UK-based interactive TV and mobile entertainment company, YooMedia, has signed an agreement with venture capital firm, SGI (note: the firm is the investment vehicle of entrepreneur, Peter Shalson, who currently controls three channels on Sky), to form a new, as-yet-officially-unnamed participation TV and interactive TV games company that will target both the UK and the international markets. The 50/50 joint venture, which will be controlled by SGI, is acquiring YooMedia's Real Time Messaging System, which allows viewers to participate in programs and win prizes, and which has been used by the UK's largest commercial broadcaster, ITV, to enable interactivity on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." It is also acquiring from YooMedia the interactive TV rights to "Tringo," a game that combines bingo and Tetris. According to YooMedia and SGI, the new company will develop a live-presented multiplayer interactive TV Tringo game that will allow the most skilled of its players to win prizes.
The joint venture will be capitalized by SGI via a £1.1 million loan. It will acquire YooMedia's Real Time Messaging System and the Tringo interactive TV rights for a cash consideration of £1 million. "This agreement is a clear indication that our partners have identified a strong market potential for these and other formats in the digital TV and IPTV markets," YooMedia group managing director, Neil MacDonald, said in a prepared statement. "SGI is keen to further develop the technology within the joint venture and exploit those rights across digital TV and IPTV."
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