OpenTV plans to acquire interactive media company Static for approximately $59 million dollars in a cash and stock deal.
Static shareholders will receive approximately 2.6 million shares of OpenTV's Class A ordinary shares and about $17 million in cash.
Acquisition of London-based Static will provide OpenTV with immediate revenue streams from Static's PlayJam game service. PlayJam currently reaches more than 9.0 million homes across digital television networks in Europe, including BSkyB, ntl, Telewest, TPS and Canal Satellite. "The ITV games category has proven to be an early killer spp in the interactive television arena," said OpenTV CEO James Ackerman in a prepared statement about the deal.
PlayJam also currently runs on several iTV platforms, including those provided by OpenTV, Vivendi's Canal Plus Technologies, and Liberate. - Richard Tedesco
