itvt

Aptiv Digital, the upstart EPG developer that was recently acquired by Gemstar-TV Guide (see [itvt] Issue 7.26 Part 1), unveiled a number of new products and applications at the NCTA Cable Show earlier this month, including new versions of its Passport, Passport DCT and Passport Echo EPG’s. According to the company, the new versions of its EPG’s are designed to support a set of new or revamped cross-platform interactive applications, that enable such features as VOD, video mosaics and TV-based caller ID. Aptiv also used the show to demo the Passport Echo EPG’s OCAP support and consequently its compatibility with a number of OCAP software stacks and set-top boxes. "Cable Show attendees this year will experience brand new IPG versions and a range of applications to help cable operators redefine their service offerings and maximize the potential of their cable systems," Dan Ward, Aptiv’s VP of sales and marketing, said in a prepared statement. "Our interactive program guides have new advanced feature sets and built-in seamless support for our new set of applications. Combining our applications such as Interactive Video Mosaic and iSubscribe or the new features of Venue and Video-on-Demand will provide MSO’s with exceptional tools to drive revenue and customer satisfaction."

New and/or revamped applications and tools on display in Aptiv’s Cable Show booth included:

• A version of the company’s ShowRunner VOD application for the Motorola platform (note: the app has been available for the Scientific-Atlanta platform for around four years now). According to the company, ShowRunner is a client application that is headend-configurable for a variety of impulse-based services, including single-offer, f*ree-on-demand, transactional VOD, and subscription VOD. It is designed with a biaxial interface, so that genres or categories are menu-scrollable on the horizontal plane, displaying vertically scrollable and selectable titles. Aptiv claims that the menu "easily walks a viewer through" the VOD selection and purchase. The application’s interface is also hierarchical, with super-categories, libraries and feature channels that are configurable as virtual channels, accessible directly or through the EPG.
• A version of the company’s Venue product for the Motorola Platform (like ShowRunner VOD, Venue has been available for the Scientific-Atlanta platform for four years). Venue is a configurable template for creating custom, multilevel VOD applications: according to the company, multiple Venues can be seamlessly linked to create hierarchical on-demand menus, and each Venue screen in the navigational hierarchy can be configured to display a single category of listings and the return path to previous Venue levels. Aptiv claims that combining Venue’s interconnectivity with ShowRunner VOD’s architecture, MPEG stills and video streaming creates a customizable and intuitive hierarchical interface that seamlessly links navigational, informational and revenue-generating services. Venue can also be configured with a biaxial interface, including horizontally scrollable categories displaying vertically scrollable and selectable listings: in this configuration, it can be set as the default power-on channel, in order to promote premium channels and services.
• A new version of the company’s Interactive Video Mosaic application that will be available in the next versions of Passport and Passport Echo for the Scientific-Atlanta platform (note: Interactive Video Mosaic recently launched as a product for the Passport DCT platform). The application is a multichannel/multiscreen showcase and navigator for promoting content: it provides cable operators with customizable or template-based video venues to display multiple thumbnail video streams on one channel; viewers can watch multiple scaled video streams, listen to each stream’s audio feed by highlighting it, and launch services by selecting a video pane. In addition, more information about programs can be displayed by pressing the "info" button, and programs can be recorded directly from the application, when viewed via Passport Echo on a DVR set-top. Aptiv suggests that MSO’s can use the app to drive revenue by streaming preview clips of premium services and linking to its iSubscribe impulse subscription app.
• Harvest, a viewership data collection tool that enables cable operators to track how their services are being utilized. According to Aptiv, the application protects the anonymity and privacy of the end-user by logging set-top usage without specific subscriber information. Because the usage data it generates is available on-demand, the company says, operators will be able to make programming and advertising decisions based on real-time data. The app produces a basic daily report generated from the collection of logs, as well as daily raw database files for advanced data mining. It is available for Passport, Passport DCT and Passport Echo.
• Bill View, an application that promotes bundled packages, while providing subscribers access to their billing information. The app is data configurable and can display bundled packages on screen. It is available for Passport, Passport DCT and Passport Echo.
• A new version of the company’s Caller ID app that can run on Passport DCT and Passport Echo on the Motorola platform (it has been available on Passport and Passport Echo for the Scientific-Atlanta platform for over five years). The app, which Aptiv says is compatible with any backend caller ID solution, displays a banner at the bottom of the screen with the phone number, option line number, and name of the incoming caller. It allows end-users to display a call history of up to four phone lines by accessing preferences in the settings menu.
• Front Door, a tool designed to simplify the installation and management of Aptiv’s new set of interactive TV applications. According to the company, it is a server-based application management portal that is scalable and enables customization of regional application deployment: MSO’s can customize application deployment on a region-by-region or headend-by-headend basis for their entire system for a single Front Door server, Aptiv claims. The tool features administrative security, can be accessed from an Internet browser on any networked, authorized and Internet-ready PC, and enables the installation, configuration and removal of a variety of Aptiv applications.

Originally Published: May 30, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.32 Part 3

Click: http://www.itvt.com to subscribe to our free email newsletter, which contains all the news stories you see on this Web site, and additional breaking news and scoops, in-depth features, interviews, screenshots, videos, and other exclusive content you will not find anywhere else.