HBO, Microsoft Demo SmartGlass App for 'Game of Thrones'

App lets smartphones and tablets interact with show on Xbox

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/27/2012 2:23:44 PM

New York - HBO has created a prototype of an interactive app for its Game of Thrones fantasy series using Microsoft's SmartGlass technologies to let users watching HBO Go on the Xbox 360 control the video and access supplemental show content using smartphones or tablets.

Microsoft and HBO executives staged a demo of the SmartGlass app here at the 2nd Screen Summit NYC, presented by Multichannel News, B&C, TWICE and the Media Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA).

"It is our job on the digital side to think about engaging consumers on every digital touch-point we have," said Alison Moore, HBO's senior VP of digital products.

SmartGlass -- which Microsoft announced earlier this month at the E3 conference in Los Angeles -- is a collection of apps, embedded technologies and services designed to let mobile devices interact with and enhance TV content. The HBO demo used a Windows 8-based Surface slate, which Microsoft unveiled last week, a Windows phone and an Xbox. HBO began offering access to HBO Go on Xbox, through participating affiliates, in March.

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