Former ITV Executives Launch Trial of Two-Screen Enhanced TV Service, TellyLinks

A two-screen enhanced TV service, called TellyLinks, that is the brainchild of former ITV Consumer managing director, Jeff Henry, and former ITV Digital Channels managing director, Rob Ovens, launched a trial in the UK last night in association with a broadcast of an episode of the US drama, "Numb3rs," on terrestrial network, Five.

The service, which is designed to take advantage of the fact that an increasing number of viewers watch traditional TV while simultaneously accessing the Internet on their laptops (a phenomenon that has come to be known as "bellyvision"), provides "Numb3rs" viewers who point their Web browsers to TellyLinks.com with a constant flow of broadcast-synchronized links (up to 150 per episode) to thematically related online content. According to a report in The Guardian, TellyLinks has struck a 13-week deal with Five to sponsor "Numb3rs," in order to trial its new service, and hopes to eventually expand the service to all programming airing between 6:00PM and midnight on the UK's main terrestrial networks. Henry, who told the newspaper that he foresees TellyLinks eventually offering more interactivity (though he did not specify how he envisions it doing so), said that the company currently has six employees, but hopes to increase its headcount to 35 or 40 this year if it can find backing for a full launch in the fourth quarter; and that its broadcast-synchronized links are delivered via a combination of live insertion and automated algorithm. He also told the newspaper that the company plans to monetize its service by selling sponsored links that will also be thematically related to programming content, but that these links will never appear more frequently than once every three minutes. In addition, he said, the company will sell localized advertising, as well as sponsorships on its Web site around major programs.

The response to TellyLinks' new service--which Henry has described in public statements as "an editorial play, rather than a technical one"--appears to have been stronger than the company anticipated: as of Wednesday evening, Pacific Time, the company's Web site displayed only the following message: "Thank you for trying TellyLinks.com. In light of the unexpected high volume of traffic to TellyLinks.com during its launch this evening, we would like to apologize to anyone who may have experienced technical difficulties in accessing the service. We are overwhelmed by the level of viewer response and have already started to scale up our systems to ensure that everyone who logs on to TellyLinks.com in future will gain the full benefit of the service."