Portugal Telecom and Playcast Media Launch High-End Video Games Streaming Service

LONDON, November 11, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- Service Set at 10 Euros for "All You Can Play" AAA Video Games Package

Portugal Telecom and Playcast Media announce the commercial launch of a new high-end video games service, available on Portugal Telecom's platform.

The launch takes place today, November 11 at the Sapo Codebits exhibition, a major event showcasing the latest national and international talent in the field of technology and digital media. A live broadcast of the inaugural launch will be showcased at the exhibition alongside demonstrations and speeches from Portugal Telecom and Playcast Media's chief executives.

This launch marks the start of affordable access to mass markets of the best games from major publishers including: Activision, Atari, Disney, Capcom, Codemasters, THQ, Strategy First and others, without the need of a console or the video games software.

The commercial model is based on a multi-screen (PC right now and TV in the near future) subscription for a fixed monthly fee of 9,99 Euros per month, for which subscribers can play without any limitations of time or usage. The games catalogue consists of 100% next generation video games titles, including some of the best and newest brands, with a mix of genres, including first person shooters, racers, fighting, action as well as children and family games.

The service, launched under Portugal Telecom's Meo brand, is offered over the carrier's FTTH network infrastructure, and is to be available exclusively to its subscribers. The games are executed, rendered and streamed from Portugal Telecom's data centers as an MPEG stream to consumers, using the high quality, low latency FTTH access network, and are played with a Meo branded gamepad.

Guy de Beer, CEO Playcast Media, said: "The new platform brings endless hours of game-play directly to users. This appeal to the mass market, rather than the niche of core gamers, dictates challenging value for money targets. The partnership with Portugal Telecom brings the service, marketing, and omni-presence required to guarantee the highest quality at affordable prices."

Zeinal Bava, CEO of Portugal Telecom, stated that "Portugal Telecom has been investing in the transformation of its business model in the residential segment of its market and has a proven track record of monetizing innovative applications. For years, revenues of video gaming have been largely inaccessible to our platforms. Through the partnership with Playcast, we will be able to participate in this market and monetize the potential of gaming in our customer base. This is what we do best - bring to our customers innovative value added services which are leading edge and offer great value for money."

Editor's notes: For several years Cable and Telecom operators have been experiencing an erosion in perceived value of their services, which has resulted in growing difficulties to maintain revenues per subscriber (ARPU). This event marks the start of a revolutionary process in the way that the public consume high-end video games, and is the result of a series of technological breakthroughs, which allows these new levels of quality-cost ratios. Playcast Media and Portugal Telecom aim at broadening the reach and accessibility of video gaming by opening it up to new demographical groups.

Venue: Sala Tejo, Parque das Nacoes, Lisbon,

Date and Time: 10:30am 11 November 2010

For further background on Playcast Media visit http://www.playcast-media.com

Press information contact: Kate Hawthorne - Hatricks Public Relations http://www.hatricks.co.uk

Tel: Mobile +44(0)7903-655-331: Landline: +44(0)20-7351-3352 Email:[email protected]

SOURCE Portugal Telecom and Playcast Media