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Via Licensing Announces Patent Licensing Terms for Interactive Television Services Broadcast Free-to-Air Using the DVB-MHP Standard
[Note: the text below is taken directly from a Via Licensing press release]
San Francisco, March 2nd 2006-- Via Licensing Corporation is pleased to announce licensing terms for patents essential to the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Multimedia Home Platform 1.0 standard (MHP 1.0) including terms for MHP services provided by non-subscription-based broadcasters (free-to-air broadcasters).
Holders of patents essential to the MHP standard that are participating in the formation of the joint-licensing program for MHP include Comcast, Open TV, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Thomson, and Time Warner Cable. Via Licensing is acting as the licensing administrator for the pool.
As the purpose of the pool is to promote wide adoption of MHP by the market, license fees for MHP services broadcasted free-to-air will not be charged by the MHP patent pool before January 1, 2009. At the end of this incentive period, the license fees outlined below for MHP services provided by free-to-air broadcasters will be assessed on a per-broadcaster basis, and will vary depending on the total number of households within the reach of the MHP services. This fee structure simplifies reporting activities for licensees while distinguishing between those free-to-air broadcasters that offer for-fee services and those that do not.
Licensing fees for MHP are:
Fee Type
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License Fee
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Consumer Devices:
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$2.00 per device
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MHP services provided by
subscription-based service
provider
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$0.25 per subscriber (household) per year
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Option:
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$1.25 one-time five-year license
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MHP services provided by
free-to-air broadcasters that
do not offer any for-fee
services
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Total number of households
within reach of MHP services
(million)
|
Licensing Fee per broadcaster
(originator of MHP service)
per year
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0 to 0.1
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FREE
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0.1 to 2.5
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$25,000
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2.5 to 5
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$50,000
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5 to 7.5
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$75,000
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Above 7.5
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$100,000
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|
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MHP services provided by
free-to-air broadcasters that
also offer any for-fee
services (including but not
limited to pay-per-view
services)
|
|
Total number of households
within reach of MHP services
(million) |
Licensing Fee per broadcaster
(originator of MHP service)
per year |
0 to 0.1
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FREE
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0.1 to 2.5
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$50,000
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2.5 to 5
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$100,000
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5 to 7.5
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$150,000
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Above 7.5
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$200,000
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|
|
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MHP essential patent holders participating in the joint-licensing
program and Via Licensing are continuing work on the development of
agreements with a view towards offering MHP licenses by the end of
summer 2006.
Via Licensing continues to welcome the addition of third parties that
hold patents essential to the practice of MHP 1.0. The marketplace
benefits from the participation of as many patent owners as possible,
through the inclusion of more intellectual property in the license and
by the contribution of more parties in development of the terms of the
licensing program. Parties holding patents they believe are necessary
for the practice of the MHP 1.0 standard, and who are interested in
participating in the development of the licensing program, may request
information by sending an email to submissions@vialicensing.com.
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