Orion and PixelPlay Partner to Create First Interactive TV Mobile Entertainment Portal

Orion and PixelPlay Partner to Create First Interactive TV Mobile Entertainment Portal

Sophisticated, fully interactive TV based portal enables viewers to download mobile entertainment content via their TV to their cell phones

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Orion Information Services and PixelPlay announced today that they are partnering to create the world's first interactive TV mobile entertainment portal; all previous mobile entertainment portals have been Web based. Under the terms of the partnership, PixelPlay will create a very sophisticated front end to Orion's Mobile Entertainment Portal that will launch by the end of 2005 and will be far more interactive with wider choices for viewers. Further, it will enable subscribers to browse and listen to more than 5,000 entertainment options on their TVs and then download their selections to their cell phones including ring tones, images, music tones, animations, sound effects and Java mobile games. The full range of mobile content available can be found at http://www.dishmobile.com/ .

"This partnership is a natural step in the growth of Orion," said Kristian Gjerding, CEO of Orion Information Services. "During the past year we've signed agreements with major and select independent music publishing groups as well as numerous specialty content houses. These agreements license Orion to distribute a wide range of existing content as well as all new content as soon as it becomes available. Our alliance with PixelPlay puts a mechanism in place that satellite and cable networks can leverage to offer their subscribers mobile entertainment that is already in high demand."

"Orion is the only company we found with the technology, management, and partnerships to ensure success in the use of ITV as a delivery channel for mobile entertainment," said Ron Chaimowitz, CEO of PixelPlay. "We're delighted to pioneer this new distribution channel with Orion which complements PixelPlay's current distribution channels that already include Cablevision Systems Corporation, EchoStar, Bell Express Vu, MultiChoice, Vodafone, and GoGo on HOT Cable."

The TV portal integrates both Web and WAP based outlets to enable users access from TV, the Internet and mobile phones. The WAP service is unique in this respect because it uses SMS as the initiator to drive advertising.

About Orion Information Services

Orion Information Services (OIS) is a cross media company delivering profitable, engaging mobile content and services. Founded in 2002, this new breed of company provides its partners with innovative interactive services designed to keep pace with the ever-changing mobile world. Its cross-media services combine traditional media (television, radio and print) with the Internet and mobile consumer devices, such as mobile phones or palmtop units, to connect consumers to an entirely new world of wireless services.

Headquartered in Miami Beach with offices in New York and LA, Orion is focused on the US and Latin American markets, and with a development office in Copenhagen, Denmark, Orion has secured access to the cutting edge wireless markets of the Nordic region. http://www.ois-inc.com/

About PixelPlay

PixelPlay is the leading provider of entertainment and state-of-the-art technologies for emerging platforms including Interactive TV, IPTV, Internet and Mobile devices worldwide. The Company creates and distributes games featuring many top brands including Atari's(R) (ATAR) Asteroids(TM), Centipede(TM), Super Breakout(TM), and Missile Command(TM) and Hasbro's(R) (HAS) Monopoly(R), Scrabble(R), Yahtzee(R) and Boggle(R). Popular children's brands include Little Bear and Reader Rabbit(R). These notable brands combined with PixelPlay's patented JIVE(TM) Technology which enables consumers to experience cross-platform, multi-player interaction, allows the company to provide highly profitable entertainment services to iTV operators and mobile carriers. Headquartered in New York, PixelPlay was recently formed by the combination of Pixel Technologies and PlayTV. As a result, the company is now a driving force in the ITV industry. In 2004 and in 2005 PixelPlay was named "Echostar Developer of the Year" and is recognized as a Mobility Preferred Partner by Microsoft, which presented PixelPlay with their "Entertainment Application Developer of the Year Award." For more information, please visit http://www.pixelplay.com/

Orion Press Contact: Jan Wall Orion Information Services (250) 388-0865 jan@oismail.com

PixelPlay Press Contact: Paulina Piekarski Connors Communications (212) 798-1407 Paulina@connors.com

Source: PixelPlay

CONTACT: Jan Wall, of Orion Information Services, +1-250-388-0865, jan@oismail.com; or Paulina Piekarski, of Connors Communications, +1-212-798-1407, Paulina@connors.com

Web site: http://www.dishmobile.com/ http://www.ois-inc.com/ http://www.pixelplay.com/

------- Profile: Ent