NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Canoe Ventures, the advanced television joint venture of the nation’s leading cable companies, today announced on behalf of the cable industry the availability of the ExpandTVTM implementation guidelines at ExpandTV.com, a major milestone in the development of the interactive television (ITV) marketplace. The cable industry has worked collaboratively to conceive the brand, develop creative brand guidelines and determine technical user interface implementation guidelines since first announcing its plans to develop a consumer-facing brand for interactive television in May, 2010.
“These kinds of applications represent the extensive innovation under way in our industry as well as another great opportunity to leverage our state of the art broadband platform. The new interactive experiences offered by cable give viewers the opportunity to more deeply engage with programming and commercial messages alike. It’s important that subscribers be aware of and understand these capabilities, and the ExpandTV brand will aid greatly in consumer education,” said Michael Powell, President and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
ExpandTV represents simple, seamless, two-way interactivity bound to compelling television advertising and/or programming. ExpandTV signals an entirely new dimension of the television experience, empowering viewers to engage more immediately with content and brands. As the standard brand for the industry, ExpandTV indicates that a program or ad is interactive and trustworthy. It may sit alongside other brands and content, signaling that a deeper interactive television experience is available to the viewer.
“Interactive television represents a ‘next generation’ opportunity for brand advertisers to deepen relationships with consumers,” said Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). “We applaud the industry’s move to accelerate viewer awareness of and comfort with interactivity. We believe the industry is taking an important step in that direction with the introduction of Expand TV.”
ExpandTV is the result of an industry-wide brand initiative led by Canoe, in concert with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB), the Cable & Telecommunications Association of Marketing (CTAM), Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs®) and the nation’s leading cable operators including Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems Corporation, Charter Communications, Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable, as well as national advertising and cable television programming partners.
“In another of the cable industry’s milestone collaborative achievements, we now have a program that the entire industry can rally around to promote the adoption of ITV,” said Vicki Lins, Chief Marketing Officer of Canoe. “The industry has a rich legacy of collaboration to enhance the marketing efforts of each individual company through the use of common brands and nomenclature; it is exciting to see ExpandTV become that next big thing for the industry. With several operators ramping their local ITV ad sales and that national platform enabled by Canoe also scaling, now is the perfect time to prime the marketplace with a consumer brand and education program.”
The ExpandTV brand is managed and licensed by Canoe, and represents a commitment by television providers, their programming partners and advertisers to a high-quality, branded interactive experience.
About Canoe Ventures:
Canoe Ventures is in the business of better television. Founded as a joint venture of the leading cable television operators in America, Canoe is expanding relevant, measurable engagement with television viewers. Canoe enables national networks with advanced capabilities and works collaboratively industry-wide to define, develop and scale advanced television solutions. Canoe is headquartered in New York, with advanced technology operations and collaborative labs in Colorado. Canoe-ventures.com.