumer care and communication applications. For more information, please visit www.opentv.com.

Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Information

The foregoing information may contain "forward-looking statements" -- that is, statements that relate, in some way, to future events or that could possibly lead a reader to infer certain facts. There are many uncertainties associated with these statements, and we do not intend to suggest any inferences based simply on the information in this release. We discuss many risks associated with our business in documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which readers are urged to obtain and review. We do not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Source: OpenTV, Inc.

CONTACT: Marc McCarthy of OpenTV, +1-415-962-5111, or mmccarthy@opentv.com

Web site: http://www.opentv.com/

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