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19 Feburary, 2003
Two media and entertainment-based projects were among 19 successful
recipients of $4.6 million in funding from the first round of Telstra's
Broadband Fund announced yesterday.
Sydney-based IT companies Amnesia and ITV World will both receive
grants to further develop projects with specific digital rights
and video streaming applications.
Amnesia is developing a prototype digital rights application for
the music industry to protect owners' and artists' copyright, whilst
allowing music to be downloaded by consumers form the Internet.
ITV World, meanwhile, will work on developing its Stream Guard
system, an end-to-end digital rights management solution that enables
any party that has Real Media or WinMedia video to publish content,
conditional on subscription or pay-per-use rules, with unprecedented
ease and economy, the company said.
Dr Hugh Bradlow, chairman of the Telstra Broadband Fund Board,
said the $4.25 million in cash and $0.35 million in bandwidth grants
would fast track the development of projects suitable for broadband
services in a wide variety of industries.
"The speed and convenience of broadband has driven uptake
to date and the Board feels these projects have a high chance of
commercial success and will help drive the broadband market into
the next phase of growth."We believe support from the Fund
will speed up these developments in the broadband environment and
get them to market more quickly than otherwise would have been possible,"
Bradlow said.
The projects were selected by the Board of the Telstra Broadband
Fund, which consists of experts in the fields of government, education,
film, multimedia, Internet and telecommunications.
Bradlow said the Telstra Broadband Fund Board was excited to be
able to support so many companies and institutions with credible
ideas for broadband developments.
"These projects will encourage broadband take-up in specific
market segments by providing compelling applications to improve
customer value and business benefits."
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