New Interactive TV Company, Intertainment Broadcasting Corporation, Launches

An Irvine, Calif.-based interactive TV start-up called Intertainment Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) announced its existence via a press release, Wednesday, in which it stated that it plans to "deliver live and interactive programming via TV and Internet, nationwide, through [a] partnership with a leading cable and satellite company in the US, beginning September, 2009." The company says it has filed two preliminary patents, "including...technology to allow viewers to immediately purchase gift cards in real time. The industries of the gift card companies are woven into the topics of conversation shows," it adds. It also claims that its core technology has been in development for over five years now. "IBC is looking to create a new interactive platform that is the intersection of commerce and entertainment delivering new forms of value for consumers and advertisers," co-founder and CEO, Henry Cai, said in a prepared statement. "There has been much talk around the traditional TV advertising sponsored revenue model dying. What we have created will become the new vehicle in media and brings great value to all involved."

IBC is funded by The Musser Group, whose founder and CEO, Warren V. "Pete" Musser, was a founding investor in Comcast and QVC. Musser Group managing director, Michael M. Carter, sits on the company's board of directors and serves as a strategic advisor. The company says that it has hired a "team of seasoned industry professionals in family programming, production and advertising sales" that "offers experience from networks such as The Disney Channel, ABC, TNT and the Lifetime and Travel Channels." Notable hires listed on its Web site include chief marketing officer, Aidan Foley, who was formerly chief marketing officer and president of the Enterprise Solutions group at Ascent Media; and CTO, Bing Liu, who was formerly chief software architect at computer security company, CyberDefender.

Neither IBC's press release nor its Web site provides much information on the interactive TV service that the company plans to provide (note: [itvt] came across the release late Wednesday night and so we were unable to contact the company for more detail; we hope to follow up on this story in the near future). The release's corporate boilerplate provides the following explanation: "IBC is a development stage and media company, positioned for growth, which offers a win-win situation to consumers and retailers. IBC connects advertisers directly with consumers via an interactive morning television program broadcast seven days a week on the E! Entertainment Television Network. Viewers can purchase gift cards from a variety of retailers and receive a bonus 'cash back' award with each purchase during the ChaseIt segments. ChaseIt segments will occur four times an hour within the live morning breakfast show, replacing the standard commercial time slots. These segments offer an opportunity for advertisers to obtain television ad time without any cash outlay, and at the same time, be able to quantify the success of their ad dollars, spending only on those consumers who purchase gift cards. IBC envisions this interactive format as a revolution in the way of quantifying advertising dollars." (Note: Interestingly, the brand, ChaseIt, is similar to the branding of Chase-it.tv, a now-defunct UK interactive TV auction channel that was operated by the also now-defunct Auction World.tv. The latter was the subject of an investigation by Ofcom for breaches of its Advertising Standards Code which resulted in the UK communications regulator levying a £450,000 fine on the company and taking away its broadcast license. The text of a January, 2005 ruling by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority in response to consumer complaints about Chase-it.tv explains the channel's format and the infrastructural problems that plagued it: "Chase-it.tv, which launched in May 2004, is a teleshopping channel that offers viewers the chance to bid for products such as jewelry, digital cameras, electrical goods and homeware. Each item is advertised with a guide price. When the auction begins, a series of prices appears onscreen and the presenter encourages viewers to phone the number shown to register, and to press the hash key when they see the price they want to pay. Viewers complained to the ASA about non-delivery of goods they had ordered from the channel. On calling Chase-it.tv they experienced problems such as being placed on hold for lengthy periods, not being able to get through and not having their answering machine messages returned. They also complained that they did not receive replies to their emails, post or faxes." Auction World.tv went out of business in November, 2004. [itvt] was not able to contact IBC before we went to press to determine what the relationship is--if any--between Chase-it.tv and the "ChaseIt segments" mentioned in the company's boilerplate. However, IBC CEO, Cai, does appear to have had some involvement with Chase-it.tv: his bio on the company's Web site states that "in 2002, Cai began Broadband Software, Inc., and redesigned the backend integration of ChaseIt.tv [sic], an eBay-style shopping channel based in the United Kingdom.")