Navic-Powered App Lets TWC Subs Vote for Winner of "Last Comic"

Time Warner Cable customers in a number of markets (including New York City; Los Angeles; Cincinnati, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina) are being invited to help decide the winner of the NBC reality TV show, "Last Comic Standing," by casting votes via a single-screen interactive TV service that was developed by Navic Networks. (Note: among other things, Navic also recently developed a single-screen, set-top box-based application that allowed certain Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks digital cable customers to interact with the reality series, "Top Chef," which airs on the NBC Universal-owned Bravo channel. The app invited viewers to answer polls about food and about which chef they would like to see bumped from the show.) Since July 18th, customers in those markets have been able to use their remotes to cast votes: the polling application features pop-up screens that are synchronized to appear at precise moments during the one hour show, and Navic Networks' technology then compiles the results--which are then included in the tally for each week's winner. A single-screen interactive TV application that allows Time Warner Cable customers to interact with the show by taking part in polls and answering trivia questions launched when the show premiered on May 30th: according to the MSO, usage of the application has grown steadily since then. Last week, the company says, nearly 12% of subscribers who had access to the application used it, and, in select markets, the participation rate was as high as 15%. "We are very pleased to bring this unique opportunity to Time Warner Cable digital customers," Joan Gillman, VP of interactive television at Time Warner Cable, said in a prepared statement (note: Gillman was the recipient of a 2006 [itvt] Award for Leadership in Interactive Television). "Our customers are the only ones in the nation who will be able to vote and influence the outcome of a reality show using their remote controls. This highlights the power of Time Warner Cable's two-way interactive platform, as well as our partnership with innovators such as NBC Universal and Navic."

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