Interactive TV News Round-Up (VII): Softkinetic, TransGaming, Sony, Time Warner Cable, UltraViolet

Due to the large volume of news coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicked off Wednesday in Las Vegas, we are covering stories in this issue in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take us several days to catch up with all the news generated by the show: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. Our regular news coverage will return shortly.

• Gesture-recognition technology provider, Softkinetic, has announced that it is partnering with TransGaming to bring gesture-based games to the latter's interactive TV games-on-demand service, GameTree TV, via its flagship iisu software. "The integration of iisu with the GameTree TV SDK toolkit will provide game developers the ability to create and distribute their interactive gesture-controlled content through the GameTree TV Platform, reaching a global audience of millions," Softkinetic states in its press materials. "The GameTree TV Platform is the premier on-demand video game solution for consumers, optimized for the next generation of set-top boxes and connected consumer electronics (CE) devices. GameTree TV delivers a comprehensive catalog of video games to consumers right in the comfort of their living rooms through a variety of flexible transaction and pricing models. The availability of gesture-based games will allow GameTree TV customers to enjoy an unparalleled interactive gaming experience through their next-generation set-top box or CE devices, without the need to invest in a dedicated gaming system. GameTree TV is the only next-generation on-demand video game platform for set-top boxes and connected CE devices to feature gesture-based video game capabilities." The Softkinetic-TransGaming gesture-based ITV gaming experience will be demo'd at CES in Softkinetic's (South Hall MP 25166) and Intel's (Central Hall 7153) private meeting rooms.
• At a CES press conference, Wednesday, Sony Electronics USA president, Phil Molyneux, announced that Sony is partnering with Time Warner Cable to enable the delivery of the latter's pay-TV service directly to certain models of Sony Bravia televisions over IP, without a set-top box. Multichannel News's Todd Spangler has more.
• The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) has announced that Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment are supporting its UltraViolet service and format, which it bills as "giving consumers the ability to watch digital entertainment across multiple platforms such as connected TV's, PC's, game consoles and smartphones. Through UltraViolet," the DECE explains in its press materials, "consumers now have greater choice and freedom to purchase, manage and watch digital movies, TV shows and other entertainment. The UltraViolet experience is powered by a cloud-based UltraViolet Account, which includes a Digital Rights Locker and account-management functionality. Consumers can create an UltraViolet account, free of charge, via one of the many participating UltraViolet service providers or through the UltraViolet Web site. Once created, this account will allow consumers to easily access and manage all of their UltraViolet entertainment, regardless of where it was purchased."