Will Enable ITV Advertising for RDS's Super Bowl XLIII Telecast
UK terrestrial broadcaster, Channel 4, says it will cease offering red- button interactive TV advertising on December 31st, because it has experienced a significant decline in demand for such advertising over the past year. The broadcaster shut down its red-button content services in late 2005. "Over the past 12 months we have seen a steep decline in demand for interactive TV advertising, and it is with regret that we are closing this area of business," it said in a prepared statement. Channel 4 will also no longer sell ads around its mobile content. The moves are part of an ongoing initiative to cut its operating costs by £100 million.
--Ad Council Now Using the Platform for PSA's
Backchannelmedia--a Boston-based company which late last year announced that it had received an investment of $3 million, bringing the total raised by its initial funding round to $9.5 million--says that two LIN TV-owned television stations in Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, WTNH-TV ABC Channel 8 and WCTX-TV MyTV Channel 9, will participate in a trial of its TV-to-Internet click-through system (note: the system is also being trialed by WCVB-TV/DT Channel 5, Hearst-Argyle's digital ABC affiliate in Boston). According to the company, the trial will involve a "select group" of the two stations' viewers and advertisers.
--Launches Several New Red-Button Applications
--Round-Up of Recent BBC News
The BBC is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its red-button interactive TV service (the first pilot of which launched in 1998). According to the Corporation, the service is now used by an average of 11 million people a week to access news, weather and other general information, as well as enhanced content associated with major sporting and entertainment events. The BBC has marked the occasion by launching a range of content on the service:
--Secures CDN$4.6 Million in Second Round of Funding
Microsoft's MSN service has teamed with Endemol UK and Pure Grass Films on an interactive sci-fi series, called "Kirill." The series consists of 10 three-minute episodes, hosted on MSN Video (it can be viewed in HD quality by downloading Microsoft Silverlight) and supplemented by various blogs, images, "secret" Web sites, and additional audio and video files scattered throughout the Internet. It tells the story of a man who is trying to make contact with a young woman who holds the key to the future of humanity, and it places various Microsoft products and services--including Vista, Live Search, Live Messenger, Live Spaces and MSN--at the crux of the story.
--Broadband Video App can be Embedded in MySpace Profiles
--Company Beta-Launches MySpace Video Content on Mobiles
--Announces Plans to Relaunch Interactive Game Show, "QuizNation"
--Company Looking to Expand Internationally
PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS), the organization that regulates phone-paid services (including fixed-line and mobile-based interactive/participation TV services) in the UK, has announced the first companies to be granted permission to offer phone-paid interactive TV services, following the UK's participation TV scandal. In February, UK communications regulator, Ofcom, announced that it would amend TV broadcasting licenses to make licensees directly accountable for phone-paid services in programs; because broadcasters typically rely on their telecom service provider to ensure services are compliant with the law, PhonepayPlus announced, at the same time, a prior permission regime for service providers.
--Service Employs Microsoft Silverlight
--BBC iPlayer Now Accessible through Sky Player
UK satellite TV provider, BSkyB has launched a subscription-based broadband video service, called Sky Player TV, which features both linear channels and VOD and which--unlike its existing Sky Player service--is offered as a standalone product, rather than as a complementary service for subscribers of its flagship pay-TV service (note: the company will continue to provide subscribers to its flagship pay-TV service with access to Sky Player's line-up of on-demand content, in line with their core subscription; subscribers to its Sky Multiroom and Sky Broadband Max offerings also have access to linear channels).
--Develops Interactive TV Application for Ocean Finance
|
|
The 2nd Annual TVOT NYC Intensive
The second annual TVOT NYC Intensive took place on Monday, December 5th at 730 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. We would like to thank everybody who participated and attended for making the event a success!
Read more about the highlights - video and photos to be posted soon.
To find out about future event sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, contact us at swedlow@itvt.com or 415-824-5806
|
|
