Major TV Content Owners Choose Virage For User Interaction
By Martin Stone, Newsbytes
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.,
10 Sep 1999, 1:36 PM CST
Three major television content producers have chosen Virage Interactive software to
allow viewer-driven Web broadcasts of prime-time programming.
ABCNEWS.com, CNET.com, and C-SPAN are now using Virage Interactive's video
search "solution" to publish their broadcast TV programs as interactive video on their
Websites, San Mateo, Calif.-based Virage Inc. announced today.
The applications signal the first time major TV networks are actively redeploying and
monetizing their broadcast content as Web-ready video, taking advantage of the
commercial aspects of Web interactivity, says Virage. It also marks the first time
viewers will be able to watch prime-time television shows when they want to, and opt
to access them as topic-searchable segments.
The Virage software allows broadcasters and other content providers to convert
long-format video from television, satellite or tape directly into interactive, short-form
digitized video suitable for cyberspace.
The applications follow a fast-emerging convergence trend that is seeing more TV
programming themed to cyberspace topics, and as Newsbytes recently reported, the
producing of the first made-for-the-Internet feature film, "The Quantum Project." Today
also marks the announcement that The IBC-NEWS Website will go live this fall with
ongoing global news coverage and editorials.
Virages vice president of business development, Dave Girourd, told Newsbytes,
"Essentially, we have introduced an engine that allows content owners to deploy on a
very large scale on the Internet."
The three networks say they are making hundreds of thousands of hours of prime
television programming accessible for viewing by topic of interest on their Websites.
Virage claims the user-driven content aspect allows broadcasters to target their
content and advertising and expand commercial opportunities derived from broadcast
assets in ways that traditional broadcast video does not.
The public benefits from the convergence since prime-time content becomes available
in a familiar Web format, searchable by topic, and viewable from the point of interest.
Girourd claims Virage is far ahead of other players in the field by providing a complete
out-sourced, hosted service to the major broadcasters. He predicts that TV viewers will
soon be able to watch and search their favorite mainstream TV programs, such as
soap operas, and by typing key search words, will be able to, for example, pinpoint all
the scenes featuring their preferred character.
With the new set-up, ABCNEWS.com, makes ABC News multimedia assets more
accessible to Web audiences. Visitors to the site at
abcnews.go.com will be able to search
across all of ABC News' programming for topics of interest.
CNET's television content is combining to build a database of video that will become
searchable on the front door of CNET.com. By searching on keywords for specific
topics, visitors to cnet.com have the option to watch video pertaining to
topics from any of the networks shows.
The C-SPAN application will be dedicated to the upcoming US presidential election.
The site at cspan.org contains an up-to-date, online
collection of candidate campaign speeches, primary and general election debates,
press conferences, party fund-raisers, and all other candidate appearances on
C-SPAN.
The Campaign 2000 video search engine provides access to the breadth and depth of
programming compiled on C-SPAN as the network follows the candidates on the trail.
By typing in keywords, users can search by candidate, party, campaign issue, or
location on topics such as taxes, gun control, abortion, education, or foreign policy.
Users can also compare and contrast statements made by candidates in different
regions of the country and can track a candidate's position on a topic by date
throughout the campaign season.
The Virage Interactive software is powered by Sun Microsystems' Enterprise servers in
a Solaris operating environment. The service translates video content from television,
satellite or tape directly into a hosted and private-labeled video search engine. The
video search engine was first put to public use last year when Virage posted President
Clinton's Grand Jury Testimony to the Internet in partnership with AltaVista, an event
described by industry analysts as a watershed for streaming media on the Web.
Girourd says a tremendous potential is created once video is databased. "I envision
video community sites where users can experience the content of their choice and
share their thoughts with other viewers."
More information on the engine cam be found at virage.com
Reported by Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com
13:36 CST
Reposted 14:22 CST |
