Starting January 7th, "Full Contact Fishing," a show on Canada’s Leafs TV channel, will feature a two-screen interactive TV application, powered by technology from a Toronto-based company called Desktopbox. (Note: the interactive broadcast–which is deployed with Dome Productions, a joint venture between Rogers, Bell Canada and ESPN–will air Saturdays at 12:30PM EST/PST.) The show is being billed by its producers as the world’s first interactive fishing show.
According to Desktopbox, its platform is based on a synchronized broadcasting technology that allows producers to broadcast relevant Web URL’s (for example, show-related trivia and other information, searches, and advertising) to viewers’ Internet browsers in sync with a TV show. In order to experience enhanced broadcasts based on the platform, viewers must first download a zero-install, small-client player, called the "Projector," which receives
URL commands from a remote server running the platform’s broadcaster software and points their browser to the specified Web pages. Viewers can choose from two broadcast "modes," designed to support live broadcast programming and VOD/PVR programming respectively. To ensure speedy delivery of Web pages during a live program, the platform allows producers to download and cache those pages’ graphics and text to viewers’ computers before they are displayed.
In order to enhance broadcasts using the Desktopbox platform, producers employ a tool, called "Switch," that allows them 1) to enter the URL’s they wish to use into 50 fields in the sequence in which they will be delivered to viewers’ computers, and 2) to schedule the times at which those URL’s will be automatically delivered (note: for live broadcasts, such as sports, producers can trigger the delivery of each URL manually). Once a list of URL’s, complete with timing notations, has been created, it is then uploaded to the server for broadcast. According to Desktopbox founder and CEO, Mike Church, the latest version of the Projector player has a scoreboard-style message window that allows broadcasters to give live text updates with just two to eight seconds of delay time. This, Church said, makes the application "perfect for sports and other live real-time broadcast coverage."
Church explained to [itvt] how the Desktopbox system works with content recorded on a DVR, a VOD server, or DVD’s: "When you download the player, you set it to ‘VOD interactive’ mode, and hit ‘reset’ as you start your DVD or VOD/PVR video material," he said. "Your computer will then sync for time-shifting."
Desktopbox is currently offering two versions of its platform: the Desktopbox Production System, which provides producers just with the tools they need to author and test their presentations, and the full-blown version, the Desktopbox Broadcast System. According to Church, Desktopbox’s platform has been in trials with professional sports associations and broadcasters over the past year. "We’re looking to expand further in the North American market this year with a strategic partner," he added.
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