Collaboration will accelerate the adoption of advanced advertising platforms in multiple markets

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Motorola Mobility, Inc., a subsidiary of Motorola, Inc., (NYSE: MOT), through its strategic investment arm, Motorola Ventures, today announced an investment in BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms. Motorola’s investment represents an extension of BlackArrow’s previously announced Series C funding; terms of the investment were not disclosed.

BlackArrow’s advertising solutions address the fundamental shift in the way television audiences now view their favorite programs. The increase in platforms, such as video-on-demand (VoD), DVR, mobile devices and broadband, provide consumers with greater choice when it comes to when and where they watch their programs. These “New TV” options create new opportunities and challenges for advertisers, television programmers and content distributors alike. BlackArrow’s technology enables new advertising and business models for content that is increasingly viewed in an on-demand environment.

“Motorola Ventures invests in companies that accelerate our business strategy and are integral to our overall innovation efforts,” said Harshul Sanghi, managing director, Motorola Ventures. “Motorola’s presence and leadership in the video content delivery space will provide significant visibility for BlackArrow within their key markets.”

As part of this collaboration, the two companies will develop integrated addressable media and advertising solutions for set-top boxes and mobile devices, as well as cloud-based, hosted video services and IP video delivery. BlackArrow will use the additional capital from the investment for new product development and worldwide deployment of their Advanced Advertising System to networks and New TV content distributors.

“Motorola’s reputation for technological excellence, its rich and diverse product mix and its worldwide customer base create a powerful opportunity to accelerate and drive scale, increasing the value around the business of advanced advertising,” said Dean Denhart, CEO of BlackArrow. “Our work together will enable programmers and distributors to monetize premium television programming across a broad spectrum of New TV platforms and devices.”

“The ability to monetize the next generation of video delivery will drive bottom-line success for the media industry in the years ahead,” said Mark Depietro, vice president, strategy, Motorola Mobility. “Our work with BlackArrow will enhance our ability to offer an advanced advertising monetization path for customers of our market-leading devices and solutions around the globe.”
About The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System

The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System is designed to address the technological complexities and business issues within on-demand advertising environments. The BlackArrow Sales Suite enables television ad-sales organizations to define, manage and fulfill multiplatform, multioperator advertising campaigns to reach audiences who increasingly embrace time-shifted media on their televisions, computers and mobile phones. For content distributors, the BlackArrow Decision Suite offers powerful ad decision logic and proven system interoperability to deploy dynamic ad insertion rapidly in VoD and other television environments.

About Motorola
Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to mobile and wireline digital communication devices that provide compelling experiences, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) had sales of US $22 billion in 2009. For more information, please visit www.motorola.com.

About BlackArrow, Inc.
BlackArrow is a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising technology for New Television platforms. The company’s multiplatform advertising system is designed specifically for video content distributed over any on-demand platform, enabling networks and content distributors to maximize advertising revenues. BlackArrow is privately held, and backed by Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital (Nasdaq: INTC), Mayfield Fund, Motorola Ventures, NDS Group, LTD. and Polaris Venture Partners. The company has offices in New York City and San Jose, Calif.

http://www.blackarrow.tv

An example that VentureBeat provided about the BlackArrow service is that if someone attempts to forward a TV show playing on ABC, “The 30-second TV spots are removed and replaced with a group of pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll ads, as well as companion ads” are displaying in these playback modes. I assume that they would be still images since it would be difficult to implement uninterrupted video advertisements on these playback modes, but you never know what is going on behind the scenes at BlackArrow.

BlackArrow is based in San Mateo, CA. BlackArrow’s origins date began in 2002. Tom Morgan and Pat Dunbar founded the Digital Media and Advertising (DiMA) Group. Through these investments in the Group, various lead programmers and advertising experts came together to solve problems in the on-demand TV market. BlackArrow was the result. Denny Wilkinson is the President and CEO of BlackArrow Inc.

[Source: VentureBeat]