tvworks

[itvt] has learned that Comcast has deployed a tcommerce application for home shopping channel, HSN, as well as a Request for Information (RFI) application, and an app called Ready, Remind, Record (allows viewers to bookmark a show for DVR recording), to over 560,000 customers in the San Francisco Bay Area and around 305,000 customers in Chicago; the MSO has also now deployed Universal Caller ID, its TV- and PC-based

The TVWorks Developer Network (note: TVWorks, which was formerly a joint venture between Comcast and Cox, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast) is now offering a free membership option to interactive TV developers building ETV/EBIF applications. According to the company, developers who set up a free account on the network will have access to a broad range of resources to assist them through the ETV development process.

Earlier this month, [itvt] reported that Atlanta-based interactive TV technologies and services company, itaas, 1) has been tapped by Cox Communications to provide support for developers creating, testing and launching ITV applications for the cable MSO's tru2way and ETV-EBIF implementation, via its flagship itaas istart Developer Program; and 2) has licensed an EBIF engine developed by Comcast-owned TVWorks and is now offering cable operators an EBIF deployment package that includes a license, deployment support, and maintenance services. Here are two other pieces of news from itaas that might be of interest to our readers:

Atlanta-based interactive TV technologies and services company, itaas, has announced that it is working with Comcast on a new program to "help cable operators quickly and reliably deploy a standard interactive television platform" based on CableLabs' EBIF specification. Under the terms of the companies' deal, itaas will license an EBIF engine developed by TVWorks (note: the latter, which was initially a joint venture between Comcast and Cox, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast), and offer cable MSO's an EBIF deployment package that includes a license, deployment support, and maintenance services.

Interactive TV and addressable advertising technology provider, Navic
Networks, says that its HyperCast Network, a backoffice solution for
delivering and managing interactive TV advertising content across
platforms and operators, is now compatible with the US cable
industry's ETV/EBIF standard (which is designed to enable interactive
TV applications--primarily bound apps--run on low-resource legacy
set-top boxes, and thereby to have a national footprint). According to
the company, in addition to now supporting EBIF user agents and
delivery systems, HyperCast is compatible with other backoffice
systems, using SCTE-130 standard interfaces. "HyperCast was