ENGLEWOOD, Colo., June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) president and CEO Robert B. Clasen today announced the promotion of Bob Greene to the newly created position of executive vice president, advanced services, from senior vice president, advanced services. He is responsible for all new media and related businesses including broadband and cellular. Greene reports to Clasen.

"Since coming to Starz two years ago," Clasen said, "Bob has led the team that developed a next generation platform and the key content application for this new era of video and content delivery. Vongo was uniquely developed to support both a direct to consumer business model and to provide a new and engaging product for our distribution partners. This new platform allows SEG to extend its customer base into the broadband world and to develop new content specific to Vongo. In addition, the product his team created will work with many of the new portable media devices and on a range of different distribution platforms."

"He was also responsible for developing relationships with some of the best-known names in the industry including AT&T, HP, Microsoft, Sony, and Toshiba. Together, this group and others will form the ecosystem of devices, content, delivery platforms and software that will spark the new era in video." Separately, Vongo announced today that it has ended its Beta phase and launched its Gold version.

Greene said, "It has been a great two years at Starz because under Bob Clasen there has been a strong commitment to explore and embrace new technologies and businesses. I am very encouraged by the results so far and excited to see what is next. Since launching Vongo in January we have learned a lot, developed new relationships and provided a new viewing experience for customers where they can watch whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want. But we have only just started to dip our toes in these uncharted waters."

Greene arrived at Starz to shepherd the development and launch of Starz Ticket on Real Networks, the predecessor to Vongo and the first premium subscription movie service to deliver via broadband. Using the lessons developed from 18 months of operating Starz Ticket, he developed Vongo with an improved user interface, a Microsoft-based digital rights management system, more video selections and a lower price among other improvements. "Starz Ticket provided the real life laboratory that enabled us to design Vongo on the basis of input from real consumers," he said.

He also developed a team of 18 people, bringing to the company such high level executives from RealNetworks Inc. and AOL Broadband.

Prior to coming to Starz in 2003, Greene had been chairman and CEO of Digital Lava, Inc., a Los Angeles-based provider of streaming media software and services used by large US companies for marketing, sales, corporate communications and financial presentations. Digital Lava was sold in 2002 to Interactive Video Technologies.

A native of Tenafly NJ, Greene graduated from the University of Virginia.

Before joining Digital Lava, Greene was a senior executive of Lightspan Inc., a San Diego-based developer of interactive educational software delivered over cable and telephone networks. He began his career in the cable industry with MTV, Nickelodeon and The Movie Channel and served for 13 years at Showtime Networks Inc., rising to senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Vongo subscribers have unlimited access to more than 1,600 movie and video selections as well as a live, streaming Starz TV channel for a monthly cost of $9.99. Members may download movies and video selections onto three eligible devices of their choice for each account, allowing for multiple-viewing options and family enjoyment. Additionally, select popular pay-per-view titles are available for $3.99 a movie. Vongo is currently available as a free download for broadband subscribers in the United States at www.vongo.com. In April 2006, Starz implemented a 14-day universal free trial to all consumers.

Starz Entertainment Group is the exclusive subscription provider of first-run, classic and favorite films from leading Hollywood studios including Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax Films, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Films, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Revolution Studios and more. Select recent films are available exclusively from Universal Pictures and New Line Cinema and library and classic titles are provided by a wide array of Hollywood studios.

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. SEG offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14.6 million and 26.4 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment Group airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group (NASDAQ:LCAPA) (NASDAQ:LCAPB) , www.starz.com.