widget

A number of pieces of connected TV news came across [itvt]'s desk, Tuesday. Here is a brief--and by no means exhaustive--round-up (note: also see "Vudu Unveils Vudu Apps OTT Service," "ActiveVideo Networks in Deal to Provide Blockbuster with Cloud-Based User Interface," and "Showtime Networks, Betfair Launch Interactive TV Widgets"):

In a posting on a corporate blog, Wednesday, Verizon's director of external communications, Bobbi Henson, announced that the company's FiOS TV service has replaced its existing Headline News interactive TV widget with a new widget featuring content from the Associated Press (AP).

Verizon announced Wednesday that it has launched an NBA League Pass interactive TV widget on its FiOS TV service. According to the company, the free widget allows viewers to order NBA League Pass, an NBA subscription package that provides up to 40 out-of-market live NBA games per week, via their remote control; and also provides them with instant access to headline news, player reports, game-time alerts and more.

In a corporate blog posting, Wednesday, Verizon's director of external communications, Bobbi Henson, announced that the company has partnered with home shopping network, HSN, to create a new widget version of the latter's Shop by Remote interactive TV application for the Verizon FiOS TV platform (note: Comcast has just announced the national roll-out of an EBIF version of Shop by Remote--see the article in this issue). The new widget will feature a "deal of the day" exclusively for FiOS TV customers, Henson said.

Verizon said Tuesday that it has rolled out various new interactive TV features and navigational shortcuts to customers of its FiOS TV service in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as part of an upgrade of its FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide (IMG). The new features, which are offered at no additional charge, have been available on Verizon systems in California and Texas for some time now, and Verizon says that it will roll them out in all its other FiOS TV markets over the next few months.

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Rovi (formerly Macrovision--for more on the company's name change and the repositioning it heralds, see the interview with Rovi chief evangelist, Richard Bullwinkle, that was published on itvt.com, July 16th) said Monday that its TV Guide widget--which is billed as providing viewers with a snapshot of what programs are available on 28 of the most popular TV channels--has gone live on Samsung's implementation of the Yahoo!

Broadcast network NBC on Monday announced the launch of a new social TV application called the NBC.com Communicator. According to the broadcaster, the app, which was developed by Toronto-based Itibiti Systems, offers users a "one-stop mix" of custom NBC content, services and communication tools--including, most notably, computer-to-computer voice calling over IP--on the computer desktop.

Rallypoint, a San Francisco-based company that specializes in developing widgets for Internet-connected HDTV's, announced a promotion Monday that will see a $59.99 annual subscription to its Rallycast Fantasy Sports widget included free with the purchase of any new Samsung 7100 model or higher LCD or LED HDTV at consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy. In order to obtain their free subscription, Samsung HDTV customers must ask a Best Buy sales assistant for a Rallycast activation card (SKU #9437068) and take it with them to the register when they check out.

Verizon FiOS TV has launched an interactive TV widget that is designed to give its customers in the New York City Metro area (i.e. New York City, Long Island, the northern suburbs and northern New Jersey) a closer view of that city's current traffic conditions.

Sigma Designs, a provider of system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for set-top boxes and consumer electronics, announced Tuesday that it is committed to "broad scale support" of the Android operating system on its media-processor SoC's, and also announced the availability of a ported version of Android on its Vantage SMP8654 development platform.

In a posting on a Verizon blog, Wednesday, the company's SVP of media relations, Eric Rabe, announced the launch of a new interactive TV widget, dubbed the Weatherbug, in its FiOS TV service's Widget Bazaar marketplace.

CBS-owned broadband video/community site, TV.com (offers full episodes, clips, entertainment news, show summaries, polls, forums and more), on Wednesday unveiled a tool, called WatchList, which it says is designed to enable viewers to navigate and organize their TV experience and represents "an important step in TV.com's goal to be the navigational interface for television online."

Because of the large volume of news generated by the ongoing IBC show in Amsterdam, and because the [itvt] editorial team is currently traveling in the UK, we are covering a number of this issue's news stories in round-up/summary form. We anticipate some additional interruption of our regular news publishing schedule in the coming days, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers. Here is the round-up:

IPTV middleware provider, Minerva Networks, unveiled version 4.0 of its flagship iTVManager platform Monday. According to the company, iTVManager 4.0 features a widget engine that it bills as enabling blended Internet and TV services, whole-home DVR functionality, new user interfaces, and advanced redundancy and high-availability features. The company bills the new version of its platform as being designed to enable IPTV operators to innovate at a rapid pace.