Macrovision announces a series of new investments and strategic partnerships in private companies with next generation, best-of breed technologies that will facilitate the emergence of various video-on-demand (VOD), audio and video streaming, and on-line gaming services. Macrovision has invested $3 million in Widevine Technologies Series C preferred stock offering. Widevine has developed a patent-pending server-based architecture that encrypts content on-the-fly, secures the content through end-user playback, and provides a tamper-proofing and circumvention monitoring capability. The Widevine solution is video format- and encryption-agnostic and allows for renewable security for previously distributed content. Since the Widevine technology is dynamically applied and real-time based, it provides for more security and flexibility than statically treated, pre-encrypted content.

Macrovision has invested $4 million in Digital Fountain's Series D preferred stock offering. Digital Fountain has developed a patented data-encoding technology to deliver video, audio and data content reliably and cost effectively with optimal speed in unicast and multicast environments. Today's networks require that companies choose between predictable, consistent performance and speed; they can have one or the other but not both. With Digital Fountain, companies no longer have to make that compromise because a perfect copy of the original content is delivered on time, the first time, every time. The benefits of Digital Fountain's technology include exponential productivity increase, economical content distribution, bandwidth savings and a richer consumer experience. Digital Fountain's servers began shipping in June 2001 for use by enterprises and service providers. Digital Fountain customers are realizing a 30x performance improvement at 1/10 the cost of existing content servers.

Macrovision invested $1.5 million in NTRU Cryptosystems Series B preferred stock offering. NTRU provides the highest-performance security solutions for digital video and audio, consumer devices and applications. NTRU, is rapidly becoming the security standard in such markets as mobile communications, multimedia, digital consumer and embedded solutions. Unlike other security technology, the company's patented public-key cryptography is the only practical security solution that provides ultrafast performance and strong protection on multimedia devices. These distinct advantages enable the delivery of secure, real-time applications, devices with longer battery life and ultimately, a more desirable user experience.

Earlier this year, Macrovision invested in iVAST, Inc., an MPEG-4 software provider. Macrovision is working with iVAST and Widevine to develop an Internet-download video rights management solution for major Hollywood studios and other video producers. It is expected that this architecture will be extensible into VOD solutions for set-top boxes and video streaming applications.

In the audio space, Macrovision previously invested $4.0 million in TTR Technologies and teamed with them to introduce SafeAudio(TM), a music CD copy protection system. Macrovision has also invested $3.5 million in RioPort, a music download and streaming infrastructure provider. RioPort is using Macrovision's SafeWrap(TM) technology to tamperproof various elements of its music delivery system.

``Macrovision's strategy is to invest in companies that have strong proprietary and patented solutions in the areas of content encryption, tamper-evidence and tamper-proofing, and advanced digital delivery technologies that support the proliferation of our various copy protection and digital rights management technologies. Working with these companies we are developing best-of-breed DRM system solutions that support highly secure, high quality and reliable delivery of content to digital set-top boxes, PCs, PVRs, handheld devices, and other entertainment appliances,'' said Bill Krepick, president and COO of Macrovision. ``Our relationships with the leading content owners in film, music, games and software give our technology partners unparalleled access to key decision makers allowing us to jointly design both electronic download and streaming content delivery solutions tailored to the needs of these industries. These next generation solutions are complementary electronic extensions of our packaged media copy protection business. These investments and relationships affirm Macrovision's leading position in the DRM field.''