social tv

Here is a round-up of some other recent interactive TV-related stories that we didn't have room for in this issue:

At the NAB show in Las Vegas, Monday, a company called Mozaik Multimedia launched a two-screen interactive TV application for the Apple iPad and iPhone. Dubbed "MovieBuddy" and based on the company's !Content technology, the new app is billed as allowing viewers to learn more about products, people and places they see on a movie or TV program, purchase featured products, and share information via Facebook, Twitter or email.

Here is a round-up of some other recent interactive TV-related stories that we didn't have room for in this issue:

Yesterday (see the article published on itvt.com, April 6th), [itvt] reported on how Oxygen Media--the company behind Oxygen, a US cable channel that targets a female demographic--is adding social TV elements to the latest season of its "Tori & Dean" reality TV franchise via OxygenLive, an online destination that is designed to add a two-screen social/interactive TV component to the channel's programming.

NBC Universal-owned cable channel, Bravo, has announced plans to offer a live, social TV experience around each week's episode of its reality series, "The Real Housewives of New York City" (airs Thursdays at 10:00PM Eastern/Pacific).

DISH Network announced Wednesday that it has launched Tetris TV, a subscription-based interactive TV games service from cross-platform casual games company, Oberon Media, which licenses the rights to the Tetris format from The Tetris Company. Oberon, which plans to roll out Tetris TV with additional partners worldwide, says that DISH Network is the first company to launch the service in North America. DISH Network customers can subscribe to the new service, which is priced at $2.99 per month, via the satellite TV service's interactive TV portal, DISH Home, and via interactive banner ads.

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:

Akoo, a Chicago-based company that operates a social music television network for out-of-home environments (note: earlier this month, the company announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a patent covering "an apparatus and method of using mobile devices to select on-demand content and socially interact with programming across networked digital video and Internet protocol television services through SMS text messaging or mobile applications"--see the article published on itvt.com, January 14th), on Monday announced the results of an advertising effectiveness study that focuses on the social TV space.

Vpype, which describes itself as a "social video company," announced last week that it has begun a public beta of its Vpype Live Broadcaster Facebook application (http://apps.facebook.com/vpypebroadcaster), which it says will enable all 350 million Facebook users to create and share live, interactive video. According to the company, the app is easy to use and, among other things, allows end-users to create scheduled or unscheduled interactive live shows, send video notes, store past broadcasts complete with audience participation, and share videos through Facebook.

The BBC has unveiled its multiplatform/interactive TV coverage plans for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. According to the corporation:

Interactive broadband video advertising technology provider, Jivox, on Tuesday launched custom interactivity features in its platform, which it says turn online video ads into interactive applications that drive user engagement and direct response.

Akoo, a Chicago-based company that operates a social music television network for out-of-home environments, announced Wednesday that the US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a patent (#7,647,613) covering "an apparatus and method of using mobile devices to select on-demand content and socially interact with programming across networked digital video and Internet protocol (IP) television services through SMS text messaging or mobile applications."

According to Akoo, the patented technology currently powers its out-of-home social music TV network. However, the company says, its "patent portfolio strategy includes additional applications in the home, as well as across multiple platforms, including social media, mobile, and gaming consoles."

TV Guide Network on Monday announced two new initiatives which it says will make its 2010 award-season live red-carpet telecasts "more fun, fashionable and interactive for the fans at home."

MobileTribe--a company which describes itself as an enabler of cloud-based converged services across multiple screens and which recently announced the launch of a service that it bills as bringing online social networking to the Roku over-the-top-TV platform (see the article published on itvt.com, December 7th)--on Tuesday announced that the service now supports YouTube. The company previously announced support for Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Google, Flickr, Picasa and Yahoo.

Boulder, Colorado-based start-up, FreedTV, on Wednesday launched what it bills as "the first cross-platform social media television application supporting real-time connectivity to mainstream television set-top boxes." In association with its existing Facebook WIWA (stands for "What I'm Watching") and iPhone applications, the company says, the new FreedTV Video Service Provider (VSP) app "combines the compelling content of broadcast and cable television with the peer-to-peer communication of social networking to create a new standard in interactive television." "Television viewing was once a social experience based on 'event' programming, like 'The Wonderful World of