TDE.L Regulatory News (TDE)

24 Oct 2005 10:31

Cesky Telecom A.S.24 October 2005 > PRESS RELEASE - 24. 10. 2005 > CESKY TELECOM AND TV OCKO LAUNCHED INTERACTIVE SERVICES For the first time ever in the Czech Republic, CESKY Telecom is launchinginteractive services to be made available through digital television inco-operation with TV Ocko music station. Viewers can thus affect eventsoccurring on television simply by pressing buttons on their remotes (using aset-top box). The first service that will be made available to viewers is voting for "Lee HitParade" on Ocko.tv. With this service, TV Ocko viewers will be able to influencethe chart positions of songs during ensuing broadcasts of the show. In additionto voting through SMS messages, telephone calls and Internet votes, TV Ocko isnow offering this as a fourth method of voting for songs in the hit parade. Itwill continue in its efforts to become a maximally interactive televisionstation, doing so in such a way that it establishes the closest possible contactwith its viewers. In order to initiate the interactive application in their television sets,viewers must have a set-top box with MHP platform support that enables theapplication to run. At present prices for these set-top boxes start at CZK4,000. For interactive digital television services a regressive channel isimportant. Regressive data transmission is carried out through, for instance, astandard telephone line to which the set-top box is connected. TV Ocko is broadcast in digital multiplex C; in Prague it is on channel 64 andit is now being transmitted in Brno on channel 25. After launching digitalbroadcasting in Brno, further steps will be taken, giving TV Ocko a firmposition as a leader in the field of digital television broadcasting. Daniel KorkesTV Ocko Vlastimil SrsenCESKY Telecom CESKY TELECOM, a. s., is the leading telecommunications company in the CzechRepublic. Through its subsidiary company Eurotel Praha, spol. s r.o., it alsohas a significant presence in the Czech mobile services market. Furtherinformation about the firm and the services it offers is available atwww.telecom.cz, which was rated as BestWeb 2003 in the WebTop100 survey. Signum Temporis has consistently awarded CESKY TELECOM for being one of thedomestic capital market's most transparent firms in terms of providinginformation. Based on an open vote of specialists, members of the press and anine-member committee, CESKY TELECOM placed first in 2003, just as it did in2001. CESKY TELECOM ranks among the most prominent firms on the Czech capital marketin terms of capitalization and trading volumes. Its shares are also traded onthe London Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs. CESKY TELECOM's credit rating isthe highest a Czech corporation can receive from top international ratingagencies. About Telefonica Telefonica is Europe's leading integrated telecom company and second biggest inthe world. Its activities are centered mainly on the fixed and mobile telephonybusinesses with broadband as the key tool for the development of both of these. The company is operating in 40 countries and together with CESKY TELECOM has acustomer base that amounts to more than 140 million access. Telefonica has astrong presence in Latin America, where the company concentrates part of itsgrowth strategy. Telefonica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million directshareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4,921,130,397 ordinaryshares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao andValencia) and on those in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York, Lima,Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and the SEAQ International Exchange in London. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange