Zoo Digital Regulatory News (ZOO)

9 May 2005 07:00

Zoo Digital Group PLC09 May 2005 Embargoed until 0700 on Monday 9 May 2005 ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC ("ZOO" or "the Group") UPDATE ON 'DVD-EXTRA' LICENSING ZOOtech Ltd ("ZOOtech"), the DVD technology division of ZOO Digital Publishingplc, today announces an update on licensing agreements for its interactive DVDauthoring software DVD-EXTRA. In total the Group has signed agreements withseven organisations in the last few weeks all of which will generate revenues ona royalty stream model based on the number of units sold. Details of the licenseagreements are as follows: Contender Entertainment (UK) Contender Entertainment will produce and market two new products based on the 'Test the Nation' quiz show. The first product will be released for Christmas2005. DVD-Extra will be used to create both titles. National Geographic (North America) National Geographic will use DVD-Extra to produce a series of reference productsunder a new multi-product agreement, titles are due to become available laterthis year in the North American market. Smoking Gun Entertainment Group plc (UK) Smoking Gun, develops and publishes interactive DVD football quiz games.Following the success of its Manchester United Interactive DVD, which usedDVD-Extra, it has extended its license with ZOO in order to produce furtherclub-branded interactive DVDs and other football related quiz games. Smoking Gunplans to publish around 15 titles over the next twelve months. bEqual (North America) bEqual has used DVD-Extra to produce 'Madagascar Animal Trivia Game DVD' aninteractive DVD game based on the forthcoming Dreamworks movie due to bereleased on 5 May 2005. The game will be available initially for the NorthAmerican market. Two Way TV (UK) Two Way TV is an interactive television company with its own games channel and aportfolio of well known branded games. The Company will use ZOO's technology toadd interactive DVD's as part of its offering and initially plans to develop twotitles this year. Oasis DVD (Australia) Oasis is an Australian DVD design and production company principally focused onthe areas of film distribution and corporate marketing. Oasis will use DVD-EXTRAfor the creation of an educational product for the North American Market. OUAT Entertainment (France) OUAT, a French interactive products developer, in partnership with UniversalPictures, will publish five new interactive DVD titles using the DVD-EXTRAtechnology. In 2004, more than 280,000 DVD-games were sold by Universal inFrance. Ian Stewart, Chief Executive of ZOO Digital Group plc, commented: "These deals show that the use of our technology is building momentum in termsof the number and diversity of titles being produced with ZOO's technology. Thedeals also show the increasingly international nature of our license agreementsand the global appeal of a product that is compatible with DVD productionprocesses around the world. The forward royalty streams that these and the manyother titles in production are what will drive this business forward. This is avery good start to our new financial year." - ends - Enquiries: Ian Stewart James Chandler/Helen ThomasCEO, ZOO Digital Group plc Weber Shandwick Square Mile0114 241 3700 020 7067 0747 John Llewellyn-LloydNoble & Company Limited020 7763 2200 Notes to Editors: About ZOO Digital Group PLCZOO is divided into two separate divisions; ZOOtech Ltd ("ZOOtech") and ZOODigital Publishing Ltd ("ZDP"). ZOOtech Ltd ("ZOOtech")ZOOtech focuses on R&D and licensing of DVD-EXTRA, the Group's highly originaldevelopment software capable of creating complex interactive content forstandard DVD players. The strategy for ZOOtech is simple; to create the industrystandard tool for the production of interactive DVD content and drive revenuesthrough licensing worldwide in a combination of up front fees and royalties. ZOO Digital Publishing Ltd ("ZDP")ZDP focuses on the publishing and distribution of interactive entertainmentproducts across multiple platforms such as interactive DVD, PS2, Xbox, GBA andPC. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange