Virgin Media, the largest cable TV operator in the UK has entered the dual screen Social TV market, by launching what could be a very interesting viewer experience, in time for the beginning of the Premier League Football season.
How successful this is for Virgin Media remains to be seen, however they are certainly beginning to recognise the importance of creating dual screen experiences, especially off the back of the success from various the apps that were launched for the World Cup 2010 such as ITVLive.
Their first coverage kicks off tomorrow, so we shall review it here next week.
In the meantime, here is the full press release:
Football’s
coming home with Virgin Media’s Sofa Stadium
Virgin Media today announced the launch of its new online football
app Sofa Stadium; a must-have for every football fan’s laptop
incorporating match statistics, social networking and real-time voting,
all designed to run alongside live Premier League football matches on
TV. Designed from the ground up to provide a fun way to engage with
fellow fans, Sofa Stadium ‘clicks off’ from this weekend’s first Premier
League game on Saturday 14th August. Freely available to anyone with an internet connection, Sofa Stadium
helps fans enjoy the atmosphere of match day without obstructed views,
overpriced car parking, cold weather and dodgy grub. With Sofa Stadium,
fans can rant, rave and banter with fellow followers as the game
unfolds; vote for the best player, and the worst; be heard at the click
of a button by booing, cheering or singing, as if they were on the
terraces. Bringing together the multi-screen experience of Social TV to
football, fans will be able to see what people are saying about the game
on Twitter through Tweet Watch and have comments posted straight to
social networks such as Facebook – all from the comfort of the couch.
Channelling their passion, sofa supporters now have a place to vent
their spleen in a social space, instead of shouting at the TV screen!
Cindy
Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said
“Sofa Stadium is the perfect place for armchair supporters, commentators
and managers alike, to get actively involved in football, and a
brilliant way to bring together the multi-screen entertainment
experience. A perfect companion for fans looking to get the most of
their football experience, Sofa Stadium provides an incredible way to
enjoy the beautiful game, especially with Sky Sports now available in HD
on Virgin Media.”
Paul is a founding Director at Montgomery Aston and has been specialising in making sense and acting upon the convergent areas of Media, Communications and Consumer Experience for the past 15 years. He helps drive innovation across marketing; advertising; digital devices & platforms, user experience, broadcast, on demand, publishing, social media and mobile. Hook up with him at Linkedin and @mediadventurer
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In an exclusive interview, the Hollywood Reporter has unveiled that CBS Interactive’s TV.com and Relay are hooking up and using Foursquare-style user check-ins and badge rewards in an attempt to tackle the social TV space.
With Relay, you can check in on a particular program and make new friends chatting about your favorite shows or check out what your old friends are watching and pick up a new TV habit.
The goal: become the go-to digital companion for the live-TV experience important to a conglomerate that owns a broadcast network and wants to support its ad rates.
While TV.com Relay joins an increasingly crowded field of so-called social-TV services, its CBS affiliation will bring a huge advantage: on-air promotion in CBS primetime programming when Relay leaves beta mode in time for the fall season in September.
The team at Relay is planning to tackle connected TV but for now - it'll only be available on iPhone, iPad, Android and Palm Pre devices and is only available to be tapped into via Facebook Connect with further plans to use other Social API's and SDK's to merge into other social networks.
Despite being a CBS product, Relay will offer all the broadcast inventory of TV.com - which covers the spectrum of American programming and boasts close to 200 million visits annually and rising.
With plenty of visitors and social media integration, TV.com is hoping to leverage the numbers to build a burgeoning Social TV space where viewers can interact and share via the new technology.
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Popular women’s network, WE tv (www.WEtv.com),
and Miso, (www. gomiso.com) an interactive social media platform
dedicated to television, will team up to drive viewers to the seventh
season of the network’s original series “Bridezillas,” currently airing
on Sunday nights at 9 pm, et/pt.
Miso users who check-in to the “Bridezillas” page (http://miso.io/b0JVY2), on their iPhone, iPad or online, can unlock fun, virtual badges, like the Cake Smasher or Veil Thrasher. Repeat visits give users the opportunity to become part of the Bridezillas Fan Club on Miso where they will have access to video clips and exclusive photos. The show page is currently live; badges and other content will go live on Sunday, August 15.
“We are excited to partner with WE tv to drive awareness of the new season and develop a deeper sense of community for ‘Bridezillas’ fans,”
said Somrat Niyogi, CEO of Miso. “WE tv is known for creating unique and highly compelling content for women and we are excited to engage fans in new ways through Miso.”
“Working with Miso allows us to offer viewers innovative new ways to connect with each other around our shows, especially one as popular as ‘Bridezillas’,” said Kenetta Bailey, senior vice president of marketing, WE tv and Wedding Central. “The social media platform also delivers a targeted audience of fans of WE tv and our original series, regardless of where they are – at home, online or on a mobile device.”
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Appmarket.tv has been reporting on rumours of Apple TV for months now - with Steve Jobs waving it away and insiders leaking that it's still coming - it's been a mystery as to the real position of Apple in the upcoming convergence of the web and TV and how or even 'if' the company will tackle Google TV, Connected TV and the Set Top Box market.
Today it appears that Apple TV will be rebranded as iTV... which is probably going to ire the UK's ITV broadcaster (lawyers lining up?). Prepared to get sued in the UK, Apple. Perhaps they will want to use the BBC's iPlayer next?
And the news is not all that great and rather unamazing in fact. With a lack of 1080p and nothing too new, it's rather a non-story it seems.
In an exclusive report Engadget is saying:
Add a comment Add a comment"...a trusted Engadget source asserted that the gang in Cupertino would be releasing a $99 version of the set top box, similarly sized and packed with internals akin to that of the iPhone 4 (A4 CPU, 16GB of flash storage), and will introduce new iTunes streaming services the box could take advantage of."
"Well we've gotten a little more info on the project, and it's not all good. Apparently the box won't be capable of handling (or enabled to handle) 1080i or 1080p video. Instead it will only push out 720p clips. The word -- and cause for much internal debate, we're told -- is that this has something to do with the A4's inability to crank on higher resolution content, but we don't see how that's possible considering the iPhone 3GS could play back full HD video. Furthermore, the device will be getting apps and presumably an App Store entry, though it's unclear if there will be cross-pollination between iPad and iPhone / iPod touch offerings and new Apple TV applications."
"Oh, and there's one more thing -- Apple will be officially changing the name of the device to iTV, abandoning the current moniker in favor of something a little more in line with its current iOfferings."
Samsung has kicked off its Free the TV
Challenge to find the most innovative applications for IPTVs, Blu-ray
players and Blu-ray Home Theater Systems. With a total prize value of
half a million dollars, the Challenge is open to all developers in the
US, as earlier announced by Appmarket.tv.
“We are thrilled that content owners continue to embrace Samsung Apps and that we have doubled the number of applications available to owners of Samsung 2010 connected TVs and Blu-ray devices”
Samsung also announced that the number of applications available through Samsung Apps, the world’s first HDTV-based application store, has more than doubled since its launch five months ago. Beginning today, people can choose from a wide range of unique and premium apps across five categories – video, gaming, social media, sports and kids – including apps from ESPN and Hulu which are currently exclusive to Samsung. They can also download and enjoy the world’s first 3D video on-demand app to view trailers of 3D movies.
“We are thrilled that content owners continue to embrace Samsung Apps and that we have doubled the number of applications available to owners of Samsung 2010 connected TVs and Blu-ray devices,” said Eric Anderson, vice president of content and product solutions, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. “The Free the TV Challenge will continue that momentum by opening up these TVs to even more developers across the US who want to distribute their content on the biggest screen in the home. People want a connected entertainment experience with their devices and we encourage developers to free the TV by bringing new concepts, as well as existing apps from many platforms, to the TV.”
Samsung Free the TV Challenge Opens Today
With the Free the TV Challenge, Samsung is unlocking a new era in smart TV by helping free the TV for developers, who can now tap into the expanding market for TV applications. Developers can go to www.FreeTheTVChallenge.com to register for the contest, starting today. To be eligible, developers must live in the United States, submit the final app and provide a video that showcases how the app works to Samsung by November 11, 2010. The contest will be administered by New York-based startup ChallengePost, and entries will be judged based on the quality of the idea, functional implementation, and visual appeal. Total prize value is US$500,000. Roelof Botha from Sequoia, Mike Maples from Floodgate, Bob Borchers from Opus Capital and Jeremy Levine from Bessemer will serve as judges. Consumers will also have an opportunity to cast their vote online for the “People’s Choice Award.” Samsung will announce the overall winner at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV.
In addition, select applications submitted to the Free the TV Challenge will be made available to the large and growing community of Samsung Apps users. Samsung Apps is accessible on all 2010 Samsung Blu-ray players, Blu-ray Home Theater Systems and the majority of HDTVs with screen sizes 40” or larger.
Built with the developer in mind, Samsung Apps supports common web standards, like Javascript, XML and support for Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, and uses a single SDK for apps that runs across HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Blu-ray Home Theater systems. This eliminates many of the barriers to development by allowing applications to be written once and deployed across several platforms, ultimately enabling more versatile monetization for developers and a consistent, intuitive experience for consumers.
To further support developers, Samsung is launching a series of Free the TV Developer Days, where developers will get hands-on demonstrations of the Samsung Apps platform and a tutorial on the Samsung SDK, as well as participate in a Q&A session with Samsung engineers. The first session will be held on August 31, 2010 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA, and Pandora Founder Tim Westergren will speak at the event.
More information on Samsung’s Developer Days and registration for the Free the TV Challenge is available at www.FreeTheTVChallenge.com.
New Apps Demonstrate Diversity of Content and Services
Samsung continues to see explosive growth in smart TV and has more than doubled the number of available applications in its library within five months. In addition to various free apps, Samsung today expanded its library of apps with the addition of ESPN’s Next Level application, as well as a variety of other premium apps that offer a variety of 3D, sports, casual gaming, weather and family-oriented content at the touch of a button.
The new ESPN Next Level app, available as a free download exclusively through Samsung Apps, is expected to be a hit with sports fans. With four main sections, the app will allow fans to access in-depth looks at sports events and players in the news; predictive picks of the day's games across all major sports; research nuggets from the ESPN Research team; and insights from Peter Keating, Senior Writer at ESPN The Magazine, who gives his unique perspective on a variety of statistical subjects. Samsung and ESPN plan to introduce a ScoreCenter app in the Fall of 2010, based on the popular app currently available on mobile devices.
Samsung will soon launch the world’s first 3D Video On-Demand app which offers viewers sneak previews of upcoming 3D movies. All apps are available from today and can be downloaded directly on the TV via their Internet-connected HDTV, Blu-ray player or Blu-ray Home Theater System*.
Samsung, the market leader in smart TV, is committed to expanding the types of experiences available to consumers. In 2008, the company was the first to deliver text-based RSS feeds, bringing news, weather and stock information directly to the TV with its InfoLink feature. In 2009, Samsung added Yahoo! widgets to the smart TV experience, as well as streaming video services with providers like Blockbuster and Amazon video-on-demand. With the launch of Samsung Apps this year, Samsung is broadening the smart TV experience, bringing services such as text-based information, casual games, sports, communications, social and location services, and HD and 3D video to consumers. The addition of these new premium apps underscores momentum around the platform as leading content providers continue to recognize the platform’s flexibility in delivering the growing types of content that meet consumers’ demand. Today, more than 60 industry-leading partners have made personalized, easy to use smart TV experiences available to consumers through Samsung Apps, including exclusive HDTV-based apps content from ESPN and Hulu Plus, among other leading brands like Blockbuster, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, USA TODAY and Vudu.
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Virgin Media has notified regulator Ofcom to look into BBC-backed Project Canvas, which it says is monopolistic and will stifle
competition in the TV market.
Virgin, which has been a virulent opponent of Canvas since it was proposed, has made a last ditch efffort to derail the initiative, which was given final approval by the BBC Trust two months ago.
Virgin has argued that the partners developing the service - the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, BT and Arqiva - have failed to uphold their promise to create a TV platform which would work with all other internet TV services, such as Virgin Media’s own on-demand offering and feel it's closed and it's proprietary walled garden is too high.
“Collectively the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 account for around two-thirds of all television viewing in the UK while BT and TalkTalk control over half the national broadband market. Canvas will stifle future innovation as well as eliminate existing consumer choice for home entertainment.”
“They are establishing a single new TV platform of their own with a considerable incentive to favour this over other TV services. This could severely affect consumer options for watching public service programming in the future.”
Ofcom will apparently review Virgin Media's complaint over the next couple of months to examine whether it merits a full investigation. Development of Canvas will keep going while the review process is underway.
Project Canvas was originally criticised by broadcasters Sky and Virgin Media as well as some TV manufacturers, which all claimed the service was a misuse of the BBC’s licence fee. They all submitted complaints to the Office of Fair Trading, but it ruled that it was not within its remit to investigate the venture and gave the project the green light.
In news that's possibly related, Virgin Media recently announced that it wants to split with BBC Worldwide and sell off its half of UKTV. According to The Sunday Times, investment banks UBS and Goldman Sachs are involved in the sell-off, which ISP Virgin Media hopes will raise around £350 million. Virgin holds 50 per cent of the business and the other half is owned by BBC Worldwide, the broadcaster's commercial arm.
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Virgin Media today confirmed the beta launch of its first online and mobile TV player: Virgin Media Player.
Virgin Media has confirmed hundreds of hours of content for the beta trial including ITV, LIVING, Disney, Cartoon Network, National Geographic, Discovery and, following a new agreement with MTV Networks UK & Ireland, a raft of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon shows. With programmes including South Park, Jersey Shore, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob Squarepants and The Hills, MTV Networks’ channels offer some outstanding entertainment for all ages.
Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said: “MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon already offer some hugely popular shows on our TV on demand platform so we’re delighted to be expanding our line-up across all three screens. We continue to explore innovative new ways to bring our customers’ favourite content to them and, with Virgin Media Player, we’re making sure they’re spoilt for choice.”
David Lynn, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, said: “Our viewers love staying in touch, up to date and entertained and we’re looking forward to bringing them our award winning content across all three of Virgin Media’s screens. By taking our content online and onto mobile, we’ll reach an even wider audience and open up new advertising opportunities.”
Throughout the beta trial, Virgin Media’s XL TV customers who also have a broadband connection with the company will be able to take a first look at the beta Virgin Media Player by registering at www.virginmedia.com/player.
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GenosTV, a company billing itself as the first "virtual cable TV
provider" is looking for beta testers for its IPTV platform. The service
will differentiate itself in three ways: by not requiring a dedicated
set-top box, by offering complete à la carte pricing, and by not being
an on-demand service like Hulu and its competitors.
The service aims to be a platform agnostic linear streaming service, so any connected TV, media player, or set top box will be able to access the GenosTV service. "Customers have been unhappy for so long and the first chance they get to switch to a solid alternative, they will," said founder Rob Shambro. "Remember when Orbitz and Travelocity eliminated the travel agent? That was nothing compared to the effect of GenosTV on the media sector."
According to market research released by In-Stat Tuesday, the hybrid set top box market will be a $1.3 billion industry by 2014, so devising a pay TV strategy that will work across any of these devices is an attractive idea indeed.
"TV programs have come to the Internet. Now, the Internet is coming back to TV, and savvy software engineers and smart TV producers are finding ways to create new "hybrid" services that bring it all together," Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst for In-Stat said on Tuesday. "The set top box industry is scrambling to create designs that facilitate all these new features."
GenosTV expects to launch its service at CES 2011, and is looking for beta testers in any country, on any connected device to help make this happen. To become a beta tester for GenosTV, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Add a comment Add a comment
Saffron Digital, the leading global video delivery platform company, is working with digital media solutions provider Widevine to extend its support for Connected TV services that are adopting Widevine, and also to develop further its solutions for Apple and Android devices.
Widevine's video optimization and DRM is being integrated into Saffron Locker, Saffron Digital's comprehensive DRM service which enables various DRMs to be inter-operable. Using Saffron Locker, content can easily be authorized for use on multiple devices.
Saffron and Widevine's partnership is an acknowledgement from Saffron Digital that Widevine is now a dominant force in the digital entertainment industry and that both offerings complement each other well.
The addition of Widevine to Saffron Digital's domain-based DRM ecosystem further enhances the companies' capabilities in supporting Connected TVs, Android, Apple and RIM based devices. Saffron Digital works with the main OEM and CE manufacturers, directly with movie studios, and increasingly with retailers, proactively facilitating the provision of their services across digital platforms.
"Our domain-based DRM technology is at the heart of our 'one copy, any device' philosophy," says Shashi Fernando, CEO of Saffron Digital. "We are committed to enabling users to play content securely across multiple devices from different manufacturers and this partnership with Widevine takes us significantly closer to that goal."
The Widevine platform is deployed by major Internet content services and large cable, satellite and telecommunication companies launching over-the-top and TV Everywhere strategies. The company's software platform optimizes the entertainment experience for content delivered over any network to any device. The solution is natively supported in nearly all major brands and types of network connected consumer electronics including televisions, Blu-ray players, mobile devices, gaming systems and more.
Add a comment Add a comment"Widevine is excited to add Saffron Digital to our list of entertainment ecosystem partners," says Brian Baker, CEO, of Widevine Technologies. "Widevine is dedicated to providing consumers with the highest quality video experience possible on every device; our partnership with Saffron extends our reach to new entertainment services."
Clicker has announced that they are going social with Clicker Social. The innovative TV search engine, was featured at Google's IO Conference earlier in 2010, Clicker.tv features popular episodes of television shows on its clean, ergonomic main page as well as providing advanced search functionality using the latest HTML 5, which allows viewers to source and search by media type. And it's all controllable with keystrokes, nixing the need for a mouse. Clicker aggregates more than 650,000 television episodes, 30,000 movies and 80,000 music videos and the company has raised over €17m euro in VC in two rounds.
Now you can not only search and find, but also use your social graphs to see what your friends and others are watching to see their ratings and check-ins. Currently you can use Facebook and soon Twitter OAuth to add the people you’re friends with already.
You can now create a personal profile, friend/follow members, do TV show, movie, or web video check-ins, “Love” content (or “Don’t”), earn Clicker Awards (provided mostly by network partners), discuss shows, and more (there’s even a mobile app).
So far it’s the best thought out Social TV implementation I’ve seen to date — and one that borrows many of the ideas I have on the drawing board for my own Social TV web app.
Appmarket.tv's Gianluigi Cuccureddu covered the company and wrote earlier this year:
Key features of Clicker.tv are as follow:
- Home: Clicker.tv's homepage features trending shows and episodes popular with Clicker users, as well as new ones that have just come online, with click-to-watch functionality.
- Search: In order to search on Clicker.tv, the company says, users navigating the guide on a configured remote can use the arrow keys to enter the name of a show or movie, the title of an episode, or the name of a specific topic. Clicker.tv will then offer auto-complete suggestions from all media types. Users on a keyboard can just start typing, from anywhere on the page, Clicker says.
- Categories: According to the company, Clicker.tv users can browse its over 1,400 categories to find topical content across all media types, simply by using their arrow keys to scroll.
- Media Type: Users can also browse within media types using TV, Web, Music and Movies icons. For example, Clicker says, if a user is only interested in Web Originals, they can navigate to the Web icon where they will be able to sort by title, popularity or airdate, or browse by topical "themes" such as family-friendly, dark comedy or social issues.
- Playlists: Clicker.tv provides users with the ability to create playlists of their favorite shows for later viewing, the company says, and also to set up notifications for when new content comes online.
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