PayPal to Enable Secure Payments to TV, Open New Revenue Doors for US Cable TV (EBIF and Tru2Way) Developers

Posted by Richard Kastelein in Breaking News on September 27, 2010  |  0 Comments More from this author  |    |  Follow Richard Kastelein on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

FourthWall Media, the media company driving a creative revolution in interactive TV on US cable networks, announced today a solution to bring safe and easy payments to TV. In an agreement with PayPal, a worldwide leader in online payments, FourthWall's solution will make it possible for cable operators to deploy applications on their EBIF platforms to allow for consumers to access their digital wallet for T-commerce payment.

Fourthwall has room for 3PD developers (or programmers as they say) which can be seen here.  Developers can also push their app inventory through the companies' widget store.

Together with PayPal, FourthWall Media delivers a powerful intersection of entertainment and commerce, with the potential to produce an industry-wide scalable T-commerce solution for cable. FourthWall's TV Buy Button combines a wealth of interactive TV (ITV) experiences, ranging from in-depth set-top box platform technology to numerous programming and advertising widgets, in broad deployment. FourthWall Media's TV Buy Button is powered by PayPal X, which provides developers the tools needed to change the future of payments. The marriage of television viewers and online payments through FourthWall Media and PayPal means access to the $30 trillion global payments market and significant revenue growth opportunities for all those in the TV delivery value chain.

"FourthWall Media has deployed applications like eBay on TV, Yellow Pages on TV, and Ad Widgets® that run on our EBIF platform. These applications and others will benefit enormously from having an integrated TV Buy Button," said Tim Peters, FourthWall CEO. "Programmers and cable distributors can find new and exciting ways to generate revenue. Imagine someday watching your favorite basketball team and being able to instantly purchase a Mavericks jersey with the simple push of a button on your existing remote. PayPal is one of the world's favorite forms of payment online and we have partnered with them to connect TV viewers with advertisers through this most popular digital payment method."

"FourthWall's TV Buy Button is a great example of what the future of payments looks like," said Osama Bedier, PayPal's VP of platform, mobile and new ventures. "With PayPal X, FourthWall had the tools it needed to bring frictionless payment to television. Shopping directly from TVs with just the click of a button will revolutionize the entertainment industry and experience, and PayPal is pleased to be part of that.

T-commerce will become a reality when the TV Buy Button goes live later this year. Markets interested in getting the feature first should contact FourthWall Media for priority rollout. Future versions of the TV Buy Button will support cable bill payment and other transaction types within FourthWall's TV Widgets® and Ad Widgets® products.

Who will make the deal with Paypal and Samsung? Or Google TV? or Apple TV? Interesting questions and not new ones I have had... It's a very smart move on Fourthwall Media's part.