³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News product for connected TV launches
Post categories: ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online
| 12:00 UK time, Friday, 17 June 2011
Today's announcement of the launch of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News product for connected TV represents an exciting step forward in the evolution of a truly multiscreen ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News experience.
In a previous post I explained the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s new approach to product development, part of a single strategic vision for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online and our plans to reshape the service: from 400 websites to ten products. Such synergies in news have helped us deliver a refreshed ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website and the continued roll out of a web experience optimised for mobile via our popular ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News app. Ralph Rivera has published a post today about the importance of linking these screens via the concept of 'connected storytelling.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s sixth Public Purpose is to deliver the benefits of emerging technologies to the public, and the benefits of the coming together of broadcast and broadband are clear - new ways for audiences to enjoy content, enhanced availability of services and programmes, and opportunities for audiences to curate their own experiences.
Analysts are united in their expectation of huge growth in the number of connected devices in the market - whether internet-connected TVs or browser-enabled consoles. Internet connectivity can and will make TV even better for audiences.
Today's announcement is just the latest development in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News interactive story. Ceefax, its digital ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Text replacement, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Red Button, and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Online have provided rolling access to breaking news and analysis, collectively, for decades. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News product for connected TV builds on this by providing an on-demand, video-based news experience via video clips which can be navigated via your remote control.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online news editor Steve Herrmann will blog shortly on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Editors' Blog explaining how this comes together editorially in the newsroom.
Although the connected TV market is still in its infancy and the medium is not yet a mainstream proposition, our plan is to build on this initial launch with Samsung and we're looking to work with other manufacturers to bring our product to their platforms as quickly as possible - technically, as it's built in HTML, it can be repurposed simply for a wide range of different operating systems and devices. By working with standardised products (we also build in Flash and MHEG) we minimise complexity for the market, and keep our re-versioning costs low.
We'd like to get your feedback, so please leave your comments under this post or tweet using the hashtag.
Phil Fearnley is General Manager News & Knowledge, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Future Media
Comment number 1.
At 17th Jun 2011, Piet Boon wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 2.
At 17th Jun 2011, Pete Hewitt wrote:Very interesting. I don't have a connected TV myself however will likely have one when I replace my current set.
How does this app fit into the strategy for Project Canvas?
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Comment number 3.
At 17th Jun 2011, Piet Boon wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 4.
At 17th Jun 2011, Piet Boon wrote:Dear moderator: could you indicate when a decision is made on my post above?
Regards
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Comment number 5.
At 17th Jun 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:Piet - a decision has been made. And by me (the host), not the moderators. Your comments are clearly off topic.
Thanks
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Comment number 6.
At 17th Jun 2011, Piet Boon wrote:OK, I wil try to make the on topic context better known to you (and please explain me the difference between host and moderator later)
The post says: "from 400 websites to ten products". The point I was making is that we need clear landing pages where we can enter the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. We do not all want to enter via ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳News.com at all times, sometimes we just want to enter via ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 5Live website or Radio4 website another radio website.
And that is where we notice it goes wrong at the moment. I have put a nice example here:
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Comment number 7.
At 18th Jun 2011, Russ wrote:Ten products? I thought there were only going to be five.
Russ
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Comment number 8.
At 20th Jun 2011, _Ewan_ wrote:"By working with standardised products (we also build in Flash and MHEG)"
Flash is not a standard; it's a completely proprietary technology. Given the lack of support on older Android devices, and the sudden dropping by Adobe of Air for Linux (making iPlayer desktop not even slightly a 'cross platform' product at a stroke), I'd have thought you'd have learnt that by now.
Target actual standards and stop this farce of constantly chasing devices on an individual basis. It's insanely wasteful.
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Comment number 9.
At 20th Jun 2011, Joe K wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 10.
At 20th Jun 2011, hurgundem wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 11.
At 20th Jun 2011, Bastien Nocera wrote:When is the API going to be made available to system developers that aren't TV manufacturers? I'd be interested in seeing this integrated into other systems, but without API, this is as good as a black box.
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