Gracenote Acquires HWW, Expands Global Reach Into Australia

Acquisition of HWW positions Gracenote for growth throughout Asia-Pacific

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Oct 02, 2014, 09:00 ET

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Gracenote, a division of Tribune Media Company (OTC:TRBAA), today announced that it has acquired HWW, Australia's leading provider of TV and movie data, for $19 million USD ($21 million AUD) from Mi9, which is owned by Nine Entertainment Co. This acquisition expands Gracenote's international reach into the Australian TV and digital entertainment market, positioning the company for growth throughout Asia-Pacific.

This year, Tribune Media has taken significant steps to grow its entertainment information and data business internationally to support increasing demand. The company acquired Gracenote in January and integrated it with Tribune Media Services (TMS), under the Gracenote brand. In July, the company expanded into India, the Middle East and parts of Asia with Tribune's acquisition of What's-ON, the region's top TV data provider. With the addition of HWW, Gracenote will now provide TV listings and show and movie data for more than 55 countries across six continents.

"We are seeing increasing demand from customers to support Australia and the surrounding region," said John Batter, CEO of Gracenote. "As new services roll-out around the globe, our customers are seeking an entertainment data provider with knowledge and expertise of the local broadcasters and regional movie catalogs. With the addition of HWW and the recent acquisition of What's-ON, Gracenote is now in a position to support our customers and help expand their products and services in Australia, India and throughout Asia-Pacific."

Australia is ranked as one of the top 15 TV markets in the world, with a growing base of digital and connected TV services. HWW syndicates TV and movie data to leading Australian broadcasters, pay-TV operators and on-demand services for program guides on a wide range of devices, including IPTV, cable & satellite set-top boxes, Smart TVs and mobile apps. The company has data describing millions of TV programs and movies across more than 700 national and local TV channels in Australia. Its customers include Fetch TV, Foxtel, Freeview, ninemsn, Samsung and Yahoo!7. HWW's DataGenius software platform is also used to support entertainment data services in 50 countries across Australasia, Africa and the Middle East.

The HWW team will continue to operate from its headquarters in Sydney.

About Gracenote

Gracenote, Inc. provides music and video content and technologies to the world's hottest entertainment products and brands. Gracenote is the industry standard for music and video recognition and is supported by the largest source of music and video data, featuring descriptions of more than 195 million tracks and TV listings for 55+ countries. Gracenote is a subsidiary of Tribune Media Company (OTC:TRBAA) and has 20+ offices with worldwide headquarters in Emeryville, Calif. For more information, visit our website www.gracenote.com or follow us at @GracenoteTweets and www.facebook.com/PoweredbyGracenote.

About Tribune Media

Tribune Media Company (OTC:TRBAA) is home to a diverse portfolio of television and digital properties driven by quality news, entertainment and sports programming. Tribune Media is comprised of Tribune Broadcasting's 42 owned or operated local television stations reaching 50 million households, national entertainment network WGN America, available in 72 million households, Tribune Studios, and Tribune Digital Ventures, including the websites Zap2it and TVByTheNumbers, and Gracenote, one of the world's leading sources of TV and music metadata powering electronic program guides in televisions, automobiles and mobile devices. Tribune Media also includes Chicago's WGN-AM, the national multicast networks Antenna TV and THIS TV. Additionally, the company owns and manages a significant number of real estate properties across the U.S. and holds other strategic investments in media. For more information please visit www.tribunemedia.com.

SOURCE Gracenote