TWC Customers Vote for NBC's Comic

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/18/2006 11:03:00 AM

NBC is expanding on the interactive features available to Time Warner Cable subscribers watching its reality show Last Comic Standing by allowing viewers to vote for a winner through their cable remotes.

Since its May 30 launch, TWC customers have been able to interact with the Emmy-nominated "Last Comic Standing" through a polling application from Navic Networks that lets them answer trivia questions and rate contestants. Now TWC customers in select markets will be able to help choose the winner by responding to pop-up screens generated by viewer's set-top boxes that will be synchronized to occur at precise moments during the one-hour show. Navic Networks' technology will compile the polling results, and they will be included in the tally for each week's winner.

NBC says the TWC application for "Last Comic" has been successful so far, with nearly 12 percent of subscribers participating. The Time Warner Cable markets involved include New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Cincinnati, OH, Milwaukee, WI, Wilmington, NC, Greensboro, NC and Charlotte, NC.

"Viewers have been very responsive to the polling throughout the season," says Jean-Briac Perrette, senior vice president of new media and chief financial officer, NBC Universal Cable. "We wanted to further their experience by making them a part of the show."