Time Warner's Oceanic Gets ActiveVideo
ActiveVideo's Web-to-TV technology launches on Time Warner system in Hawaii, first major-operator deployment
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/7/2008 8:01:00 PM
ActiveVideo Networks, which provides technology that converts Web video for viewing on a television set, says it is launching interactive TV applications with Time Warner Cable’s Oceanic system in Hawaii.
The deal with Oceanic represents the first deployment with a major operator for Los Gatos, Calif-based ActiveVideo, which was formerly known as ICTV and which has been promoting the idea of bringing Web content to the living-room TV since the late 1990s.
The new service, which combines traditional video with Web-based content, features interactive games from TAG Networks, including Tetris and Sudoku; home shopping from HSN; and news, sports and children’s versions of P:Mosaic, ActiveVideo’s personalized video navigation system that allows consumers to view, customize and navigate through their favorite channels at a glance. The ActiveVideo technology will also allow Oceanic to create Web-based channels that are specific to the Hawaii market.
The commercial deployment comes after Oceanic successfully trialed ActiveVideo’s technology during the 2008 Summer Olympics. That application allowed subscribers to view single-screen mosaic coverage of multiple channels of broadcast and cable Olympics programming as well as Olympics news, photo albums, schedules and other content acquired from Web RSS feeds.
“One of cable television’s greatest strengths is its ability to serve customers with content that is important to them locally, and even personally,” said Nate Smith, president of Oceanic Time Warner Cable, in a statement. “Our launch of ActiveVideo expands our ability to deliver to our customers diversity, personalization and targeting, through a wide range of video choices.”
ActiveVideo’s original hardware-based systems created virtual channels that incorporated live video with Web content, and it has developed such applications for programmers including AccuWeather, CNN, HSN and Fox Reality Channel. But operators were slow to adopt the hardware. In recent years, the company has shifted its strategy somewhat, looking to provide the same type of functionality by combining its server-side processing technology with the enhanced-TV and tru2way standardized software platforms cable operators want to use to enable interactivity going forward.
At The Cable Show ’08 in New Orleans last spring ActiveVideo demonstrated how Web content can be delivered to an ETV software client running on a standard digital set-top through its “intelligent streaming” approach. Applications include advertising showcases, which consumers can trigger by clicking for more information during a linear advertisement; polling; and engaging in interactive content while continuing to watch the linear program in a mosaic-type window.
“With studies continuing to show that the television remains the device of choice for viewing video content, we’re seeing dramatically increased interest in ActiveVideo solutions that bring the Web experience to television through existing STBs and CE devices.” said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo Networks, in a statement. “We’re pleased to be working with Time Warner Cable to prove the ability of intelligent streaming to enhance the existing interactive options for the cable and broadcast industries.”
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