Mirada Secures Interactive TV Gaming Deal for Eastern Europe

Mirada, the Anglo-Spanish interactive media company that was formed via the merger of YooMedia and Fresh IT (for extensive background on the merger, see [itvt] Issue 7.87 Part 3), said Wednesday that it has secured a new customer contract for its Gaming division to provide interactive TV gaming products and services for the Eastern European market. The company says that it has signed an agreement with a "media company with activities in Eastern Europe" (which it says "has requested at this stage not to be named") to deliver its "Monte Carlo Roulette" product to households in Eastern Europe. (Note: Mirada bills "Monte Carlo Roulette" as "a completely synchronized, single wallet game which can be broadcast to TV and streamed live to your Web site with games played simultaneously across all major platforms." According to the company, the game is "completely video-led, exclusively multi-player, and is supported on the Web, TV and mobile. It deploys red button, mobile, IVR and Web as return paths," the company says, "and is complemented by sophisticated 3D graphics which are linked to the game and players. It also supports a synchronized delivery of video to online and TV players.") The deal is the company's first in that market.

According to Mirada, the agreement will see it building the necessary services and platforms from which to launch multiplayer gaming "with an 'as live' experience for viewers through utilizing a pre-recorded live show which is streamed over the Internet." It says that the agreement calls for it to develop and be responsible for the process of managing multiple players and on-screen video content, as well as production and playout services.

The agreement is slated to go into effect at the end of February, 2010, and has an initial three-year term, Mirada says. The company claims that the deal--which includes use of its London-based Wapping Broadcast studio and production facilities to film bespoke video clips--will generate net revenue of £500,000 over the next 12 months. It bills the deal as being significant "both in terms of scale of the operation and in terms of global expansion," and claims that it will serve as an "important stepping-stone" to additional presence in Eastern Europe. "This is an exciting win for Mirada and we are delighted to be expanding our gaming products into the Eastern European market," Mirada CEO, Jose Luis Vazquez, said in a prepared statement. "This being our first contract within the region, we are pleased to have been chosen to deliver such a large-scale project and to have our expertise in multi-player gaming products and systems recognized. We are fulfilling our goals of increasing our presence further afield and of targeting key growth markets, where the potential for further contracts and revenue is great as more consumers embrace digital TV and interactive services."