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EAT.TV's ImageGuide(TM) Provides the Key to On-Demand Entertainment

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

EAT.TV

-- Emmy-nominated ImageGuide, at www.living.com, is the first on-demand environment to seamlessly integrate graphical navigation, entertainment, related information, advertising, direct sales, and marketing research

EAT.TV, a leading provider of interactive video-on-demand environments, today announced the general availability of ImageGuide, a breakthrough application for on-demand entertainment navigation, viewing, and advertising.

Within ImageGuide's single, simple screen, entertainment providers can satisfy the growing demand for compelling on-demand content while advertisers can seamlessly integrate their targeted messages within the context of the entire viewing and navigational content-selection experience.

"Mainstream cable programmers are increasingly being driven to Internet distribution of their assets, while advertisers are moving more of their budgets to online video advertising environments," said Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications Inc., a Bethesda, Md. strategic research and consulting firm specializing in interactive telecommunications and media.

"As online content increases, so does the need for efficient navigation and presentation of the vast programming choices," Arlen said. "Traditional text-grid listings and search engines cannot adequately help viewers locate interesting programming in an entertaining way. More visual, content-focused video navigation solutions, such as EAT.TV's ImageGuide, are going to change the face of video navigation, as well as the landscape for advertising and content presentation."

ImageGuide's graphical navigation allows users to explore content choices while serendipitously discovering other content choices along the way. As users navigate through content categories, they may view trailers and detailed information related to the content, while being exposed to other content similar to their selection. Throughout their experience, users are presented new embedded advertising models that do not interrupt navigation or content viewing.

One application of EAT.TV's ImageGuide can be seen at www.living.com -- a new broadband video network featuring lifestyle programming from Home & Garden Television (HGTV), Food Network, DIY Network, and FINE LIVING. EAT.TV developed Living.com in partnership with Scripps Networks.

The producers of Living.com worked closely with launch sponsor GMC in creating 40 original lifestyle vignettes that integrate GMC brands and products into topically relevant broadband videos. The site also features innovative new approaches to integrating brand messaging, including dynamic interstitial ads and product showrooms, all powered by ImageGuide.

"For Living.com, we wanted to create a totally new interactive broadband environment including custom programming that contains compelling content for the consumer while integrating advertiser brand messages," said Channing Dawson, senior vice president of emerging media for Scripps Networks. "As we were reviewing EAT.TV's ImageGuide as a new way to present broadband video, we realized we had a perfect match. This is a great test pilot to experiment with various forms of broadband messaging."

ImageGuide and Living.com were received with such enthusiasm in the interactive community, that they were nominated for a 2005 Emmy Award and selected as finalists for a 2005 Marketing and Interactive Excellence (MIXX) Award.

-- The Emmy Award nomination is for a 2005 Advanced Media Technology Emmy Award for the Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content. Winners will be announced on September 29, 2005.

-- The Marketing and Interactive Excellence (MIXX) Award honors the teams and talent that push interactive marketing and advertising to unprecedented levels. The MIXX Awards are co-produced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Adweek Magazines. Winners will be announced on September 27, 2005.

EAT.TV was founded by two veterans in entertainment and advertising (Dewey Reid), and technology (Jim Theberge), whose biographies are included below. "Jim and I founded EAT.TV and created ImageGuide to address the need for new interactive environments to support the convergence of television and the Internet," said Dewey Reid, CEO and creative director of EAT.TV. "EAT.TV has the right combination of skills in television production, multimedia production, software design, information architecture, advertising, point of purchase, and marketing research, all of which are required to support the new models of on-demand entertainment."

ImageGuide provides specific benefits to advertisers and content producers. For both, it provides ease of use, customization, unlimited scalability of advertising and content integration, and the most comprehensive metrics on user interaction available.

For advertisers, ImageGuide provides the widest range of media-rich advertising, merchandising, and direct-sales options available in any medium. These options include product showrooms, interstitials, advertorials, banner ads, side-car ads, and sponsor cards. The advertisements are integrated with the content and with ImageGuide; they do not interrupt the content, nor can they be recorded and skipped during playback.

For content producers, ImageGuide provides a vehicle for monetizing the Internet-based distribution of their content with an intuitive and efficient graphical navigation schema including metadata describing their content and the ability to promote related content.

Timothy Hanlon, senior vice president/director, emerging contacts, of Starcom MediaVest Group, summarized the importance of ImageGuide in this way: "The future of television viewing and video consumption is inextricably tied to both programmers' ability to offer compelling choices in a relevant manner and viewers' ability to find those choices with relative ease and simplicity. EAT.TV's pioneering ImageGuide is clearly a best-of-breed visual video guidance platform that offers a long-overdue alternative to today's woefully inadequate grid-based listings."

ImageGuide is available now for licensing from EAT.TV. For more details, visit www.eat.tv or contact EAT.TV directly at showmethefuture@eat.tv.

About EAT.TV

EAT.TV stands for Entertainment, Advertising, Technology Television. The company was founded by two seasoned entertainment, advertising, and technology professionals who are creating compelling digital-media products that provide customers with the best video-on-demand programming, promotion, advertising, and marketing tools available.

Dewey Reid, creative director and acting CEO, conceived the ImageGuide environment and manages EAT.TV's convergent vision. Throughout his career, Reid has been a leader in animation, advertising, and interactive. Prior to EAT.TV, Reid served as chief creative officer at Red Sky Interactive and also held key creative leadership positions with Microsoft and Colossal Pictures. Reid has conceived, prototyped, and produced many Award winning interactive network environments, including the 2004 Emmy winner Moxi Media Center and The Microsoft Network.

Jim Theberge, technology director and CTO, architected the technology behind the ImageGuide experience and brings strategic planning acumen to EAT.TV. An interactive TV and broadband veteran, Theberge has held key technical and marketing positions at interactive digital television technology providers including Harmonic Inc., Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, and Wink Communications.

Source: Business Wire

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