MUMBAI: California-headquartered IPTV player Interactive Television Networks has entered into a long-term distribution deal with a group of unnamed European investors for the wholesale distribution of XTV Networks to 3rd party IPTV providers.

Going beyond US and Canada, this broad agreement includes retail distribution of ITVN's set-top-boxes in Eastern Europe. In addition, a significant capital contribution is being made to fund ITVN's European launch, which is scheduled for December 2005, states an official release.

"While our core business is the sale of programming over our proprietary set-top-box, ITVN also believes that significant opportunities exist in the distribution of its networks, including XTV Networks, to 3rd party IPTV providers," said ITVN CEO Charles Prast. "Among ITVN's assets are our IPTV programming capability and Internet Protocol rights to a variety of popular content, which we intend to leverage to non-affiliated providers both in the US and internationally."

ITVN manufactures a low-cost, compact set-top-box that links the home television to IPTV networks and services without the need for a personal computer. In addition, ITVN is a provider of proprietary interactive content networks delivered to the television over home broadband. ITVN owns or controls all aspects of its business from content licenses, management, billing, and streaming software to its low-cost compact set-top-box, the release adds.