abc

Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:

Broadcast network, ABC, contacted [itvt] Monday to let us know that ABC.com is offering an interactive "Rose Ceremony Game" that allows viewers to play along with the latest series in its long-running "The Bachelor" reality TV franchise, "The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love."

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has revealed the winners of the Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media.

US broadcast network, ABC, has developed a Twitter-based interactive mystery to maintain viewer interest in its comedy-drama series, "Castle," while the show is on hiatus (note: the show's second season premieres September 21st). The mystery's premise is explained by ABC as follows: "It's summertime, and New York City is hot and humid.

In a posting on its corporate blog, Monday, broadcast network-owned broadband video service, Hulu, announced that it has begun offering programming from ABC.

In a posting on its Web site, Monday, ABC News announced that its long-running nightly news magazine show, "Nightline," is expanding its relationship with microblogging service, Twitter, to launch a new, weekly, half-hour broadband TV show that will be hosted by "Nightline's" regular anchors and correspondents, and that it says will provide a forum for viewers to use Twitter to simultaneously discuss and debate the news of the day.

Hulu, the broadband video venture co-owned by NBC, Fox, and ABC/Disney (note: for more on Disney's recent acquisition of an equity stake in the venture, see the article posted on itvt.com April 30th), has signed deals with three non-US content providers: Digital Rights Group (which will provide it with a line-up of British comedies, including "Doc Martin," "Green Wing" and "Peep Show"), Endemol (which will provide it with reality series such as "I want to be a Hilton") and Saavn (which will provide it with a range of Bollywood movies).

--ABC Lets Viewers Decide which Families Star in 100th "Wife Swap"

ABC Family recently teamed with Lycos to enable social TV services around the show, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." Fans of the show were able to go to abcfamily.com or secretlife.lycos.com to participate in "online viewing parties" where they could watch episodes of the show while chatting about it in real time. Viewers could also host their own private viewing parties through Lycos's Watch & Interact platform, which allowed them to schedule private online screening rooms. The platform lets screening room hosts pause, rewind and fast- forward programs while discussing them with other participants.

US broadcast network, ABC, announced earlier this month that the
Move Networks-powered ABC.com Full Episode Player achieved its
best viewership figures to date in May, thanks in large part to the
availability of the season finales of the primetime shows, "Lost,"
"Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty."
According to the company, citing data supplied by Move Networks,
ABC.com users watched a record 815 million minutes of full-length
episodes on the player during the month, representing a 53% increase
over the previous month and a 110% increase over May, 2007. In
addition, ABC says, viewers watched 37 million episodes, representing
an increase of 27% over the previous month, and each viewer generally

The American Film Institute Digital Content Lab has announced the
companies, organizations and media properties that will be
participating in its next production cycle: PBS ("NewsHour"),
ABC.com ("Grey's Anatomy"), and Earth Echo. The Lab, now in its
tenth year (note: it was originally known as the Enhanced TV
Workshop, but subsequently changed its name to reflect a focus on a
broader range of interactive media), brings together media
companies/properties and volunteer "mentors" (i.e. individuals and
companies with extensive experience in interactive media), in order to
create innovative interactive prototypes. "The new slate of prototypes
promises to be one of our most exciting and challenging to date,"