Optical Entertainment Network announces IPTV Carriage Agreement with Starz Entertainment

January 12, 2006 – Optical Entertainment Network  announced today that it has signed a number of IPTV carriage agreements with Starz Entertainment Group. As a result of the new deal, all 13 Starz and Encore channels will be offered to subscribers along with Starz HDTV and Starz On Demand as part of OEN’s premium service offerings.

OEN’s FISION service will provide digital IP Video, Internet and Voice service to 1.6 million households in Houston, Texas, the 10th largest television market in the U.S., over an existing fiber network covering the majority of the city. FISION will provide fiber-tothe- home (FTTH) service, which presents unparalleled programming offerings to residential subscribers in Houston, Texas. STARZ is the latest addition to the most complete line-up of IPTV channels in the US, which also includes the largest number of SD and HD TV channels in a system that is made fully available for license in other metropolitan areas.

The company has created the first integrated service for Video, Internet, Voice, Video- On-Demand (VOD) and Home Security designed specifically to take advantage of the benefits of FTTH technology. OEN has acquired programming agreements for IPTV distribution from top television networks and will deliver 400 television channels, including over 50 channels of High Definition Television (HDTV) to subscribers.

In addition, OEN will offer 10 to 100 Mbps Internet service to subscribers’ homes, video-ondemand, subscription video-on-demand, pay-per-view specials and events as well as original programming created by OEN Studios, the creative television production arm of Optical Entertainment Network.

"Our Starz IPTV license is very important to us and we see it as a strong vote of confidence in our fiber-to-the home platform from a leading network," said Thomas Wendt, CEO of OEN. "The wide variety of commercial-free films shown on the thirteen Starz and Encore channels - with everything from Elf on Starz to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on Encore - will give our subscribers the very best that Hollywood has to offer. Better yet, Starz on Demand will give our subscribers to Starz instant, ondemand access to more than 100 movies per month at no extra charge."

For more information about FISION please visit http://www.getfision.com 

For more information about Optical Entertainment Network http://www.4fiber.tv