n recognition of the rapidly expanding international and ethnic television viewing audience in the United States, JumpTV (AIM: JTV) (TSX: JTV), the world's leading broadcaster of ethnic television over the Internet, announced that it has forged an agreement with AOL to stream live, international television channels 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which are now available at http://video.aol.com/jumptv.
More than 60 channels are currently available, the majority of which are non-English language channels, and represent leading programming from nearly 30 countries around the world. The number of JumpTV channels available to AOL® Video users is expected to increase significantly over the next several months.
These channels can be found in a new "International" section in the primary navigation bar on the AOL Video portal. The launch of JumpTV on AOL Video coincides with JumpTV's free-to-consumer launch in the United States and marks a change from a subscription-only service to a free, ad-supported online video service for some of its content in the U.S.
Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, president and chief operating officer of JumpTV, said, "AOL Video is a leading player in the online video streaming space. This partnership is an important milestone for JumpTV and a key complement to the launch of our free-to-consumer, ad-supported content offering in the U.S."
Mike "JB" John-Baptiste, head of global distribution for JumpTV, added, "We targeted AOL as our first mainstream U.S. distribution partner for free, live TV because AOL has especially loyal users, an iconic brand, and unmatched experience in online video programming."
"When viewers watch music videos, sports, news, political debates, talk shows, telenovelas and other entertainment programs from their homeland, in their native tongue, they are very emotionally engaged. This represents a unique advertising opportunity for many of the world's top brands to reach exceedingly passionate viewers who have tremendous brand loyalty," JB continued.
"We are excited to be able to offer JumpTV's exclusive, live international television programming online given the growing demand for worldwide news and entertainment features," said Fred McIntyre, senior vice president, AOL Video. "We're pleased to be able to make JumpTV's programming available to the underserved market of those living in the United States whose native language is not English."
The AOL Video portal (http://video.aol.com) is a one-stop online destination to find, watch and share millions of the best videos from across the Web, broadcast and cable television, including news and entertainment programming such as movies, music videos, news, user-generated content and full-length TV shows. -Jump TV
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