Broadband video platform provider, Ooyala, on Wednesday announced the launch of its Video Search Engine Optimization SDK. Using Ooyala's video publishing tools, the company says, the SDK allows developers to expose video metadata to search engines in order to improve search engine rankings.
--ABC Licensing Deal with CafePress Will Enable Fans to Design Merchandise Based on its Shows
--blinkx Trumpets Ranking by Nielsen as a "Top Online Video Site"
--Freeview Australia to Feature Ads that Appear When Viewers Fast-Forward
--Reports: YouTube to Offer Live Streaming Coverage of Indian Premier League Cricket
Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:
Hulu, the free, ad-supported broadband video venture co-owned by The Walt Disney Company (ABC), NBC Universal and News Corp. (Fox), contacted [itvt] Monday to let us know that it has beta-launched a Captions Search service that it says allows users to search the captioning of "thousands of videos from hundreds of shows" (including, for example, "Glee," "Modern Family," "30 Rock" and "The Colbert Report") on its platform.
 New York-area MSO, Cablevision, said Monday that it has successfully launched a new interactive TV application, called iO Search, across its entire service area (note: Cablevision's iO digital cable service enjoys a 94% penetration rate among the MSO's subscriber base). As its name implies, the new app is designed to make it easy for customers to search for programming, both on linear TV channels and VOD.
Three different companies--SetJam, Yidio and Clicker--contacted [itvt] last week to let us know about solutions they have developed to make it easier for consumers to discover the programs they want to watch from the increasing amount of programming now available online. All three solutions are designed to facilitate online access to full-length, professionally produced and legally available programming.
--Alice in Chains Launches Interactive, Video-Enabled iPhone App
 Video search engine company, blinkx, on Tuesday announced blinkx Music (http://www.music.blinkx.com), a new service for finding and watching music videos online. According to the company, the service functions as a "single online gateway" that provides access to music videos in every genre, and features a "huge and varied constellation of artists." blinkx claims to have indexed over 33,000 hours of music video from over 10,000 artists.
--Company Has Recently Announced Partnerships with OpenTV, SeaChange
 Jinni, an Israeli company that has developed a semantic search-and-recommendation engine that it says is based on "content genetics and user psychographics" (note: the company, which last week announced the appointment of cable-industry veteran, Mike Pohl, as CEO--see the article published on itvt.com, September 30th--recently announced partnerships with OpenTV and
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--Demos to Include "Smart" Search and PVR, Social Network Integration, OTT Video Functionality
Interactive TV and advanced advertising technology provider, OpenTV, announced Wednesday the line-up of products and features that it will be demo'ing in its booth (Hall 1, Stand C81) at next month's IBC show in Amsterdam. "There is a fundamental shift in the way people are watching television: now more than ever it is at the center of the home entertainment experience, an extension to the lives of people who watch it," OpenTV CEO, Ben Bennett, said in a prepared statement. "To address this shift in viewing and social habits we are bringing the latest technologies and functionalities in support of next-generation services to the television.
--Jinni's CEO Is Cable/VOD-Industry Veteran, Mike Pohl
 Interactive TV and advanced advertising technology specialist, OpenTV, and Jinni, a company that offers a semantic search-and-recommendation engine that it says is based on "content genetics and user psychographics," announced Tuesday a partnership that will see Jinni's technology incorporated into the next version of OpenTV's Core2 middleware, which is expected to be released in the fourth quarter.
--Service Allows Users to Search for Programming on TV, Online and DVD
 Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, contacted [itvt] Tuesday to let us know that it has extensively redesigned and relaunched LocateTV (http://www.locatetv.com), an online programming guide that it operates which allows users to search for programming on TV, the Web and DVD (note: according to Quantcast figures cited by the company, the site, which launched in October, 2007, reaches over a million people each month in the US and the UK).
--Says Integration Will Make Vast Amounts of Internet Video Content Easily Accessible on TV
--Claims it Will Also Enable "Web-Like Business Models to Emerge on TV"
 London, UK-based interactive TV company, Miniweb (note: last September, the company--which is best known for offering an interactive TV alternative to the red button on the Sky satellite-TV platform--announced that it had raised $32 million in venture funding--see [itvt] Issue 8.06 Part 1), and San Francisco, Calif.-based video search company, blinkx, announced Monday that they have signed a technology integration agreement which they are billing as having the potential to, among other things, make vast amounts of Internet video content easily accessible
Triple-play provider, Tiscali UK, has signed a licensing deal with
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution that gives it the
rights to offer around 400 hours of premium on-demand content to
subscribers of its Tiscali TV service via a Warner Bros.-branded VOD
channel, Warner TV (note: Tiscali TV is the current manifestation of
the pioneering UK IPTV service, HomeChoice). Titles covered by the
new deal include "Nip/Tuck," "The OC" and "Smallville." The new
channel--which will be offered as part of Tiscali TV's Entertainment
Xtra Mix programming package--is the latest in a series of deals
Warner Bros. has signed to launch branded VOD channels around the
world: Warner TV VOD channels are also offered by ProSieben in
San Francisco-based video search company, blinkx, has launched a
broadband TV service, dubbed blinkx BBTV, which it says leverages
the company's patented speech and visual recognition technology to
link programming to relevant information on the Web. The service,
which launched April 2nd and which is available free of charge (it
requires end-users to download a 1.8MB file), currently offers a library
of independent movies and programming from blinkx's video-search
partners. It employs hybrid peer-to-peer streaming, Microsoft DRM
technology, and a point-and-click channel interface, and presents
content in full-screen mode. "Broadband Internet connections are fast
enough today that with the right technology, it's possible to deliver an
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[i]Database
 Our [itvt] free industry database called The [i]Database contains many listings of operators, broadcasters, software developers, design firms, manufacturers, Web sites, consultancies and many more organizations and people working in the interactive multiplatform TV industry. Upload your company or yourself!
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