Bristol, UK - June 8, 2010

British development could benefit 7+ million blind, partially sighted, dyslexic and impaired

in the UK*.

TVs that can talk to their owners are now a reality thanks to British high-tech company, Ocean Blue Software. Expected in UK stores by the end of the summer, the company's low cost text-to-speech technology, dubbed "Talk@TV", is being built into set top boxes from Korean company, Arion Technology, which will be branded and distributed by major retailers in the UK from August.

The new set top boxes are like regular Freeview or satellite boxes, but will be able to talk to their blind or partially-sighted owners – advising, via speech technology, the TV programming schedule, for example what's on and when. Owners will be able to adjust the speed and verbosity of the voice to suit their needs, choose to enlarge or reduce font sizes and change background and text colours. A re-designed and easy to use remote control will also be included.

The technology has been developed in partnership with digital TV chip giant, STMicroelectronics, whose processors lie at the heart of most TVs and set top boxes.

Phase two of the development will introduce voice activation technology to allow owners to talk back to their TV sets – "channel up", "channel down", "volume up".

"The digital switchover has multiplied the number of channels to 40 plus, for UK consumers, making navigation very difficult for the visually impaired," said Ken Helps, CEO of Ocean Blue Software. "This technology is a step forward to making digital TV accessible to all sectors of the community".

Ocean Blue's Talk@TV will be available in different languages and dialects; the UK version supports both the Scottish Gaelic and Welsh language for example.

The technology behind Talk@TV is a derivative of the pioneering work and development between the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and Ocean Blue over the last three years.

The development won an IABM* Award for Excellence in Design and Innovation, was nominated for a Royal Television Society award and shortlisted for an IMS TV Innovation award in the USA.

The Arion Talking set top box will be available in a number of UK retailers.

Note to Editors

An online video demonstration of the Talk@TV technology is available at http://tinyurl.com/y9tpvq9

Images are available from Ocean Blue's website: http://www.oceanbluesoftware.co.uk/press-resources.shtml

* Figures are from a report commissioned by humaniITy for RNIB on the potential market for enhanced access to digital television for older people and those with disabilities. December 2007.

# International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers www.theiabm.org

About Ocean Blue Software

Ocean Blue Software, based in Bristol and with offices in Hong Kong and Korea, specialises in the

development, distribution and support of world-class software solutions, which are incorporated into Digital TV consumer electronics products, present in the Digital Home.

Ocean Blue's software products stand out in terms of maturity, usability, operability and adherence to international digital broadcast standards, notably DVB and DTG. Ocean Blue is active in both DTG and DVB groups, assisting in the development of industry software standards. Ocean Blue's latest software developments include support for High Definition TV broadcasts, Talking TV technology, CI Plus and Connected-TV solutions such as HbbTV. 

About Arion Technology

Arion Technology Inc, based in Anyang of Korea and with offices in China, South Africa and Argentina, has been active in the STB business since 1999. With experiences of CA systems (Conax, Irdeto, Nagravision) and middleware applications (OpenTV, MHP, MHEG-5), Arion has supplied STB and PVR products for more than 25 satellite / cable / terrestrial operators worldwide. Arion will continue to incorporate the Talking TV technology into various Arion STBs to promote to the worldwide pay-tv operators as well as existing customers.