Meep, Meep! 7th Level Pairs With Road Runner

Software developer 7th
Level, Inc. today said it signed an agreement with Road Runner of Tampa Bay, to
provide the broadband Internet cable company with an animated character.

The Agent 7 reusable, voice-activated characters are a friendly pirate named
Barnacle Bob and a talking parrot, which will be used by Road Runner
initially as a children’s entertainment feature. Financial terms of the
deal were not disclosed.

Road Runner is owned by Time Warner, MediaOne, Microsoft and Compaq. It
claims to be the largest U.S. online service, providing cable Internet
access to 27 million residences. The Tampa Bay division reports 1.3
million users.

7th Level’s Agent 7 software produces lip synch and playback animated
characters on the Internet,
corporate networks and within Microsoft Office or other, major Windows
95/98 standalone PC applications. Character dialog and animation can be
changed by users by recording a voice track with a microphone plugged into
a PC. Individuals or businesses can create interactive animated characters
or objects to increase the Web page and presentation effectiveness, in less
time and cost than traditional frame-based animation, according to 7th Level.

“One of our most frequent requests is for content that will attract
children,” said Bob Bowden, Online Editor, Road Runner of Tampa Bay.
“Because it is so easy to create new content with Agent 7, we plan to use
Barnacle Bob to build up a library of
daily jokes and bedtime stories suitable for children. If the content
demonstrates wider appeal, we could syndicate it nationally. If Bob himself
becomes popular, we’ll look at broadening his use.”

“This agreement also steps up our penetration of the growing market for
broadband Internet broadcast,” said Curt Marvis, President of 7th Level.