Multimedia agency and IPTV consultancy Exozet Interact will present an extension of its TVNEXT IPTV product for interactive broadcast television at the Handelsblatt “Future of Television” conference in Berlin on 29 and 30 January.
Exozet’s complete TVNEXT solution for internet television already combines moving-image content with interactive community elements and new advertising formats. Development of the new TVNEXT Playout Server is intended to extend TVNEXT beyond online television and enable transmission into conventional television at what the company describes as a high level of interactivity.
Exozet says the web-based scheduling system can operate a 24/7 online channel and extend distribution over cable and satellite to conventional television sets. It remains connected to TVNEXT’s interactive systems, allowing interactive interfaces to be displayed on television and operated using set-top boxes or other internet-connected devices. “While existing IPTV services have so far offered only limited interactive transmission, our technical development closes this gap and opens new distribution channels for our customers,” explains Frank Alexander Zahn, Managing Director of the Exozet Group. “Welt der Wunder IP is a good example. The programme concept is based on a daily live show in which viewers and the presenter interact. If the format is extended to television, retaining the interactive features is essential.” The development is intended to supply interactive television signals to television sets, computers and mobile handheld devices from a single system.
At the end of last year, Exozet introduced a new advertising technology called Surface Tags. The company plans to use them to replace conventional advertising breaks with interactive commerce. A viewer could, for example, select a pair of sunglasses seen in a film and move it to a shopping basket. Exozet describes this connection between the television audience and e-commerce as an unusual combination of advertising and moving images. The company plans to present both Surface Tags and the playout server at the conference.
