SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 28, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rovi Corporation (Nasdaq:ROVI) today announced that Cox Communications has completed deployment of Rovi's video on demand (VOD) application, ShowRunner, in the company's Motorola systems. As a result of the conversion, combined with additional marketing and promotion of On DEMAND from Cox at time of launch, the company has seen an increase in VOD usage of approximately 20 percent. ShowRunner's advanced navigation path and other features make it easier for subscribers to access and navigate VOD content. Cox is planning additional roll-outs of ShowRunner throughout 2010 with a conversion to the Passport Guide for cable systems on the Cisco platform.
"Rovi's ShowRunner has helped us improve the presentation of On DEMAND to our subscribers," said Steve Necessary, Vice President, Video Product Development at Cox. "As a result we're pleased to see consumers are accessing and viewing more on demand content and discovering programming they otherwise wouldn't know was available to them as part of their Cox Advanced TV subscription."
The expansive hours of VOD content offered by cable is a key differentiator that enables digital cable subscribers to enjoy television on their schedule. With the ShowRunner for Passport Guide, cable operators can deliver an improved on demand experience to their customers and drive the purchase and consumption of additional content. To further enhance the VOD experience, Rovi plans to launch several new applications for ShowRunner in 2010 - integrated VOD search, start and stop an on-demand program in one room and re-start it in another, and remote selection of VOD content for viewing at a later time.
"The availability of more digital content is escalating the competition for consumers' attention in front of the TV screen. Service providers have a breadth of on demand content to offer their subscribers, but helping consumers find this content can be challenging," said Bob Shallow, SVP of worldwide sales for service providers at Rovi Corporation. "Rovi Passport Guide's advanced capabilities paired with ShowRunner elegantly showcases Cox Advanced TV and On DEMAND from Cox."
Rovi Passport Guide is a leading guidance solution offering service providers advanced capabilities for search, DVR and on demand. Its many applications provide service providers with a unique set of capabilities from caller ID and ShowRunner VOD to iSubscribe, an impulse subscription application that enables a viewer to order service packages instantly with their remotes.
About Rovi Corporation
Rovi Corporation is focused on revolutionizing the digital entertainment landscape by delivering solutions that enable consumers to intuitively connect to new entertainment from many sources and locations. The company also provides extensive entertainment discovery solutions for television, movies, music and photos to its customers in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment and online distribution markets. These solutions, complemented by industry leading entertainment data, create the connections between people and technology, and enable them to discover and manage entertainment in an enjoyable form.
Rovi holds over 4,400 issued or pending patents and patent applications worldwide and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with numerous offices across the United States and around the world including Japan, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. More information about Rovi can be found at http://www.rovicorp.com/.
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Forward Looking Statements
All statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements that use the words "will" or "is expected to," or similar words that describe the Company's or its management's future plans, objectives, or goals, are "forward-looking statements" and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results and/ or from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors are further addressed in the Company's most recent report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2009 and such other documents as are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time (available at www.sec.gov). The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release, except as required by law.