As part of on-going initiatives to enhance the value of Asian pay television as an advertising vehicle, the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) has hired a highly experienced executive to make arguments in its favour to the regional advertising industry.

The new Casbaa director, Robert Wilson, whose appointment is immediate, has worked in the Asia Pacific for more than 20 years. His background includes almost a decade of pioneering work in cable and satellite television research and marketing at STAR TV and NBC Asia as well as a recent post at ACNielsen in media research sales and development. Before joining Star TV, Wilson worked for more than a decade with advertising agency Lintas: Worldwide, (now Lowe & Partners) in Australia, the United States, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

"We believe the appointment of Robert will give Casbaa and its member companies a new edge in building a competitive argument for the use of cable and satellite television as an advertising medium," said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO Casbaa.

A key objective will be to address and evaluate competing local and regional syndicated research services, and, where appropriate, recommend the services Casbaa members should adopt that would further the cause of maximizing advertising revenue for members. "With the help of this initiative we want to see our members improving their return on their considerable media research investments," said Twiston Davies.

Another objective is to foster the establishment of comprehensive and effective advertising expenditure measurement for cable and satellite channels and, where appropriate, to represent Casbaa member companies on television joint industry research committees.

Robert Wilson will be located in Singapore, reporting to CEO Simon Twiston Davies, adding valuable strength to Casbaa‘s presence in Southeast Asia .

The BBC is launching the first ever live, interactive Olympic Games from Salt Lake City, Utah next month. From 8 to 25 February, digital interactive viewers will have access to information and pictures on the events they want to see throughout the Winter Games.
The BBC will have daily coverage from late afternoon when the day?s events commence in the US, which continues through the night. Digital interactive viewers will also be able to access highlights of all the days action through BBCi the following day as video or text.

During live broadcasts, Digital Satellite (Sky) viewers will be prompted to press the Red Key to access a multiscreen with the options of Grandstand, plus two additional streams of live events at the Games, such as the adrenalin of the Skeleton or the grace of Ice Dancing. Viewers can select the event they want, or even watch all three. An updated schedule of events and the medal table is available through the Blue Key. During non-broadcast hours the interactive service will be available through pressing the Text button on the handset.

Digital Terrestrial (itvDigital) and Digital Cable (ntl and Telewest) viewers will receive a text based service alongside a live screen with current BBC pictures. The service will include details of medal winners and overall medal table, the schedule of forthcoming action, a "Guide to the Games" explaining some of the more unorthodox sports and expert analysis from former Olympians and BBC pundits, Graham Bell and Robin Cousins.

Head of Interactive TV Scott Gronmark said: "The multi-event format of the Olympics is perfect for providing simultaneous picture streams interactively. It gives viewers the power to choose which events they watch, as well as adding to the appeal of the Winter Games for a greater number of winter sports enthusiasts. The other terrific service we?re offering interactive viewers is next day highlights of action which took place in the middle of the night. This way, viewers can catch up on key events when it suits them - it?s all about choice and flexibility."

For news, events schedule and medal table information, plus interactive

Weather need no longer remain at the fag end of news shows. The first ever interactive weather channel using terrestrial digital television (DTV) spectrum has recently been launched in the US.

Promoted by NJN Public Television and Radio (NJN), AccuWeather, Triveni Digital and Zenith Electronics Corporation, the channel utilizes the flexibility of the ATSC Digital Television standard. Each viewer can interact with the received content individually, while not requiring any type of back channel to a central server.

This innovative digital television application uses the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) Transport B specification for sending interactive TV data over the DTV spectrum. The data is stored in the STB memory and is available for interactive retrieval using the viewer‘s remote control.

TV-based interactive weather information is compelling in that it provides immediate access over TV while being easy to use with frequent updates. Taking advantage of the flexible 19.4 megabit-per-second broadband pipeline that the ATSC DTV standard provides, NJN plans to expand the portal offering to include local traffic, news, and other innovative local channels from Triveni Digital.

Scientific-Atlanta has announced that over 30 per cent of the MSO systems using its digital platform and interactive set-tops are carrying some form of interactive television (ITV) services available to millions of potential subscribers.

They run the gamut from video-on-demand to email, Internet access, enhanced viewing and t-commerce applications. Cable operators are deploying Scientific-Atlanta networks and Explorer digital interactive set-tops to provide subscribers with compelling interactive content to reduce churn and increase revenue, claims the company.

Adding to the pool of interactive TV applications cable operators have to choose from, Scientific-Atlanta also announced that InformTV has joined its CreativEdge Developer Program and is working to obtain certification of its new application, InformTV Sports 1.0. As a member of the CreativEdge Developer Program, the company will receive ongoing development support and testing and integration services throughout the application development process from Scientific-Atlanta.

The application, which InformTV expects to be available during the first quarter of 2002, complements existing broadcast programming by making sports scores, statistics and information available on every cable channel, completely independent of broadcast video content.