Rallypoint Teams with Samsung, Best Buy on Interactive TV Widget Promotion

Rallypoint, a San Francisco-based company that specializes in developing widgets for Internet-connected HDTV's, announced a promotion Monday that will see a $59.99 annual subscription to its Rallycast Fantasy Sports widget included free with the purchase of any new Samsung 7100 model or higher LCD or LED HDTV at consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy. In order to obtain their free subscription, Samsung HDTV customers must ask a Best Buy sales assistant for a Rallycast activation card (SKU #9437068) and take it with them to the register when they check out.

According to Rallypoint, the Rallycast promotion gives new owners of Samsung Internet-connected TV's a full year of access to real-time sports scores and stats, as well as access to their fantasy leagues across all major US sports, including fantasy football 2009 and fantasy baseball 2010 (the company says that college football will be supported "very soon"). The fantasy sports widget imports users' existing fantasy teams from major fantasy sports sites, such as Yahoo!, CBS and ESPN, the company says. The widget, which appears as an overlay over the program they are watching, also allows users to update their Facebook status and send text messages. It is built on the Yahoo! TV Widgets platform and, according to Rallypoint, will be offered on a number of IPTV, cable and satellite platforms in the future. Consumers with compatible Internet-connected HDTV's can download the Rallycast Toolbar from the Widget Gallery, in order to gain access to three free Rallycast apps, as well as to purchase the Rallycast Fantasy Sports app. The three free Rallycast apps are: Rallycast Toolbar, which allows users to search for and manage TV apps from Rallypoint and its content partners; Rallycast Scores, which allows users to view scores and stats for multiple sports and which can be customized to feature a user's favorite teams; and Rallycast Messenger, which allows users to communicate with their friends via text message or Facebook.

According to Rallypoint, the HDTV sets that currently support its Rallycast apps are the Samsung Series 6, 7 and 8 (i.e. HDTV sets that support Samsung's Internet@TV service); and the LG Electronics LH50 and PS80 (i.e. HDTV sets that support LG's Netcast Entertainment service). In the near future, the company says, Vizio XVT HDTV sets will also provide Rallycast support.