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(October 7, 2002 --MIPCOM-- Cannes, France)—As part of an unprecedented agreement Federal Hill Communications, a leader in the licensing and marketing of digital VOD content, has been appointed by LuxSAT ME to oversee the negotiation of content from Hollywood Studios, in support of LuxSAT ME’s residential, digital Video On Demand service throughout the Middle East. The initial launch is set to rollout later this month and will include Egypt, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon. In addition to the agreement, LuxSAT ME has also licensed 100 hours of programming from Federal Hill’s cache of programming held exclusively for VOD platforms.

According to Bethany Gorfine, President of Federal Hill and Dr. Mohamed Osama, CEO of LuxSAT ME, who jointly made today’s announcement, this earmarks the first time that subscriber-based VOD service will be made available to this region. Utilizing LuxSAT International’s satellite Data multicast delivery platform, the high-end technology can readily eliminate content piracy throughout the region by encrypting programming that is only accessible to a paying subscribers’ set-top box terminal.

“This deal is truly exceptional in that we are embarking upon new ground that has never been laid down before in this region of the world,” said Gorfine. “The Middle East, known for being an area of high piracy of content, in that DVD’s of titles just released in the United States usually appear on the streets shortly thereafter in this region has been an issue addressed by LuxSAT. The technical due-diligence of LuxSAT’s technology has proven to be a safe and secure medium in which to deliver the studios content to paid subscribers. We are pleased to be negotiating with the studios for their content on behalf of LuxSAT ME, and this is only the beginning of a great relationship,” Gorfine commented.

“We are bringing a unique service to the market, with this partnership in place LuxSat ME added a very important element to its success recipe, with the digital media knowledge; programming expertise of Federal Hill, LuxSat Middle East will assure the best in digital entertainment for its customers in the Middle East,” said Dr. Osama.

LuxSAT is the first “end-to-end home multimedia on demand platform” offering the first secured and approved home media content delivery, authentication and transaction platform together with a "all-in-one" home media center: the LuxSTATION. One of the unique innovations of the LuxSAT technology and platform lies in being the only system, which has solved, in concrete terms, the major problem of bandwidth need in "Video on Demand" techniques. As a result, with LuxSAT technology, the bandwidth needed is totally independent upon the number of end-users, which are logged-in at the same time.

About Federal Hill Communications
Established in 1993, Federal Hill Communications is an independent international firm specializing in the licensing and delivery of digital entertainment for the Video on Demand (VOD) industry. The company is known for its forward thinking and hands-on expertise in the burgeoning VOD sector. Federal Hill Communications’ clients include Technology companies, Systems Integrators, Cable Operators, Hotels and Telephone Companies worldwide. For more information about Federal Hill Communications, please visit www.fedhill.com.

About LuxSAT ME
LuxSAT ME was founded in December 2001, as the leading Middle Eastern platform to provide the world's first optimum real VOD interactive TV services. Its plan is to introduce its services throughout 17 Middle Eastern countries which will include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, U.A.E, K.S.A, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Qatar and Yemen with an ambitious roll out plan. LuxSAT ME is committed to introducing a new standard of after sales services exceeding its customer expectations, and one of the main tools, is integrating voice and data services. For further Information on LuxSAT, please visit www.luxsat.com.