News

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (April 20, 2010) ¾ CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGS), a leading provider of customer interaction management and billing solutions, today announced that CSG's Content Direct will provide a complete content monetization and customer management solution for Universal Sports, a leading provider of Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming on television and online.

CSG’s Content Direct solution provides video content companies such as Universal Sports with the tools to better manage customers and monetize digital video content predictably and reliably.

For Universal Sports’ online presence, the solution will allow consumers to access both live and on-demand sports content through subscription and Pay-Per-View event models in a high quality smooth stream format over any internet connection.

Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round for major world championship and Olympic qualifying events including track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons, cycling, and more.

Through CSG’s Content Direct, consumers that visit UniversalSports.com will be able to manage their account, subscriptions, digital locker and watch live events in high definition quality.  In addition, sports fans can access Universal Sports’ Tour Tracker application to follow their favorite athletes during key sporting events, including over 100 live events per year. 

By using Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming, consumers can enjoy online sports events with minimal buffering and fast startup time, because IIS Smooth Streaming adapts the quality of the video stream in real time, based upon the consumer’s changing bandwidth and device they are using to watch video content.  Microsoft Corp. also adds Microsoft PlayReady technology to the solution to enable Universal Sports to manage digital content rights as consumers move their content between devices.

In addition to offering a strong consumer experience, Content Direct will enable Universal Sports to perform key operational functions such as offering advertising spots and syndication of content to other partner sites, as well as providing customer care capabilities, commerce transactions and financial reporting.

“Our customers are passionate about sports and when they watch their favorite athletes compete, the experience has to be rich, uninterrupted and high-quality.  In an online environment, that’s not always easy to do – our partnership with CSG’s Content Direct will help us deliver the online sports experience that our fans expect and deserve,” said David Clevinger, Universal Sports’ senior director for Online Products.

“Monetizing content is more than just charging a credit card and hoping for the best.  Monetization of content means providing all of the tools needed for marketers to sell and promote their content, manage the customer experience, provide a viewing experience that keeps fans coming back, and integrate with existing systems and relationships,” said Kent Steffen, President of CSG’s Content Direct. “We couldn’t be more excited about working with Universal Sports to help them realize their business goals now and in the future.”

“Microsoft and CSG’s Content Direct share a common goal to further the industry of online media and entertainment. Our solutions together work toward the goal by enabling content owners to deliver smooth, high-quality online content that draws consumers in and makes them want to keep coming back for the experience,” said Gabriele Di Piazza, managing director of Worldwide Media and Entertainment at Microsoft.  “Universal Sports is an innovative company whose dynamic content management and monetization needs are well suited to the solutions that our alliance with CSG Content Direct can provide.”

About CSG’s Content Direct Solution

CSG’s Content Direct solution empowers content creators, aggregators and distributors to easily and effectively market, monetize and manage content and customers.  Content Direct is offered as either a set of software services or as an integrated solution, and allows content companies of all sizes to increase the value and return of every content transaction.  The solution supports virtually all content types and commerce models, marketing promotions, advertising management, partner management, financial management, reporting, analytics and syndication.  Content Direct is a complete solution and is integrated with leading digital ecosystem providers. For more information, visit our website at www.csgsystems.com/contentdirect.

About Universal Sports: Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming available on television and online. Universal Sports is available in 57 million homes, including nine of the top 10 DMAs: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. Recent expansion includes launches in Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Denver, Portland, and Jacksonville. Go to UniversalSports.com for a complete list of TV markets. Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round. For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, please visit UniversalSports.com.

About CSG Systems
Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS) is a customer interaction management company that provides software- and services-based solutions that help clients engage and transact with their customers. With a 25-year heritage in providing customer management and billing solutions to North American cable and direct broadcast satellite companies, CSG has broadened its customer interaction management capabilities to proudly serve this client base as well as new, highly competitive industries including financial services, healthcare, utilities and more. Today, CSG's solutions reach more than half of all US households each month and manage over $36 billion in transactions annually on its clients' behalf. For more information, visit our website at www.csgsystems.com.

For more information, contact:

Elise Brassell, Media Relations

CSG Systems

Phone: (303) 804-4962

E-mail:  elise_brassell@csgsystems.com

Liz Bauer, Investor Relations

CSG Systems

Phone: (303) 804-4065

E-mail:  liz_bauer@csgsystems.com