(2 February 2010 5:50 pm)

MUMBAI: China Digital TV has made a joint investment in OpenV China, an online video company, alongside one of OpenV’s existing shareholders.

Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the aggregate amount of China Digital TV’s investment will be up to $14.5 million, consisting of consideration for an initial equity investment, a convertible loan to OpenV and consideration payable upon the potential exercise of a warrant to purchase additional shares of OpenV.

Assuming the full conversion of the convertible loan into OpenV’s shares and the full exercise of the warrant, China Digital TV’s equity interest in OpenV would be approximately 25 per cent to 31 per cent, subject to certain performance adjustment mechanisms. China Digital TV has the right to appoint two directors to OpenV’s seven-member board of directors.

The aggregate amount of the investment from both investors will be up to $17 million in cash. Founded in 2006, OpenV’s interactive web TV platform employs advanced online video technology to provide users with personalized video content services.

OpenV currently has entered into cooperation agreements with more than 40 of China’s TV stations, including six strategic content partners - CCTV, Beijing TV, Shanghai Media Group, Phoenix TV, Hunan TV and China Entertainment TV. OpenV offers 578 online TV channels and owns millions of hours of licensed video content. As of the end of 2009, OpenV’s daily average traffic reached more than 55 million page views, 40 million video views and 8 million unique visitors.

Says China Digital TV chairman, CEO Jianhua Zhu, “This investment is in line with China Digital TV’s long term strategy to create and market products that allow consumers to conveniently access high quality content anywhere, anytime. As the trend towards network convergence in China continues to accelerate, we expect to see the benefits of this cooperation as well as exciting opportunities to provide consumers with new ways to access high-quality video content.”