Connected TV

Cloud-based interactive TV specialist, ActiveVideo Networks, announced last week that it has expanded its relationship with its long-term partner, TAG Networks, in order to extend enhanced gaming experiences to broadband-connected consumer electronics devices.

Yahoo! last week announced 1) new distribution partnerships for its Yahoo! Widget Engine platform; 2) the release of a Widget Development Kit (WDK); and 3) new content partnerships for the widget platform. "Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV, and demanding Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience," Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo! Connected TV, said in a prepared statement. "Yahoo!

Due to the volume of news generated by last week's Consumer Electronics Show, and because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:

Premium programmer, Showtime Networks, on Wednesday announced the launch of the Showtime TV Widget, an interactive TV application designed for Internet-connected TV sets running the Yahoo! TV Widget Engine platform. According to the company, the new widget will provide viewers with interactive TV services, free sample episodes of Showtime original series season premieres, behind-the-scenes video features, "value-added content," and other "insider extras," via their connected TV's. "With the launch of the Showtime TV Widget, Showtime has an exciting new way to reach consumers," Robert Hayes, Showtime's SVP and general manager of digital media, said in a prepared statement.

Vudu, a company hitherto best known for its over-the-top streaming video service, the Vudu Streaming Movie Service, on Wednesday announced Vudu Apps, a platform for the delivery of Internet applications and services to home theaters, HDTV's and Blu-ray Disc players (BDP's). The company also said that Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba America Consumer Products have adopted Vudu Apps as their platform for the delivery of Internet services directly to their connected HDTV's and that Toshiba will also integrate the platform into its line of connected BDP's.

A number of pieces of connected TV news came across [itvt]'s desk, Tuesday. Here is a brief--and by no means exhaustive--round-up (note: also see "Vudu Unveils Vudu Apps OTT Service," "ActiveVideo Networks in Deal to Provide Blockbuster with Cloud-Based User Interface," and "Showtime Networks, Betfair Launch Interactive TV Widgets"):

Five companies in the interactive TV and online games/gaming space--Accedo Broadband, Betfair, PlayJam, RallyPoint and Two Way Media--announced Tuesday that they are establishing a new forum for the development of games on connected TV. The companies say that online games are a major driver in the multiplatform digital entertainment arena, attracting 38% of Internet users and generating billions of downloads via mobile and digital TV platforms, and that they believe such games will act as a "prime motivator for consumers to connect their TV's to the Internet."

Paris-based video-sharing site operator, Dailymotion, on Tuesday announced the launch of new interactive advertising formats that are designed for connected TV (OTT) and IPTV implementations of its service. The company says that the new formats--which come on the heels of its launch of an ad-supported iPhone/iPod touch application (see the article published on itvt.com, December 22nd)--expand its "ad-supported content strategy to all three screens."

[itvt] has just published the latest edition of Rick Howe's regular column, The iTV Doctor Is In! This week, in the second part of a three-part series, Arthur Orduna, CTO of Canoe Ventures; Bill Seely, principal of Practical Marketing Analytics; and Ellen Dudar, chief product officer of FourthWall Media, project themselves into the future and attempt to answer the question: What was the single most significant factor

[itvt] has just published interviews with Sezmi co-founder, chairman and president, Phil Wiser, and with Microsoft Xbox Live general manager, Marc Whitten.

Wiser discusses Sezmi's platform (a set-top box-based offering which the company bills as "combining traditional TV content, movies and Internet video in a single, easy-to-use product and service"), its programming partnerships and its various interactive, social and content-discovery capabilities; the company's monetization strategy and roadmap for the

TiVo on Tuesday announced price reductions on its TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL DVR's, two new holiday-themed Facebook applications, and an interactive TV advertising deal with MillerCoors.

Electronics retailer, Best Buy, and Sonic Solutions, the digital media company that last year acquired the pioneering broadband VOD service, CinemaNow (it subsequently added "Roxio" to the service's name in order to make its branding consistent with its other products), announced Tuesday that they have formed a strategic partnership that will enable Best Buy to launch a broadband VOD service based on Roxio CinemaNow.

Apple last week released new software for its over-the-top device, Apple TV. According to the company, Apple TV 3.0, as the new software is designated, is immediately available free-of-charge to existing Apple TV owners via an automatic download (note: an Apple TV box with 160GB capacity is priced at $229), and offers:

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue (as well as some stories from the ongoing SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, which our editorial team was unable to attend):

Electronics retailer, Best Buy, and video rental company, Netflix, on Tuesday announced the availability of two new Blu-ray Disc Players, marketed under Best Buy's own Insignia brand, that allow Netflix members to instantly watch movies and TV episodes from that service over-the-top on their TV sets. The players--the Insignia Advanced Series Blu-ray Player (NS-WBRDVD) and the Insignia Connected Blu-ray Player (NS-BRDVD3)--are priced at $249.99 and $179.99 respectively and are available both in Best Buy's retail stores and on its Web site. According to Best Buy, the Advanced Series model uses built-in WiFi to connect to the Internet while the Connected model uses an Ethernet connection.