--App Also Launched by Everest
Plano Texas-based BIAP Systems (note: the latter, whose name is an acronym for "Broadband Interactive Applications," was founded in 1998 by a group of former NASA scientists who had met while working on the Space Station; it recently completed a $20 million funding round--see [itvt] Issue 6.87 Part 1) says that Time Warner Cable is now offering its Fantasy Football Tracker application on its Columbia, South Carolina and San Antonio and Austin, Texas systems, in addition to its Green Bay, Wisconsin system, where the app was launched last year. The app allows fantasy football players to use their remote control to track their entire team's roster (an on-screen menu allows players to enter up to 25 NFL players into the app, as well as to update their fantasy roster to reflect trades and injuries), while tuned to any channel. Using patented "artificial intelligence agents" that are downloaded to the set-top box, where they retrieve information from various Internet locations on-command or at pre-determined intervals, Fantasy Football Tracker provides viewers with regular updates on the players in their fantasy teams, as well as with weekly polls. Information provided by the app includes game scores; passing, rushing, receiving, and kicking leaderboards; injury updates; and player headlines. Information can be viewed either in a scrolling ticker or in a full-screen format that provides more details. The app can also be used by regular football fans who don't play fantasy football--in which case it is pre- populated with stats and other information on their local team. "One of the very cool features we have added to this application from last year's launch in Green Bay is the Breakout Performance Alerts," Barry Carpe, BIAP's VP of sports applications, said in a prepared statement. "When one of your team members accomplishes something of note during a game, an alert indicator will appear on your screen. You will get these alerts regardless of which channel you are on at the moment and you can dig into the application right then to find out more."
BIAP's Fantasy Football Tracker has also just been launched by Everest, a regional cable operator which provides triple-play services in the Kansas City area, and which recently launched a number of BIAP's other interactive TV services (including PiTV--short for "Personalized Interactive Television--which provides subscribers with personalizable local news, sports, traffic and weather information, local movie listings, financial news, lottery results, and information on local school districts; "eBay on TV," an interactive TV version of the eponymous online auction service; and Fantasy Baseball Tracker, which, as its name suggests, is similar in concept to Fantasy Football Tracker).
Originally Published: September 27, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 6.96 Part 3
Click: http://www.itvt.com to subscribe to our free email newsletter, which contains all the news stories you see on this Web site, and additional breaking news and scoops, in-depth features, interviews, screenshots, videos, and other exclusive content you will not find anywhere else.
