Tribune Media Services and Gracenote Creating Strategic Alliance to Enable Next-Generation Media Experience

CHICAGO and EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Media Services (TMS), a leading provider of entertainment information databases, and Gracenote®, a leading digital entertainment information and technology company, plan to team up to enable new and better ways for consumers to organize their media collections, explore and discover entertainment content and enhance their entire home media experience.

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The strategic alliance will combine the value of TMS' deep database of TV, movie and celebrity information with Gracenote's Global Media Database and industry-leading media identification and management solutions. The relationship will help device manufacturers and service providers deliver unprecedented ways for their consumers to recognize, navigate, search and discover television, movie and music content seamlessly across multiple digital devices.

This alliance will provide media and technology companies with advanced solutions that offer three key benefits:

• Consumers will be able to easily organize and enrich their personal media libraries. Combining Gracenote's DVD/Blu-ray, Digital File, and Streaming VideoID(TM) recognition technologies and core metadata with TMS' deep and rich TV and Movie and Celebrity information will provide consumers with a simple way to organize their home media collections and enrich them with detailed descriptive information and images.
• Video service providers will have new ways to increase customer satisfaction through better recommendations and guides. The Gracenote-TMS solution will enable important upgrades to recommendation engines and program guides.
  • Consumers will be able to search and browse the world of television, movies and music thanks to deeply linked databases that show the relationships connecting programs, films, and recordings and the actors, directors and musicians who created them.
  • Gracenote's recognition technology enables recommendations to be based on a consumer's existing collection of digital media files and DVD/Blu-ray discs.
  • Consumers will be able to fluidly and effortlessly navigate from a film or TV program on DVD/Blu-ray to related upcoming programming available from broadcast, VOD or broadband services.
• Video service providers will have new ways to increase revenue. Providing better recommendations and guides will allow video service providers to increase up-sell opportunities. Whether a consumer is enjoying a program on-air, a DVD/Blu-ray or digital music files, service providers can present consumers with numerous opportunities to see related content available via Video-On-Demand, digital download or disc rentals.

"Consumers need help discovering the content they'll like the best and managing their digital collections," said Jay Fehnel, Vice President, TMS Entertainment Products. "By combining TMS' vast descriptive metadata, images and program schedules with the power of Gracenote's technology, we can help consumers find their best entertainment options more quickly and easily."

"Consumers are amassing large TV and movie collections and are looking for a simple way to organize them, and want to learn more about their favorite movies, shows, actors and directors. Consumers also want to find other titles that are in line with their tastes," said Jim Hollingsworth, SVP of Sales and Marketing, Gracenote. "By aligning with TMS, we will be able to bring a leading provider of entertainment information together with the industry standard in media recognition and search technology to deliver the most comprehensive media management and discovery solution on the market."

Gracenote and TMS capabilities will be demonstrated at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 7-10 in Gracenote's booth in the LVCC South Hall 3, #31106.

About Tribune Media Services

Tribune Media Services' Entertainment Products division is an international leader in entertainment navigation. TMS provides industry-leading databases of TV, movie and celebrity information; guides in print, online and on-screen formats; and advertising and marketing services to build audiences. The company also produces Zap2it.com, the web site that connects engaged entertainment fanatics to popular TV shows, celebrities, movies, events and other fans. TMS metadata powers leading guide products which reach millions of consumers in 40 countries through clients including Microsoft, Google, TiVo, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, IMDb and The New York Times. For more information about TMS Entertainment Products visit TribuneMediaServices.com.

About Gracenote

A pioneer in the digital media industry, Gracenote combines information, technology, services and applications to create ingenious entertainment solutions for the global market. From media management, enrichment and discovery products to content identification technologies, Gracenote allows providers of digital media products and the content community to make their offerings more powerful and intuitive, enabling superior consumer experiences. The company's solutions integrate the broadest, deepest, and highest quality global metadata and enriched content with an infrastructure that services billions of searches a month from thousands of products used by hundreds of millions consumers. Gracenote's customers include the biggest names in the consumer electronics, mobile, automotive, software and Internet industries. The company's partners in the entertainment community include major music publishers and labels, prominent independents and movie studios. Gracenote, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, is headquartered in Emeryville, California. www.gracenote.com.

Gracenote is a registered trademark of Gracenote, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

    Media Contact for Tribune Media Services:
    Dana Gage
    Executive Director, Division Marketing
    Office: 817.275.5161
    Cell: 817.233.7020
    Email: [email protected]

    Media Contact for Gracenote:
    Veronica Skelton
    PR Director
    Cell:  415.342.3435
    Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Tribune Media Services; Gracenote