Sponsor of the 1999 LA Music Awards
SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 9 /PRNewswire/ — The Los Angeles Music Awards
(http://www.lamusicawards.com) has signed a Letter of Intent with Merging
Rivers Media, a subsidiary of USA Video Interactive system
(OTC Bulletin Board: USVO; Alberta: US) (http://www.usvo.com), to produce a
web broadcast of its 9th Annual L. A. Music Awards ceremony being held at
Hollywood’s House of Blues on November 15 and the Inaugural Presentation of
Gazzarri’s Honors on November 4.
USA Video Interactive, through its Merging Rivers Media subsidiary, will
videotape, digitize and compress the event using its Wavelet compression
technology, and will host it on the Internet, accessible from a link on the
L.A. Music Awards website. Upon successful demonstration of the USA Video
Interactive technology to L.A. Music Award officers, the Letter of Intent will
move to a contract with terms and conditions to be negotiated.
“I anticipate a huge response from a global community of music lovers who
are eager to see original music and musicians on the medium they feel
increasingly comfortable using,” said Alfred C. Bowman, Founder and Executive
Producer of the L. A. Music Awards. “The Internet is increasingly the medium
of choice for accessing new and exciting musical talent. Future developments
in convergence technology will establish the L.A. Music Awards place in the TV
industry of the future.”
The L.A. Music Awards is a nine-year-old media event, founded in 1990.
The first presentation, December 17, 1991 was held at the Mardi Gras Club in
Long Beach, California, bringing together established and emerging musicians,
as well as other individuals in the music industry. Since the first show, the
popularity and stature of the annual event has grown considerably. This year,
the L.A. Music Awards will expand to introduce the 1st Annual Gazzarri Honors
event, named after the legendary rock promoter and club owner, Bill Gazzarri.
The Gazzarri Honors recognizes venues, producers, journalists and others on
the periphery of actual music making. That event will be held November 4 at
the original Gazzarri’s on Sunset Strip, now called the Key Club. On Monday,
November 15, the ninth annual L.A. Music Awards event will be presented at the
House of Blues-Hollywood, on the Sunset Strip.
The Master of Ceremonies for the 1999 L.A. Music Awards will be Jeff
“Skunk” Baxter of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame, last year’s winner of
the Lifetime Achievement Award, and an announced candidate for Congress from
the state of California. The 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award will be
presented to Paul Rogers of Bad Company and The Firm, best known for hits like
“All Right Now” and “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love.”
“We are excited to help the L.A. Music Awards move from TV-only broadcast
into hyperspace … reaching a global audience on the world wide web,” said
Rafael O. Quezada, president of Merging River Media. “It’s what our
technology is made for and this development is in line with our strategy to
bring music video of the future to the Internet today.”
The USA Video Interactive system will host the broadcast on its NT-based
servers from SeaChange International (Nasdaq: SEAC) (http://www.schange.com)
which are being installed on the UUNET Internet network. UUNET
(http://www.uu.net) is an MCI WorldCom Company (Nasdaq: WCOM). USA Video
Interactive is an international designer and supplier of high-tech
Video-on-Demand(TM) systems, services and solutions. The USA Video
Interactive technology allows users to view streaming video or to access
digitized video libraries, including movies, sports, other entertainment,
educational resources, corporate training seminars and other archives. The
USA Video Interactive technology gives users full-motion video; the unique
flexibility of standard, VCR-like controls of play, fast forward, reverse and
pause; and the convenience of a standard internet-browser format for access.
USA Video Interactive can utilize MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression
techniques but prefers its Wavelet compression technology. The USA Video
Interactive Wavelet technology allows direct streaming and download and play
options; provides video images significantly faster and at a higher degree of
resolution than with previously available methods; significantly overcomes
bandwidth restrictions; and eliminates the blockiness and slowness of current
technologies, all at a lower cost. An essential feature of the USA Video
Interactive technology is that it allows extremely high compression ratios
while retaining broadcast quality.
USA Video Interactive Corp.
Corporate Headquarters Office: 70 Essex Street; Mystic, CT 06355;
800-625-2200; 860-572-1560.
Merging Rivers Media: 11601 Wilshire Blvd.; Suite 500; Los Angeles, CA
90025; 310-441-0772.
Canada Office: 837 West Hastings Street; Suite #507; Vancouver, B.C. V6C
3N6.
Trading symbol on the US NASD OTC BB: USVO; SEC 12g3-2(b)
Exemption: #82-1601. Trading symbol on The Alberta Stock Exchange: US.
Standard & Poors Listed. CUSIP 902924208; Video-On-Demand(TM) and Video
Yellow Pages(TM) are trademarks of USA Video.
The Alberta Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Media – Tony Castagno, or Investors – Kevin Yorio, both of USA
Video, 860-572-1560