Espial(R) and Avail Media(R) Announce Strategic Sales Agreement; Unveil Nine Joint North American IPTV Telco Customers

    OTTAWA, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ - Espial(R) Group Inc. (TSX: ESP), a
 leading provider of IPTV middleware and applications, and Avail Media, the
 nation's premier provider of content aggregation and IPTV transport
 services, today announced the signing of a sales agreement and strategic
 partnership. According to the terms of the deal, Avail Media will resell
 Espial's Evo(R) IPTV Service Platform to small and mid-sized operators in
 the North American market. The partners also intend to jointly develop and
 share revenues for a range of new and differentiating IPTV applications
 that will leverage the strengths of their respective technologies. In
 addition, Avail Media revealed that nine (9) North American service
 provider customers have already selected Espial's Evo IPTV Service Platform
 as their middleware, pre-integrated with Avail Media's managed video
 content services.
 
     "We are pleased with Espial's Evo IPTV Service Platform which is open,
 flexible and carrier-grade. The Evo architecture allows us to seamlessly
 and rapidly integrate our access technologies and premium content," said
 Ramu Potarazu, Chief Executive Officer of Avail Media. "This means our
 customers can accelerate their time-to-market for deploying differentiated
 IPTV services with a premium quality of experience."
 
     Through the partnership, Espial and Avail Media bring to market an
 integrated, turnkey IPTV solution. This includes a large transport rights
 library of more than 220 channels from the major national programmers
 including ESPN, ABC, Disney, MTV Networks, Fox Networks, and many others.
 This premium content is delivered over a proven and fully integrated
 end-to-end infrastructure which is powered by the Espial Evo IPTV Service
 Platform.
 
     "The compelling value proposition of the turnkey solution made it an
 easy choice for us. The Avail Media-Espial pre-integrated solution allows
 us to deploy our IPTV service quickly and effectively," said Mike Woods,
 Prime Time Communications, VP of Operations. "With Avail Media's extensive
 library of premium content and the sleek user interface enabled by Evo,
 we've enjoyed rapid customer uptake with a superior service. We are assured
 that our subscribers have access to the content they want over a robust,
 carrier-grade infrastructure."
 
     Espial's flagship Evo IPTV Service Platform, which includes the
 carrier-grade Evo Server, fast and intuitive Evo Client middleware,
 standards-based and extensible Evo Future-Proof Framework(TM), and various
 applications including Evo EPG, Evo VOD, Evo Browser, and Evo DVR, was
 designed as a better performing, more modular, scalable, and cost-effective
 alternative to other more monolithic solutions on the market today.
 
     "Avail Media's decision to license the Evo IPTV Service Platform and
 become our strategic reseller targeting small and mid-size service
 providers will accelerate adoption of IPTV in the US market," said Dave
 Williamson, Espial Vice President of Sales. "The combination of Avail
 Media's extensive set of transport rights to premium SD, HD and audio
 channels with their proven capability to deploy and manage the service
 delivery infrastructure for an operator makes this an exciting
 partnership."
 
     ABOUT ESPIAL GROUP, INC. (www.espial.com)
 
     Espial provides IPTV middleware and applications that enable superior
 quality of experience, fast application performance, carrier-grade
 scalability, and open extensibility, all at a lower total cost of
 ownership. Espial's Evo(R) IPTV Service Platform, which can be purchased as
 modular components or as part of a pre-integrated client-server solution,
 includes Evo Client, Evo Server, Evo Browser, Evo BML Browser, Evo
 Future-Proof Framework(TM) (FPF), Evo SkinTones(TM) and applications such
 as Electronic Program Guide, Video on Demand, Digital Video Recorder,
 Content Portal, Games, and Triple Play.
 
     ABOUT AVAIL MEDIA, Inc. (www.availmedia.com)
 
     Avail Media is the only company today to deliver a combined MPEG-4
 linear TV and Video On Demand (VOD) IPTV solution. Avail Media, the
 nation's premier provider of content aggregation and IPTV transport
 services, delivers to its customers a full line-up of live television
 programming with hundreds of channels, all quality encoded in MPEG-4, IP
 encapsulated, encrypted, combined with VOD and designed for future
 value-added services. Avail Media's system has been designed for use by
 broadband network operators of all types. Whether triple-play, quad-play,
 or pure video play, Avail Media offers the broadest and deepest set of IPTV
 services, technologies and solutions available in the marketplace today.
 For more information, please visit www.availmedia.com.
 
     Forward Looking Statements
 
     --------------------------
 
     Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking
 statements", which reflect management's expectations. All statements other
 than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are
 forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve risks
 and uncertainties, as they reflect management's current beliefs and are
 based on information currently available to management. Actual results may
 differ materially from those anticipated in the statements made. The
 forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by
 this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements are made as of
 the date of this press release and Espial assumes no obligation to update
 or revise them to reflect press events or circumstances except as expressly
 required by applicable securities law. Further information regarding the
 uncertainties and risks can be found in the disclosure documents filed by
 Espial with the securities regulatory authorities, available at
 www.sedar.com.
 
 
 

SOURCE Espial Group