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Kangaroo Media Announces Launch of Its Next Generation Fan Experience Enhancing Technology

Kangaroo [1]MontrealKangaroo Media [1], a recognized leader in sports fan enhancement solutions and technologies today announced the upcoming launch of its next generation of fan experience enhancing technology & platform. The launch includes an all new Fan Experience Control Center [2] technology suite and a Generation III wireless hand-held device.

The Fan Experience Control Center hardware and software suite will expand the ability to intelligently enhance and tailor the fan experience including future capabilities to connect to an array of WEB-based fan community applications and add-ons. The newly minted Gen III handheld will feature a sleeker form factor with a prominent HD type LCD screen and new Wi-Fi capabilities to broaden connectivity beyond the in-stadium venue.

Fan Experience Control Center software suite for richer customization of fan experience at the event and beyond.

Building on its numerous years of in-field experience and on user feedback for its acclaimed service, the new

Kangaroo TV [3]

Kangaroo TV

Fan Experience Control Center has been designed to run on existing and next-generation head-end hardware and components and to allow seamless operation with legacy Kangaroo TV handhelds, new Generation III Kangaroo TV handhelds and third party handsets such as smartphones, PDAs and PSPs. The open architecture will also allow the integration to WEB-based applets for out of venue applications.

The main components and features of the fan Experience Control center are:

* The Personalization and Activation Module that directs the “Experience” processor to create and route customized content by clusters of services down to individual users

* The Experience processor which intelligently aggregates content to produce a unique personalized fan experience. The Experience processor has the ability to meta-tag and data mine through content repositories tailored to specific users or group of users

* The Broadcasting module for aggregating and integrating all content – video, audio or data feeds – for cross-platform distribution over the air, via the WEB or via third party networks

* Call to Action module for live or scheduled interactive messaging applications targeting groups or individual users present at the event or joining via the WEB

* Sponsored Messaging and Advertisement module for the insertion of targeted and customizable messages and advertisements to users

* Remote Monitoring and Operations module for head-end monitoring. Includes logging of alarms and all hardware and system components, the configuration of the experience and the gathering and logging of user usage. In addition, the Remote Monitoring and Operation Module enables the control center to run single or multiple head-end configurations in either a centralized or de-centralized architectures.

Gen III handset features full user interactivity and connectivity, larger LCD screen and more processing power

The fan enhancement experience has jumped to new level of customization and personalization. The new wireless handheld will be an extension of the in-venue giant screen and provide fans with exclusive content produced for them. The Gen III handset will allow Wi-Fi connectivity. As such, it will put stadium services at a fan’s fingertips – such as on-line ordering of team merchandise, concession food and sports venue tickets – and will expand fan communities through live chatting on plays or spur-of-the-moment initiated post-event get-togethers. Once out of the venue, the Kangaroo’s Gen III device will keep fans connected to their sports community through exclusive chat forums, team updates and audio and video clip downloads, anywhere there is a Wi-Fi hotspot.

As well, the form factor for Kangaroo TV’s Generation III wireless device has changed dramatically and, while still light and easy to use, it now features an HD type 4.3 inch screen for more display surface to optimize the viewing of video and statistics presentation on the same screen. The sleeker design integrates a smaller navigation key pad, and interaction with the device will be made easier with the future touch screen capability of the larger screen. A higher performing graphics engine will support a variety of animated content and messages, an appealing feature for fans and advertisers alike. Additionally, enhanced MPEG 4 decoding technologies and more processing power will deliver better video quality using less bandwidth. Finally the Gen III system has been designed around a Hardware Abstraction Layer concept allowing ease of portability to third party hardware and handsets such as increasingly popular Smartphones.

The basic specifications and features of the Generation III hand-held:

* Wi-Fi enabling complete interactivity for in-venue and out of venue fan experience
* HD type 16:9 aspect ratio, 4.3 inches, 480 X 272 pixels resolution LCD screen
* New and improved graphics engine
* Video decoder compatible with all MPEG 4 formats
* USB port for add-on modules and VOD content
* Replaceable high capacity Li-Ion battery pack
* Microphone input and Touch Screen (to come)

“The launch of our next generation of fan enhancing technology will continue to position us a market leader. Built on our rich fan enhancement experience and expertise, it includes features that we know will align with new venue capabilities, cater to the growing demand for ways to attract and keep fans in sports venues and create exciting and interactive communities around sports franchises or properties, ” said Robert Mimeault President and CEO of Kangaroo Media. “We hope to see the first commercial implementation of our Gen III system in the third quarter of our current fiscal year.”