MUMBAI: At the Innovations Day on Communication Networks 2005 a few days ago global telecom firm Siemens and Grundy Light Entertainment which is a producer of entertainment programming for German television stations presented a new dimension in entertainment by connecting television with broadband fixed and mobile networks.
In the first experiment of its kind anywhere, both companies succeeded in linking in viewers live either from home or out and about to let them participate in a game show. The viewers called in during the show and were "beamed into the television studio" via video telephony.
The caller's live video transmission was effected either via mobile radio on a UMTS mobile phone or over the fixed network with the aid of the Surpass Home Entertainment solution from Siemens . Siemens has stated that it is confident that the combination of telecommunication with television will open up new business opportunities for the entertainment industry and network operators.
Siemens Communications head business innovation Stefan Jenzowsky said, "The demonstration programme, which we recorded at a regular television studio under real-life conditions, showed that video telephony will add a new dimension to television. There are no more obstacles to the linkage between video telephony and television, which will generate new business models and open up new revenue sources for the telecommunications and media industries.
Grundy Light Entertainment CEO Ute Biernat, said, We are thrilled about the new possibilities which video telephony opens up for us. We hope that we will soon find a station that wants to implement such new formats.
There has already been a lot of speculation about the new applications which may result from mobile and fixed broadband networking. Siemens simply put the new technologies to the test: How will this work technically? And what about the quality of the video transmission? In Grundy Light Entertainment, Siemens states that it found a partner who was willing to experiment and who immediately came up with an idea for a new program format: a game show with participants selected not only from the studio audience, but also from people calling in with their video phones. Both companies successfully completed their innovative demonstration project in mid-June.
Siemens states that its service Surpass Home Entertainment brings fun and entertainment into the living room, along with simple and novel types of communication. Network operators can offer their customers all this with the new Siemens solution for TV-based entertainment services. In the field of communication this includes video telephony and receiving e-mails over the TV set, as well as sending SMS and MMS messages. A complete TV entertainment offering with video/audio-on-demand, yesteryears TV programmes, video recording, and the internet adds a new dimension to home entertainment. And the fun of playing online games hasn't been left out either.
