Following is reply to a question on IATV thread.:
Pecan:
Right now, I must say the verdict is still out on the Media One situation. If nothing else, it reinforces a position I've maintained; that convergence is a growing reality. I do feel that ACTV and the alliances they are putting together have placed them a head of the curve and is allowing them to already deliver quality product while competitors arn't off the drawing board yet. As you know I'm a big fan of Questec (QSTI). Through QSTI I discovered ACTV. Once I understood the relationship, I began exploring the whole emerging convergance industry. I'm extremly excited about the QSTI -ACTV relationship as I see this as a huge boost and natural alliance for both companies.
First, the video content that is being supplied to ACTV by QuesTec provides real-time content for ACTV's "Individualized Television". This
is provided for ACTV's product that appears on television and is delivered by a special set top box. QuesTec can deliver this same real-time content for television or for the PC. During this years All Star Game, QuesTec provided majorleaguebaseball.com and SportsLine USA this same information which was displayed as a special feature of the
Baseball Live product on both of these sites. In this instance a real-time filtered data stream was transmitted from Fenway Park via a single standard analog phone line to the service provider of these sites.
QuesTec uses this same eSports-TM (eSports is a registered trademark of QuesTec) technology to supply content for ACTV's television product. To do this they use a similar real-time filtered data stream which can be
sent from any Major League ball park to ACTV's "Individualized Television" studio in Irving, Texas. This data is received by a workstation which belongs to QuesTec that in turn receives the data,
reconstructs the information and renders the scene in 3-D graphics and than provides ACTV with a broadcast quality video display of the action. ACTV than has the ability to interact with the information by rotating the field of view, and building features based on the game and
the information now at their finger tips. The deliver of this information was designed like this to preserve the bandwidth needed to provide "Individualized Television" with various camera video from FOX Sports Net's broadcast of the game. This is truly a win win for ACTV, QuesTec and viewers of ACTV's "Individualized Television".
Convergence is a reality. How that is distributed and the hardware that is standardized is not. One thing is for certain, ACTV and QuesTec have both aligned themselves with FOX Sports Net, the largest cable distributor of regional sports, that has a powerful big brother for national coverage. ACTV has a unique experience for television, QuesTec provides them with real-time technology content to help make the experience more interesting. Right now baseball is the common bond for these two companies, I am sure that more is in the works. |
