VOD equipment provider, Concurrent Computer, and interactive TV company, GoldPocket Interactive, have announced plans to integrate GoldPocket's ITV technologies with Concurrent's MediaHawk VOD platform. The companies say that the integration will allow cable operators to offer programming and services that combine VOD with two-way interactivity, thus creating new revenue opportunities: an operator might, for example, use GoldPocket's StoryTeller authoring environment to create "hotspots" that are layered on top of objects or characters in a VOD program; viewers who clicked on the hotspots would then be "telescoped" to commerce applications (allowing them to, for example, purchase a piece of clothing worn by one of the program's characters); alternatively, a "hotspot" in a linear TV program could take viewers to a long-format commercial hosted on a Concurrent VOD server. "GoldPocket Interactive is a recognized leader in the interactive television space," Concurrent's VP of customer service and product management, Mike Tudisco, said in a prepared statement. "GoldPocket's applications, coupled with Concurrent's MediaHawk On- Demand platform, will offer service providers new and exciting alternatives in the emerging field of interactive television. As partners we will strive to offer our customers exciting solutions that will enhance the user experience and drive revenue growth."
In other GoldPocket news: the company's GoldPocket Wireless unit has teamed with Bennett Productions to enable viewers of the latter's show, "Bikini Destinations" (airs Saturdays on KTLA, Los Angeles), to download images of the bikini models featured in each week's episode to their mobile phones by texting a model's name to the shortcode, 47988. Prompts and instructions for downloading the images appear on-air during each episode. Downloads cost $1.99 each and are automatically charged to consumers' mobile phone bills.
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