Push the red button for the World Cup
Greetings all..Just a few words from me to outline what we'll be offering on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's World Cup Interactive TV service, although if you're resourceful enough to find this blog then the chances are you have found out all you need to know already.
We are basically going to be putting out two services - one for matches screened live on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, and a Highlights service that will be available all day, everyday, whenever there is no live match taking place.
The live service will offer a choice of commentaries (we are hoping to include some foreign broadcasters here!), constantly updated highlights and a new "fans' channel" which will allow viewers to send in their messages via text, e-mail and 3G while viewing the live match.
We're still looking for a name for it - all the obvious ones (Your Say, Your Shout, Fan Zone, Fan Scene etc) seem to have been blagged already - suggestions, anyone? Live stats, Results, Group Tables and a News section will also be included.
Perhaps one of the best features we will offer, however, is the ability to switch between two live games when we get to the final matches of the group stages - this proved to be very popular in our Euro 2004 service and we hope viewers will make the most if it once again.
The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ will be covering .
The 'Highlights' service will take the form of the Multiscreen we all know and love - this will show an England News stream (for as long as it may last), plus 20-minute edits of the most recent matches. We will also have the chance to show some classic matches from previous World Cups, plus some extra content we are still negotiating for - watch this space.
I should point out that, owing to bandwidth constraints, viewers on the Freeview platform will generally receive one less interactive stream than outlined above, and this may be further restrained when the Wimbledon interactive service is running live. Sorry, but you may at least take some perverse compensation from knowing that Wimbledon tennis fans will be seething that their interactive service has been restricted by those football oiks.
Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions you may have for the World Cup offering - and I promise to write back saying that wonderful though your idea is I can't promise we'll have enough time to or resource to implement it!
