 [itvt] has just published the latest edition of Rick Howe's regular column, "The iTV Doctor Is In!" This week, Sangita Verma, founder and CEO of TAG Networks, explains how that company's interactive TV games channel on Oceanic Time Warner Cable is beating major linear programming networks in terms of average daily viewing minutes. (Note: [itvt] would like to thank Rick for moderating the highly praised panel, "The iTV Doctor Is In!: The Operating Room," at the TV of Tomorrow Show last week.)
--Bravo in Partnership with Mobile Social Network, Foursquare
--Elisabeth Murdoch Stresses Importance of Social Media to Future of TV
--NBCU Unveils Plans for Measuring Multiplatform Viewing of its Olympics Coverage
--Sky Betting and Gaming Shifts Focus from Interactive TV to Online
Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we will be covering most stories in summary/round-up form over the next few weeks. Here is a round-up of interactive TV content news for the past few days:
 Australian interactive TV company, Two Way Limited, has provided December performance data for Tab Active, the ITV wagering service which it developed in partnership with Tabcorp Holdings and Foxtel, and which is available to Foxtel and Optus TV subscribers in Sydney and Melbourne.
Australian interactive TV company, Two Way Limited, said Wednesday that Tab Active--the interactive TV wagering service which it developed in partnership with Tabcorp Holdings and Foxtel, and which is available to Foxtel and Optus TV subscribers in New South Wales and Victoria--enjoyed its strongest performance to date in October.
--Show Produced by Interactive TV Specialist, Two Way Media
 In a move that it describes as part of "a concerted effort to broaden its revenues beyond traditional TV advertising," UK commercial terrestrial broadcaster, Five, has launched a daily interactive TV bingo show on its Web site. Entitled "The FreeBingo Show" and produced by interactive TV specialist, Two Way Media, the hour-long show is designed to increase awareness of and drive traffic to a suite of online gaming services operated by Five: the broadcaster launched branded bingo and casino egaming services in August, following the signing of a strategic agreement with online gaming company, PartyGaming.
--ADB Issues Cautiously Optimistic Update, Says it Has "Redistributed" Osmosys' Resources
--War of Words between Kudelski and Arcadia over Kudelski's OpenTV Bid
--Cisco Demo's Widget-Enabled EPG for Cable Operators Switching to IPTV
--Crunchyroll Launches Anime App for Boxee
--Motorola Launches HD Set-Top with Optional MoCA Interface
--New Interactive TV Games System Will Place Players Side-by-Side with Drivers in Real Races
--TiVo Launches in New Zealand
--Two Way Limited's Interactive TV Betting Service Shows Growth
--Ustream Enables Simultaneous Publishing of Comments to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, AIM
--Virgin Media Enjoys Record VOD Usage in Q3
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 last week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, which our editorial team was unable to attend):
--Sky Poker Interactive TV Service to Reward Winner of its 200 Millionth Hand
 BSkyB and Microsoft announced Wednesday that the Sky Player broadband video service will be added in the UK to Windows Media Center in Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system, enabling live and on-demand over-the-top viewing of Sky's pay-TV content, including movies, sports coverage, entertainment and children's programming and more. Earlier this year, the companies announced a deal to offer Sky Player on the Xbox 360 (see the article published on itvt.com May 29th): that service is slated to launch October 27th.
NetPlay TV, a UK-based company that specializes in live interactive TV gambling (note: the company recently acquired Two Way Gaming, a joint venture between Two Way TV and Win Gaming, and, as part of that deal, took over the production of interactive TV gaming channel, Challenge Jackpot, which offers programming on the UK's Virgin Media cable, Sky satellite and Freeview digital terrestrial platforms--see the article published on itvt.com, May 19th; the company also recently announced a distribution deal with Scottish commercial terrestrial broadcaster, STV, that sees the latter offering live interactive TV casino programming--
Read more
--Endemol Considering Interactive TV Poker Show for Xbox Live
 Microsoft said Monday that "1 vs. 100 Live," the avatar-driven interactive TV version of the Endemol-developed "1 vs. 100" game show format that it beta launched on its Xbox Live service this spring, is proving highly popular, having been downloaded by over 2.5 million people (which makes it one of the top-10 Xbox Live content downloads to date), and with up to 200,000 people around the world playing it every day. In one evening alone, the company says, over 215,000 people in Europe and 230,000 in North America "dressed their avatars" to participate in the interactive game show.
Is Partnering with Ensequence
Company to Increase Investment in Korean and Indian R&D Centers
NDS-Subsidiary, Orbis, Acquires Electracade
NDS-Subsidiary, Jungo, Launches Fast Channel Changing for IPTV
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[i]Database
 Our [itvt] free industry database called The [i]Database contains many listings of operators, broadcasters, software developers, design firms, manufacturers, Web sites, consultancies and many more organizations and people working in the interactive multiplatform TV industry. Upload your company or yourself!
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