UK TV Industry to Debate Future of Television with Zeebox

Posted by Richard Kastelein in Breaking News on February 21, 2012  |  0 Comments More from this author  |    |  Follow Richard Kastelein on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

Zeebox is today leading a discussion with the UK TV industry on the advent of social or ‘augmented’ TV and on the implications of the second-screen for broadcasters and production companies alike.

This unique event, taking place at world-famous Pinewood Studios, brings together 150 executives from UK broadcasters and TV production companies to debate how content owners can take advantage of thesecond-screen to make broadcast TV relevant again.

zeebox will showcase its next-generation ‘Showtime’ tools for broadcasters and programme makers, using recent trials with Channel 4 and Sky as case studies.  In addition, the event will feature live demonstrations of programme enhancements created inside zeebox by leading second-screen technology providers BT Agilemedia, Ex Machina, IMImobile, Monterosa, Visiware, MIG and Tellybug.

Showtime is a simple toolkit that allows broadcasters and programme-makers to publish show-specific content through zeebox.  When the show starts, users automatically see the normal zeebox content plus premium features delivered by the broadcaster. Showtime is designed to make efficient use of content already created by the show’s rights-holder: fan pages, cast bios, backstage videos, custom Twitter streams, interactive widgets, etc. 

“WithShowtime broadcasters and programme-makers can engage closely with fans, create a lively, engaging, social distribution point for additional content, and obtain insightful analytics about their customers,” said Simon Miller, Chief of Product & Content Development, zeebox.

Zeebox CTO Anthony Rose added:

“The future of broadcast TV is about synchronicity between the TV and the second-screen.  zeebox’s platform connects TV context with users and content owners, enabling a deeper connection between broadcast TV and its fans.”

Since launching in October 2011, zeebox has led innovation in the market of social TV apps, uniquely enabling consumers to discover TV content through their extended social graph, to follow their favourite celebrities’ TV viewing, and to automatically get more information about the programmes they’re watching. zeebox knows what consumers are watching, and engages them with relevant content and ecommerce opportunities in synch with live TV.

Zeebox is available in the UK free to users atzeebox.com, and as an app for iPad and iPhonehere.