PITTSFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2003-- EZ-D Will Feature Titles from Buena Vista Home Entertainment Including The Recruit, The Hot Chick, 25th Hour, Frida & Signs -- Flexplay Technologies, Inc, a privately held company based in New York, today announced that Buena Vista Home Entertainment Division of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) will use its flexible time play DVD technology to make movies available to consumers in test markets beginning this August.
The introduction of this innovative product, branded EZ-D , will include BVHE titles The Recruit, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Hot Chick, 25th Hour, Heaven, Equilibrium, Frida and Signs.
EZ-D will incorporate Flexplay's proprietary flexible time play technology into a standard DVD. A Flexplay enabled DVD is similar to a conventional DVD, except that it has a 48 hour viewing window that begins only after the disc is removed from its packaging.
Consumers will then be able to enjoy the movie as many times as they wish during this time frame. After 48 hours of impeccable play, the DVD will no longer be readable by the DVD player and can then be recycled.
A Flexplay enabled DVD works in all players, DVD drives and gaming systems designed to accept a standard DVD.
GE Plastics, a division of GE (NYSE: GE), has been a key strategic collaborator in the advancement of Flexplay's proprietary technologies, developing a new patented LEXAN(R) resin co-polymer essential to the flexible time play design.
EZ-D's goal is to expand the overall home entertainment market by appealing to consumers whose rental consumption has diminished due to the perceived inconvenience of the current rental process. EZ-D will give these consumers easy access to recently released titles in places they already shop and the opportunity to watch them at their convenience without worrying about returns, late fees or scratched discs.
EZ-D offers retailers the opportunity to expand their existing DVD business; and for first time DVD retailers, easy entree into the growing DVD category.
We are thrilled that EZ-D discs containing Buena Vista Home Entertainment content will be available to consumers beginning in August, said Alan Blaustein, CEO of Flexplay. We believe that EZ-D will become synonymous with Flexplay's innovative technology and that consumers and content providers will soon appreciate the convenience and ease that a Flexplay enabled EZ-D will offer.
Bob Chapek, President of Buena Vista Home Entertainment said, We are very excited to be utilizing Flexplay's technology to introduce EZ-D. This is a great opportunity for us to test consumer receptiveness to this new product in a live market setting.
We believe consumers will enjoy the benefits of EZ-D without the inconvenience of making extra trips, returning movies, and paying late fees. Art LeBlanc, President of Flexplay noted, This is a breakthrough in the DVD manufacturing process and the introduction of EZ-D represents a major technological achievement for the industry.
GE Plastics' new LEXAN(R) resin co-polymer used in the Flexplay DVD is an essential component of the flexible play technology and is a result of the company's two-year strategic development program with Flexplay. The new co-polymer represents a technical breakthrough for LEXAN(R) resin.
Our strategic development efforts with Flexplay have resulted in yet another innovative product milestone for our LEXAN resin, said John Dineen, Vice President and Global LEXAN Business Leader for GE Plastics. This is exciting new technology that can help revolutionize and expand the DVD marketplace. We are fully committed to maximizing this technology globally.
About Flexplay Technologies, Inc.
Flexplay Technologies has pioneered the flexible time play DVD. A Flexplay enabled DVD is similar to a conventional DVD, except that it has a pre-set viewing window that begins only after the disc is removed from its packaging.
During this viewing window, the Flexplay DVD plays like a standard DVD, and offers the same great picture and sound that consumers expect from their DVDs. After this viewing window the disc will no longer be readable by the DVD player and can then be recycled.
A Flexplay enabled DVD works in all players, DVD drives and gaming systems designed to accept a standard DVD. Flexplay's patented technology allows content providers to seize new and powerful distribution opportunities that offer their consumers a greater level of convenience and control.
A Flexplay enabled DVD can be used in a variety of industries and applications including: movies, music, video games, television programming, and software.
Flexplay enabled DVDs are also suitable for a variety of promotional applications.
For more information on Flexplay, please visit our Web site at www.flexplay.com.
About Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., a recognized leader in the home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista videocassette and DVD product. Buena Vista Home
Entertainment, Inc., is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.
About GE Plastics
GE Plastics is a leading producer of engineering thermoplastics, with major production facilities worldwide. GE Plastics materials, including LEXAN(R) polycarbonate, are used in a wide variety of applications such as CDs, automobile parts, computer housings, cookware, outdoor signage, cell phones, bullet resistant shielding and building materials.
Through its LNP Engineering Plastics business, the company is a worldwide leader in the custom compounding of engineering thermoplastics.
GE Plastics is also a global distributor of sheet, film, rod and tube products through GE Polymershapes and GE Structured Products. In 2003 GE Plastics is celebrating 50 years of innovation and the 50th Anniversary of LEXAN polycarbonate, discovered in 1953 by GE chemist Dr. Daniel W. Fox.
The company's Web site is located at www.geplastics.com.
For more information about LEXAN, visit www.gelexan.com.
LEXAN is a registered trademark of the General Electric Company.
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CONTACT: Flexplay Technologies
Suzanne Gibbons-Neff, 203/656-0833
[email protected]
or
GE Plastics
Pam Wickham, 413/448-7383
[email protected]