IDT Media's "Monster By Mistake" Picked Up In Key National and International Markets For Broadcast
New episodes of 3-D series sold in the United States, Canada, Germany and Australia |
Newark, N.J., February 20, 2003 -- IDT Media today announced that "Monster by Mistake," the animated children's series revitalized by IDT Media's Digital Production Solutions (DPS), has been picked up for broadcast in five key national and international markets. IDT Media is a division of IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT.B, IDT), a multinational carrier, technology and telephone company.
The new and improved episodes of "Monster by Mistake" will be broadcast on Disney Australia, Telemundo in the United States, Super RTL in Germany, Canada’s YTV, and the French language VRAC in Canada. Through this broadcasting deal, “Monster by Mistake” will now be one of the first completely 3-D animated programs to have a regular broadcast run.
“We’re at the beginning of an important trend. High quality 3-D animation is becoming more affordable and the need for animated products will continue to grow, both in the United States and abroad,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “Viewers that watch ‘Monster by Mistake’ will be impressed by the visual effects achieved through 3-D animation. The lighting and textures of each character and the background effects in 3-D truly make the story come alive.”
“Monster by Mistake’ is great family entertainment and I think the viewers are going to like what they see," said Morris Berger, Executive Vice President, Business Development for IDT Media. "Using our patent pending proprietary software, along with an experienced creative and technical team, we’re delivering the first cross platform collaboration, between the popular 3D Studio Max with the Academy award winning Houdini software, to create an extraordinary viewing experience."
The “Monster by Mistake” series, first broadcast in 1996, was created entirely with computer generated 3D graphics, which represented a breakthrough in television production. The series follows the adventures of an 8 year-old boy named Warren who accidentally gets mixed up in a magic spell and turns into a blue monster every time he sneezes.
DPS is also currently working on a co-production agreement with Jim Jinkins and David Campbell of Cartoon Pizza, the creators of Doug, Stanley and PB&J Otter. The DPS studio offers producers access to international animation talent on demand for a fraction of domestic costs, and with levels of control similar to an in-house studio.
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its retail and wholesale customers worldwide. IDT Telecom, by means of its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance telephony and prepaid calling cards. IDT and Liberty Media Corporation own 95% and 5 % of IDT Telecom, respectively. IDT Media is the IDT subsidiary principally responsible for the Company's initiatives in media, new video technologies and print media.
On January 9, 2003, IDT announced that it is changing its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbols. Effective February 26, IDT's common stock will trade under the symbol IDT.C. Effective March 19, IDT's Class B common stock will trade under the symbol IDT.
Through its various subsidiaries, IDT has interests in several telecom, Internet-related and media companies. IDT acquired the assets of Winstar Communications in December 2001. IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT.B and IDT. As of December 12, 2002, there were approximately 54.1 million shares of Class B common stock (IDT.B) outstanding, and approximately 25.0 million shares of common stock (IDT). Of these, approximately 4.0 million shares of Class B common stock and approximately 5.4 million shares of common stock were held by IDT Corporation.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate, “target” and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in our most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: potential declines in prices for our products and services; our ability to maintain and grow our retail telecommunications services, particularly our prepaid calling card business; availability of termination capacity; financial stability of our customers; our ability to maintain carrier agreements with foreign carriers; effectiveness of our marketing and distribution efforts; increased competition, particularly from regional bell operating companies; our ability to manage our growth; competitiveness of our Winstar subsidiary; impact of government regulation; our ability to obtain telecommunications products or services required for our products and services; and general economic conditions, particularly in the telecommunications markets. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Feb 20, 2003 |
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