Santa Clara, Calif. –
said Monday that it is offering cable television service providers the ability
to deploy interactive television services through the integration of Enhanced
Television (ETV)/ Enhanced Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) applications and
widgets on Rovi Passport Guide and i-Guide.
Rovi and its collaborators are
launching a standards-based ETV/EBIF Solution comprised of an EBIF User
Agent and ETV Platform Server for the
integration of third-party applications with the guide, and a starter kit of
applications from
,
including Yellow Pages on TV, eBay on TV, news, weather, sports and finance.
Rovi said Blue Ridge Communications, a service provider based in
Pennsylvania, has licensed and deployed the ETV/EBIF Solution and the TV
Widgets on Rovi Passport Guide to its subscriber base.
“The enhanced television solutions from Rovi and FourthWall
broaden our services and give us new interactive capabilities to offer our
customers,” stated Mark Masenheimer, Blue Ridge Communciations operations VP.
The ETV/EBIF Solution provides consumers with the ability to
easily access interactive television services through simple widgets and
applications, Rovi said.
“By combining this interactive capability with Rovi guide, we’re
offering service providers a way to complement the entertainment experience for
their customers and extend their platform to include features such as advanced
advertising, news information and programming-based applications,” said Corey
Ferengul, Rovi product management and marketing executive VP. “We look forward
to working with service providers to continue to expand upon what they can
offer their customers, starting with Blue Ridge Communications.”
The ETV/EBIF Solution is available on the Passport Guide now and
will be made available on i-Guide at a future date. The ETV/EBIF Solution includes the TV Widget
Application Launcher that makes it easy for users to access applications from
the Rovi guide’s Quick Menu.
