SureWest Launches TellyTopia's i2TV UGC Channel on its Cable System

Sacramento, Calif.-area triple-play provider, SureWest Communications, has launched i2TV (short for "Internet-to-TV"), a user-generated video channel developed by TellyTopia. The channel features an online portal (www.i2tv.tv/surewest) where anyone, including non-SureWest customers, can upload high-resolution video, which they then get to watch on channel 702 of SureWest's digital cable TV system. SureWest is the first cable operator to offer TellyTopia's i2TV service. "Once again, SureWest has delivered a cutting-edge and entertaining service to enhance the customer experience," Peter Drozdoff, SureWest's VP of marketing, said in a prepared statement. "This new channel allows people to become a part of their TV by creating their own content. The possibilities are limitless. From popular Internet videos to local sports and community events, our customers can watch the best of what the Sacramento market has to offer, exclusively with SureWest."

According to SureWest and TellyTopia, videos are made available on i2TV within 24 hours of being uploaded online. In order to ensure better quality, video files can be up to 100MB, more than double the maximum size of most popular online video-sharing sites. End-users who upload files that fall short of various i2TV standards (for example, for video resolution and content appropriateness) will be informed as to why their submissions were rejected, the companies say, so that they can revise and resubmit them.

Content on i2TV is categorized into 30-minute segments, with local content available for five days on the channel at rotating times. SureWest says that it plans to add i2TV's local content, together with an upload tool, to its "My SureWest" customer home page. It also says that it plans to offer the content through its VOD service, and that it will eventually launch i2TV on its Kansas City systems. In addition, it says that it will shortly offer a new local sports program on i2TV that will be the only program to provide highlights of youth and high-school sports around the Sacramento region.