USA VIDEO INTERACTIVE TO BROADCAST 9TH ANNUAL L.A. MUSIC AWARDS OVER THE WEB
Monday, 23 August 1999
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - The Los Angeles Music Awards has signed a contract with Merging Rivers Media, a subsidiary of USA Video Interactive system, to produce a web broadcast of its 9th Annual L. A. Music Awards ceremony being held at Hollywood’s House of Blues on November 15. The contract follows the Letter of Intent signed by the companies on July 8. USA Video Interactive, through its Merging Rivers Media subsidiary, will videotape, digitize and compress the L. A. Music Awards and host it on the Internet, accessible from a link on the L. A. Music Awards website.

"With this contract completed, Merging Rivers Media can now offer sponsorship of and advertising for the L. A. Music Awards," said Rafael O. Quezada, president of Merging Rivers Media. "We expect that the Internet broadcast will attract a substantial global audience eager to hear and see original music and musicians over USA Video Interactive’s streaming video format." He called the agreement a "landmark" that establishes future potential for millions of people to enjoy musical talent over the Internet in ways never before possible.

"Part of moving from the Letter of Intent to this contract was a successful demonstration of the USA Video Interactive technology. We saw it and were blown away. They exceeded our expectations," said Alfred C. Bowman, founder and executive producer of the L. A. Music Awards, noting that music lovers worldwide are increasingly comfortable using the Internet to pursue their interest. "Hosting the Awards over the Internet will be a watershed moment to honor excellence in creativity, performance, production, management, staging and other related achievements by both established and emerging artists."

Under the agreement, Merging Rivers Media acquires exclusive rights to develop and produce the 1999 and 2000 L. A. Music Awards and Gazzarri’s Honors events, and to develop related e-commerce extensions of both with the capability of transacting, under trademarks and copyright, the works, memorabilia, photos (analog and digital), autographs, paintings, sketches, videos, and CDs of artists signed by L.A. Music.

Upon fulfillment of certain financial commitments of the agreement, including 1999 and 2000 event production costs, Merging Rivers Media will own perpetual rights to develop and produce the L. A. Music Awards and Gazzarri’s Honors events and related commercial extensions. The agreement grants a majority equity position to Merging Rivers Media.

The L. A. Music Awards was founded in 1990. The first presentation, December 17, 1991, was held at the Mardi Gras Club in Long Beach, California, bringing together established and emerging musicians, as well as other individuals in the music industry. Since the first show, the popularity and stature of the annual event has grown considerably. This year, the L. A. Music Awards will expand to introduce the 1st Annual Gazzarri Honors event, named after the legendary rock promoter and club owner, Bill Gazzarri. The Gazzarri Honors recognizes venues, producers, journalists and others on the periphery of actual music making. That event will be held November 4 at the original Gazzarri's on Sunset Strip, now called the Key Club. On Monday, November 15, the ninth annual L. A. Music Awards event will be presented at the House of Blues-Hollywood, on the Sunset Strip.

L. A. Music Awards has scheduled to have Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame, last year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, and an announced candidate for Congress from the state of California, on hand to present the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award to Paul Rogers of Bad Company and The Firm, best known for hits like "All Right Now" and "Can’t Get Enough of Your Love."

USA Video Interactive is an international designer and supplier of high-tech Video-on-Demand systems, services and solutions. Merging Rivers Media is USA Video Interactive’s West Coast subsidiary, focused on providing the USA Video Interactive technology and full advertising-agency services to the entertainment industry. The USA Video Interactive technology allows users to view streaming video or to access digitized video libraries, including movies, sports, other entertainment, educational resources, corporate training seminars and other archives. The USA Video Interactive technology gives users full-motion video; the unique flexibility of standard, VCR-like controls of play, fast forward, reverse and pause; and the convenience of a standard internet-browser format for access. USA Video Interactive can utilize MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression techniques but prefers its Wavelet compression technology. The USA Video Interactive Wavelet technology allows direct streaming and download and play options; provides video images significantly faster and at a higher degree of resolution than with previously available methods; significantly overcomes bandwidth restrictions; and eliminates the blockiness and slowness of current technologies, all at a lower cost. An essential feature of the USA Video Interactive technology is that it allows extremely high compression ratios while retaining broadcast quality.

Video-On-Demand and Video Yellow Pages™ are trademarks of USA Video.

CONTACTS

Tony Castagno
Media Relations
(800) 625-2200
(860) 572-1560

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Investor Relations
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(860) 572-1560

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 December 2006 )