AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

ICTV Creates Clickable TV Channels - NewTeeVee

While Interactive TV company ICTV cut the ribbon on its new office in San Jose, Calif., yesterday, don’t call it a startup. ICTV’s been trying to bridge the gap between the web video experience and TV for 10 years already.

What’s really cool is that ICTV enables content providers to create interactive TV through the cable or IPTV set-top boxes people already have. There’s no need for the consumer to buy and plug in any additional hardware, and the interface can be controlled through the set-top box’s existing remote control.

ICTV works with networks including FOX, CNN and the Weather Channel AccuWeather to create specific programming that takes advantage of the interactive capabilities. These features are not added on top of the existing channel you normally watch, but are built from the ground up on an entirely new channel. For example, if you watch CNN on channel 55, you’d experience a clickable version on channel 257.

On that interactive CNN, you’ll find a live video feed in the upper right-hand corner, just like the regular channel, but beneath it are a number of other choices. You can browse through a menu of other options such as sports, weather or entertainment news, and from there, choose from a number of stories on that topic, just as you would browse for video content on CNN’s web site