Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) Gains Strong Support from Major Entertainment Companies

Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) Gains Strong Support from Major Entertainment Companies

HOLLYWOOD, California, September 7, 2011/PRNewswire/ --

- Warner Bros., Disney, Comcast, Rovi, Baseline to Implement
EIDR in Digital Supply Chain

The Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) today announced that leading
entertainment companies have begun integrating the use of EIDR IDs into
their digital distribution workflows. These developments along with the
support of two influential industry organizations - DEG: The Digital
Entertainment Group (DEG) and the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) - signal
strong growth in adoption of EIDR IDs as the universal unique identifier for
movie and TV assets across the global entertainment supply chain.

EIDR, a non-profit industry service launched in 2011, is the
entertainment industry's solution for identifying and tracking digital movie
and TV content in commercial distribution, regardless of platform or
distribution channel.

Today's announcement highlights projects underway at Warner Bros.,
Disney, Rovi, Comcast and Baseline targeting key digital distribution
workflows, including online retail distribution, digital infrastructure, VOD
ingestion and tracking, and commercial metadata feeds.

Warner Bros. In the area of online digital distribution, Warner Bros. is
using EIDR to create a streamlined, effective delivery system for content
distribution online - an area that's highly dependent on accurate data
supporting rights and product information. "To further this goal, we've
invested in several technology initiatives to streamline and automate our
interactions with retailers, vendors and consumers," said Darcy Antonellis,
President, Warner Bros. Technical Operations. "EIDR is a key component of
these initiatives, providing a global, unique identifier for content assets
as they move from creation to consumption. Just as our advertising
colleagues have seen a need to use a unique ID system for ads, the need for
a unique ID to track media and entertainment flowing online also has become
obvious. We are actively integrating EIDR into our content workflow and are
working with retailers like Microsoft to incorporate the standard over the
coming months."

Disney. Disney today announced that EIDR is now part of its
infrastructure supporting multiple digital initiatives. "We have implemented
EIDR into our metadata and internal digital workflows, and, working with our
distribution partners, we intend to extend its usage to our various
distribution channels," said Arnaud Robert, Disney's SVP of Distribution
Technology. "EIDR plays an important role in digital media distribution, and
we are pleased to promote its use across the industry."

Comcast. Comcast continues to prepare its video ecosystem to accept
movie and TV content delivered with the EIDR identification as well as the
associated metadata. "We fully support the EIDR initiative since complete,
accurate and consistent metadata is key to our products and features such as
browse, search, filter and recommendations," said Steve Heeb, Vice President
of Business Development at Comcast. "The use of EIDR will enable us to
develop a robust and accurate database of program metadata from multiple
sources that can be used across multiple platforms, including VOD, linear
and online."

Rovi. Rovi Corporation plans to add EIDR IDs into data feeds to its
metadata customers as early as Q4 of this year. Rovi, a major metadata
supplier to the entertainment market, seeded the EIDR database with an
initial set of records after launch. "EIDR enables participants within the
digital entertainment ecosystem to access quality metadata, which in turn,
helps end consumers to find the content they desire," said John Moakley, EVP
Data Solutions for Rovi. "Rovi is committed to supporting and working with
EIDR to help it become the global unique content identifier for movie and TV
content."

Baseline. Baseline, a part of the New York Times Company and a premier
provider of film and television information to the entertainment industry,
is actively mapping EIDR IDs to its database of professional film and
television information and adding EIDR IDs to its products in the coming
months. "Our goal is to add EIDR IDs into our data products and, by turn,
help integrate EIDR into the global entertainment data ecosystem," said Amer
Saleem, Director of Technology. "The notion of a universal ID is an exciting
one that we believe can help our prominent consumer brand clients create a
more engaging end-user experience and we look forward to working with EIDR
and our customers to support its adoption."

EIDR also announced today that the Hollywood IT Society (HITS), working
hand-in-hand with the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), is recommending the
use of EIDR IDs across the digital entertainment ecosystem and actively
working to help drive adoption among studios, post-production houses, and
entertainment industry service providers.

"HITS has successfully collaborated with the DEG and EIDR to help
address a formidable challenge of the digital entertainment ecosystem by
defining our requirements across the Studios," said Jeff Mirich, SVP & CIO
for The Walt Disney Studios. "Establishing a universal media ID is a
fundamental requirement for the digital supply chain in order to distribute
and monetize content and achieve it with efficiency and customer
involvement. We will continue to participate in efforts to drive EIDR
adoption across the entertainment industry and help establish best practices
for use of EIDR in content workflows from end-to-end."

"Within the DEG, the Universal Media ID Task Force has worked diligently
to find a unique identifier for tracking all digital sales. We are pleased
with the progress EIDR is making and look forward to further exploration
with them on this essential element within the digital domain," said Dan
Miron, Chair of the DEG Supply Chain Committee, and EVP, Worldwide Supply
Chain Management, at Warner Home Video.

The collaboration with HITS and DEG and the ongoing implementation of
EIDR IDs by major entertainment leaders are helping to make EIDR the chosen
solution for unique identification of movie and TV encodings, products,
versions, and titles in digital distribution workflows.

"I am thrilled that EIDR in its first months of operation has resonated
with so many participants in the digital supply chain. The adoption of EIDR
by industry leaders and the support from DEG and HITS reflect a critical
need for universal unique identifiers in the supply chain and the ability of
EIDR to meet this need effectively and at low cost," said Kip Welch, EIDR
President.

The registry welcomes the open participation of stakeholders in the
international movie and TV digital distribution ecosystem. EIDR
representatives will be present at IBC in Amsterdam and at the Entertainment
Supply Chain Academy's ESCA Europe conference in September 2011 to meet with
ecosystem participants and share more information. Interested parties should
visit http://www.eidr.org or contact info@eidr.org.

About the Entertainment ID Registry
Launched in January of 2011, the Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) is a
non-profit, industry resource for cataloging commercial digital video/audio
assets, such as movie and TV content. The registry has been developed to
address the need for a universal, low-cost approach to identifying content
and products for the entertainment industry. It is governed by a Board of
Directors comprising key stakeholders from content owners, video
post-production houses, content distributors, retailers, entertainment
services and technology provider companies.

Source: Entertainment ID Registry

Paul Heim, Alliances Management for EIDR, +1-650-489-5817, pr@eidr.org

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