ActiveVideo Showcases Independently Developed, Third-Party ITV Apps

At the NCTA Cable Show in Washington, DC this week, ActiveVideo Networks (formerly ICTV)--a San Jose, Calif.-based company which offers a platform that it bills as intelligently streaming both traditional and Web-based content to digital set-top boxes and Web-connected CE devices and as combining the personalized, dynamic socially connected experience of the Web with the quality, immediacy and remote-control navigation that end-users expect from television (note: the company recently announced a deployment with Oceanic Time Warner--see [itvt] Issue xxx)--is showcasing for the first time third-party applications that were developed independently of its content-development team, using its Web-based content-creation tools.

According to the company, the applications include one that allows monitoring and control of any webcam from a standard digital cable set-top box; one that allows viewers to use their iPhone as an interactive TV search and navigation tool; and a microblogging application that can work on any digital set-top box. The Webcam application is billed as showing how the ability to control video feeds from any set-top box could enable the delivery of unconventional content channels, such as "animal-cam" applications from zoos, personal traffic commute channels, video conferencing, and private home security solutions that would utilize existing CPE devices and infrastructure. The iPhone control application is billed as demoing how the keypad functionality of smartphones can be used to enter interactive TV text more quickly than on-screen keyboards that require characters to be punched in using the remote control. And the microblogging application is billed as showing how social networking applications can be accessed and controlled from any existing set-top box.

ActiveVideo Networks is stressing that none of the applications required any changes to its core platform; and says that the apps show how cable operators and programmers can overcome "CPE fragmentation" by working with independent developers and in-house development groups to build applications that can be deployed on any digital set-top. "The creation of applications for the PC, the Web and now handheld devices has driven waves of adoption and heightened user satisfaction in each of those markets," ActiveVideo Networks' SVP of marketing, Edgar Villalpando, said in a prepared statement. "Cable has an opportunity to seize the high ground in the battle for the television by enabling an environment that promotes the development and deployment of applications that operators can use to increase subscriber loyalty and generate new revenues."

In other ActiveVideo Networks news: The company is also using the NCTA Cable Show to demo what it bills as "the multichannel television industry's first example of the ability of consumers to launch Web-based interactive content from EBIF prompts." The demo features several different EBIF applications, including a "portal-like programming experience" with bonus materials designed to extend a show's brand, and multi-tiered advertising microsites that would showcase videos and products within a specific market. "EBIF represents a significant step for the cable industry in terms of ubiquitous interactivity," ActiveVideo Networks' CTO, John Callahan, said in a prepared statement. "Combining EBIF with interactive video content from the Internet and/or from operators' VOD platforms creates a media-rich, immersive interactive video ad that maximizes the viewer experience and impact. Our Cable Show demonstrations will underscore how cable can deliver the Web choice and control subscribers are seeking in the television environment that they enjoy." According to ActiveVideo, its Cable Show demos show EBIF triggers, embedded in linear TV shows and commercials, enabling telescoping into a programming or advertising microsite: keyclicks on standard remote controls initiate local application overlays that allow viewers to navigate through various options, including links to show-related or advertising videos that are streamed from network servers and that can themselves contain additional embedded triggers; at the same time, a scaled version of the broadcast stream can be delivered, so that viewers can continue to watch the channel from which they have initiated their interaction, the company says.