Adobe announces that major television broadcasters and leading content publishers including CBS, PBS, Yahoo! Video, Meredith Corporation, Blip.tv, Fora.tv, Motionbox, MyToons and StimTV are collaborating with Adobe to distribute video content via the new Adobe Media Player. Adobe Media Player is Adobe’s first application built on Adobe AIR software, the cross operating system application runtime that extends rich Internet applications to the desktop. Leveraging Adobe’s Emmy Award winning Flash technology, Adobe Media Player enables viewers to enjoy content from these broadcast television and Web video providers, giving them control to watch their favorite shows both online and offline in an engaging, customized video experience.

“As a pioneer in rich interactive Web video experiences, Adobe is committed to driving the next generation of video delivery and accelerating the fusion of TV and the Internet,” said Jim Guerard, vice president for Dynamic Media at Adobe. “Adobe Media Player enables us to work with content publishers and offer them innovative ways to create, deliver, and monetize high-quality video experiences that are supported both by streaming and download. By collaborating with these media and entertainment industry giants, we will be able to provide viewers an extensive catalog of their favorite shows for viewing at their convenience.”

Flexible Content Distribution

Adobe Media Player is a lightweight desktop application that offers new features for both viewers and content owners. The player allows viewers to watch content online or download and view videos offline, all with full-screen playback. A powerful subscription feature easily enables viewers to subscribe to their favorite shows or podcasts and then automatically receive new episodes as they become available. Adobe Media Player is cross-platform, based on open standards — including Really Simple Syndication and Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language — and brings viewers the highly desired ability to play Adobe Flash Player compatible video, the Web’s most popular video format, outside of their browser.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with Adobe to deliver diverse content from PBS’s award-winning cultural, science, history and news & public affairs programming to the desktop with the Adobe Media Player,” said Jason Seiken, senior vice president of Interactive for PBS. “Bringing this state-of-the-art educational content to more people is critical, given PBS’s mission.”

“By providing a feed of popular videos from Yahoo! Video for the Adobe Media Player, we’re giving our viewers the option to watch these videos at their convenience while still maintaining a consistent Yahoo! experience,” said Mike Folgner, general manager of Yahoo! Video.

New Capabilities to Build Businesses, Brand and Track Video Content

For content publishers, Adobe Media Player offers new ways to distribute, measure and build businesses around video content. The player enables a wider selection of monetization and branding options including viewer-centric dynamic advertising and the ability to customize the look and feel of the player to match the brand or theme of the video content. Adobe Media Player also provides sophisticated measurement of usage data, as well as content protection options, including streaming encryption, content integrity safeguards and identity-based protection.

Pricing and Availability

The beta version of the Adobe Media Player is available immediately as a free download from Adobe Labs at labs.adobe.com. The Adobe Media Player is available in English and offered for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The final release of the Adobe Media Player is scheduled to be available in early 2008.