8th Oct 2009 07:00
The information contained herein is restricted and is not for release or distribution in the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan or to a US person or to residents or citizens of Australia,
Canada or Japan.
DDD ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH THE LITTLEFIELD COMPANY AND APPOINTS VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE
Littlefield Company to target TV networks for 3D conversion
Santa Monica, Calif. (October 8th, 2009) DDD Group plc (AIM: DDD) today announces that on 1st October 2009 it entered into an agreement with The Littlefield Company whereby The Littlefield Company will promote DDD's high performance, low cost 3D content conversion solution to a number of leading US and international television content owners seeking to enter the emerging 3D TV market.
The Littlefield Company was founded in 2001 by Warren Littlefield to develop and executive produce televisions shows. Warren is the former President of the Entertainment Division of NBC, the US television broadcast network, and also serves on the board of DDD Group plc as a non-executive director.
Under the terms of the agreement, The Littlefield Company will pursue commercial agreements on behalf of DDD with leading media companies and sports leagues that are seeking to deliver existing television shows in 3D for both the existing HD market and in premium 3D for the emerging 3D consumer television market. The Littlefield Company will be compensated by DDD by way of a revenue sharing mechanism in respect of any conversion agreement that may arise from the business development activities.
Recent advances in DDD's 2D to 3D conversion technologies enable large libraries, comprising thousands of hours, of 2D programming to be efficiently and cost effectively converted to 3D for viewing on existing 2D TVs and the new generation of 3D TVs. The price and performance of DDD's 3D conversion solution delivers a compelling business model for the networks as well as yielding a fun 3D experience for consumers for their favourite shows.
"I firmly believed that this day would arrive when I first became aware of DDD's ground breaking technologies almost a decade ago," said Warren Littlefield, President of The Littlefield Company. "The TV market is finally reaching a point where DDD's ability to unlock existing libraries for redistribution in 3D is economically and technically attractive to networks who are dealing with how best to prepare for the imminent arrival of 3D consumer TV sets."
"We have been encouraged by the initial response from key customers at the television studios," said Chris Yewdall, Chief Executive of DDD. "Warren's relationships within the industry are second to none and we look forward to the potential of expanding DDD's content business as these projects develop further. Since this project is at an early stage however, the Company is taking a conservative view of the potential for revenue generation from this new business stream in the short term."
DDD also announces that Victoria Stull has joined the company as Vice President, Finance. Victoria will assume responsibility for the day-to-day financial operations of the Company as well as business planning for emerging market opportunities. Prior to joining DDD, Victoria was a founding member and Vice President of Sales & Business Development of GOQO an online entertainment portal available in over 20,000 internet cafes throughout China. Victoria also held the positions of Vice President Business Development and Vice President, Financial Operations at Gemstar-TV Guide International, a leading provider of interactive programming technologies in the digital television market. Prior to joining Gemstar-TV Guide, Victoria held Sales Planning and Internal Financial Audit roles at Sony Pictures Television International and Sony Corporation of America respectively. Victoria began her career as an auditor with Deloitte & Touche.
The agreement with The Littlefield Company is a related party transaction for the purpose of AIM Rule 13. In this regard, the Directors of the Company, other than Mr. Littlefield, consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, that the terms of the agreement are fair and reasonable insofar as the shareholders of DDD are concerned. The Directors have authorised the agreement pursuant to the Conflict of Interest provisions of Section 175 of the Companies Act (2006).
Enquiries:
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DDD Group Chris Yewdall, President & CEO e-mail: [email protected] |
+1 310 566 3340 |
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Brewin Dolphin |
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Sandy Fraser, Managing Director - Corporate Finance |
+44 (0) 131 529 0272 |
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Paul Mason, Assistant Director - Corporate Finance |
+44 (0) 141 314 8208 |
Past performance of the shares cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About DDD
DDD, also known as Dynamic Digital Depth, is transforming the viewing experience with applications for 3-D displays. Its patented technologies enable 3-D viewing with and without glasses; simple integration of computer games applications with 3-D displays; supply of 3-D content through 2D to 3-D conversion; and 3-D transmission over existing networks. DDD's shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM Market (AIM: DDD).
Background
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A new category of flat screen LCD and plasma displays is being developed and marketed by major consumer electronics companies that provide stereoscopic 3D images both with and without the need for the viewer to wear glasses. Stereoscopic 3D images appear to have natural in and off-screen depth. 3D displays have already been included in mobile phones in Japan and Korea, in desktop PC displays and notebook computers in North America and Japan and in HDTVs in North America and Japan. |
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DDD's solutions provide an important bridge between conventional two-dimensional (2D) software applications and content and the new 3D displays. Normal 2D pictures, video and computer graphics images are manipulated by DDD's patented software enabling them to be displayed on 3D displays without requiring the content to be created specially for a 3D display. DDD's solutions also enable automatic conversion of virtually any media from 2D to 3D without any pre-processing of the 2D image. |
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DDD licenses these software applications, marketed under the TriDef® and DDD Mobile™ brand names, to consumer electronics manufacturers for inclusion with the 3D display products supplied to their end users. DDD also licenses its software directly to end users who already own 3D displays and through an international sales channel. DDD's customers include Sharp Corporation, Samsung, Wistron Corporation and Arisawa Manufacturing Company. |
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In January 2009 DDD signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Wistron Corporation in relation to the licensing by DDD of its range of TriDef 3-D solutions to Wistron and an equity investment by Wistron in DDD. DDD and Wistron intend to enter into five-year licence agreements, whereby DDD will receive licence fees relating to the use of DDD's TriDef software and hardware technologies by Wistron in various markets. |
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In August 2008 DDD extended the agreement with Hyundai IT to develop the embedded 3-D HDTV processor for the Hyundai IT 32" 3-D LCD TV that is used with the BS11 3-D television TV network available in Japan. |
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In August 2008 DDD extended the agreement with Hyundai IT to develop the embedded 3-D HDTV processor for the Hyundai IT 32" 3-D LCD TV that is used with the BS11 3-D television TV network available in Japan. |
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In February 2008 Samsung and DDD entered into an development and license agreement to integrate DDD's TriDef 3D real time 2D to 3D conversion solution and 3D image processing architecture in a custom 3D image processing chip that will form the basis of Samsung's next generation 3D HDTVs. |
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In February 2008 Samsung and DDD entered into an agreement to supply DDD's TriDef 3D Experience software solution as part of Samsung's 3-D accessory pack for their range of 3-D ready plasma and DLP rear projection HDTVs. |
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In February 2008 DDD delivered the first embedded 3-D HDTV processor for the Hyundai IT 46" 3-D LCD TV that is based on Arisawa Manufacturing's X-Pol 3-D materials. The TriDef Core processor decodes the 3-D television signal being broadcast to consumers in Japan on the BS11 TV network as well as converting high definition 2-D content to 3-D automatically. |
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In September 2007 Samsung launched a range of 3-D Ready DLP® rear projection HDTVs in North America. DDD's TriDef 3D Experience software solution enables a range of popular entertainment to be enjoyed in 3-D and is available in various accessory packs including 3-D glasses. The 3-D accessory packs are available online from DDD.com and other retail and distribution channels. DDD also supplies software that allows popular PC games to be played in 3-D on the new HDTVs. |
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In July 2007 Samsung released the SCH-B710 'glasses-free' 3D mobile telephone in South Korea. DDD entered into a development and license agreement with Samsung Electronics allowing Samsung to include DDD's 3D mobile telephone software solution in Samsung's SCH-B710 3D mobile telephone. The license agreement yields a royalty to DDD for each handset manufactured. Samsung renewed its exclusive rights for DDD's real time 2D to 3D conversion capabilities for use on 3D mobile phones in Korea in October 2006. |
Trademarks:
DLP is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments. TriDef and DDD Mobile are trademarks of DDD Group plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This announcement shall not constitute or form any part of any offer or invitation to subscribe for, underwrite or otherwise acquire, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, securities including in the United States.
This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken or distributed into the United States of America or distributed or published, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of US securities law. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to or for the benefit of US persons unless they are registered under the Securities Act or pursuant to an available exemption therefrom. No public offering of securities is being made in the United States.
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