 In what it says is an attempt to facilitate content discovery in light of the fact that its programming library now has close to 65,000 videos from over 200 content partners, Hulu, the free, ad-supported broadband video venture co-owned by The Walt Disney Company (ABC), NBC Universal and News Corp. (Fox), has launched an Advanced Search functionality.
 Overlay.TV--an Ottawa, Canada-based start-up which has developed technology that, among other things, allows users to add a layer of custom-designed, clickable content over broadband videos, and which recently announced (see the article published on itvt.com, September 28th) that it would focus its efforts on Overlay.TV for Retail, the interactive video commerce platform that it launched in June (
 In a posting on its corporate blog last week, over-the-top-TV specialist, Vudu, announced that it has integrated Wikipedia into its interface: "Select the Wikipedia menu item on the page for any movie and find out what the world has to say about it," the company wrote. "And you don't have to stop there--you can navigate through all of the links on the Wikipedia page just like you would on Wikipedia.com, going as far as your interest and curiosity takes you. What's more, Vudu automagically creates links back into the Vudu service for any movie, actor, or director it knows about.
--Interactive Content Round-Up: March Entertainment, Yeasayer, Xenophile
 Fox Filmed Entertainment has launched an interactive trailer for James Cameron's new movie, "Avatar." The desktop-based trailer has been available for download since November 24th on the movie's official Web site (http://www.avatarmovie.com), via the movie's social network profiles on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and via Adobe's Web site.
--BBC Round-Up: Freesat iPlayer to Beta-Launch December 7th, Canvas Delays, No iPlayer on Xbox
The BBC has announced the line-up of content that will be available through its red-button interactive TV service for the next two weeks and beyond:
--Adconion Acquires Joost Assets
--Boxee Remote Control Widget Launched
--Ericsson to Cease Using Tandberg Television Brand
--Interactive Mobile TV Services Set to Launch in Korea
--Pace Supplying HD DVR's to Argentina's Cablevision
--Playcast Develops System for Playing Console Games on Legacy Set-Top Boxes
--Rogers' TV Everywhere Service to Launch Today
--English High Court Rules in Virgin Media's Favor in Rovi EPG Patent Case
Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:
--TiVo Reports Lower Earnings, Subscriber Base Shrinks
Shortly after announcing a set-top data deal with Google last week (see the article published on itvt.com, November 24th), TiVo announced that it is returning to the UK market via a strategic partnership with cable operator, Virgin Media, that will see it developing the latter's next-generation TV platform. According to the company, the partnership agreement is mutually exclusive, and calls for TiVo to develop a converged television and broadband interactive interface to power Virgin Media's next-generation HD set-top boxes (including boxes with and without DVR capability). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
--SeaChange-Subsidiary, Mobix Interactive, Powers Subscription VOD for Mobile Carrier, 3 UK
VOD and advanced advertising technology provider, SeaChange International, announced last week that it has begun rolling out its dynamic VOD advertising technology for existing customer, UK cable operator, Virgin Media. According to the company, the deployment sees its AdPulse On Demand software being deployed over Virgin Media's national SeaChange Axiom on Demand footprint (serves 3.7 million digital cable homes), starting with 300,000 homes this month.
--USA Network Invites Viewers to Send Farewell Messages to "Monk"
 Hallmark Channel last week announced various digital and social media offerings designed to drive interest in the 450 hours of holiday-themed programming it plans to offer under a promotion called "Countdown to Christmas." At the center of the off-network effort is Hallmark Channel's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/HallmarkChannel), which it says will offer viewers exclusive videos, games, quizzes and opportunities to exchange virtual gifts.
--Note: Due to Thanksgiving, [itvt]'s Daily News Service Will Be on Hiatus until Monday, November 30th
 [itvt] has just published an interview with Professor Tom DeFanti, the principal scientist behind the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology's (Calit2) new 3D immersive visualization system, NexCAVE. Also participating in the interview is Dave Walton of JVC, the company whose 3D HD LCD monitors form a crucial component of NexCAVE.
As [itvt] was going to press Monday night, Google and TiVo announced a deal that will see Google incorporating anonymous second-by-second viewing data from standalone TiVo DVR's (i.e. not from TiVo DVR's offered through the company's partnerships with DirecTV and Comcast) into its audience measurement for advertising inventory it sells via its online auction service, Google TV Ads.
Strategy & Technology--a UK-based company that specializes in solutions for standards-based interactive TV (its products include the TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer systems, which are used for the creation and transmission of MHP, MHEG, tru2way and ETV applications; and the widely licensed RedKey MHEG engines)--said Monday that it has signed a value-added reseller (VAR) agreement with US-based interactive TV authoring solutions provider, Ensequence. According to the companies, the agreement will see Ensequence including S&T's TSBroadcaster carousel playout technology as a component of its iTV Manager solution.
Livestation, which streams live news from a range of international sources via browser and desktop player solutions, on Monday announced the launch of version 3.0 of its desktop software. New features, according to the company, include:
--Company Provides Info on Its Demo at CableLabs' Recent Advanced Advertising Interop
Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, said Monday that MYtv, a new hybrid satellite pay-TV service that is scheduled to launch in the Ukraine later this year, has selected NDS professional services and an end-to-end solution from the company to power that launch. Among other things, the deployment sees NDS powering what it claims is the first integrated DVR solution in the Ukraine.
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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
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