| Bitstream Releases the CCTV Font
Set High-quality, readable fonts meet FCC requirements for closed captioning display on digital and analog TVs CAMBRIDGE, MA — April 2, 2002— Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS ) announced today the release of the CCTV Font Set, which supports the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for closed captioning display on digital and analog TVs. Bitstream carefully selected the fonts to be very readable on the TV screen and implemented all the FCC-required styles. The CCTV Font Set includes the Tiresias Screenfont, developed specifically for closed captioning by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). The Tiresias Screenfont is the standard font endorsed by the DTG (Digital Terrestrial Group) and by the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) organization for the MHP (Multimedia Home Platform). Closed captioning involves displaying the "audio" portion of a TV broadcast as text, which is superimposed over the video portion. Most importantly, it allows viewers who are hearing impaired to access TV broadcasts. To display closed-captioned text, the viewers must have a set-top box decoder or a TV receiver that includes this decoding capability. The FCC has updated its closed captioning requirements for digital TVs. By July 1, 2002, manufacturers must include FCC-mandated decoder circuitry for closed captioning in their digital TV devices. "Bitstream has been at the forefront of making text very legible on digital TVs. This includes our work with the RNIB and such leading standards organizations as the DTG, DVB, and MHP," said Anna Chagnon, President of Bitstream. "Creating high-quality text is important because analog and digital TVs are low-resolution devices. A typical TV at best will have only 1/25, or 4%, the resolution of a printed page! So it's important that these devices have text that is easy to read. The CCTV font set makes that possible and enables manufacturers to meet these very important requirements for the hearing disabled." New CCTV Font Set
* *The Tiresias Screenfont has been adopted by many organizations — such as the DTG, DVB, and MHP — as the standard font for closed captioning. The CCTV Font Set is a separate product offered with Bitstream's Font Fusion, version 2.3. Font Fusion is Bitstream's premier font rasterizing engine. About Tiresias Screenfont The Tiresias Screenfont includes characters that are easy to distinguish from one another. Throughout the design process, the key factors that affect legibility were studied. These factors include character shapes, relative thickness of the character shapes, inter-character spacing, and aspect ratios that affect the maximum size at which the font can be used. Bitstream Inc. Founded in 1981, Bitstream is the first digital font foundry. In 1999, Bitstream created MyFonts.com, Inc. (http://www.myfonts.com), the Web site for finding, trying, and buying fonts on line. Bitstream is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bitstream and TrueDoc are registered trademarks, and CCTV Font Set, Font Fusion, Mister Earl, Oranda, and ThunderHawk are trademarks of Bitstream Inc. Copperplate Gothic and Kaufmann are trademarks of Kingsley-ATF Type Corporation. Other technologies and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Contact Bob Thomas |