CHERRY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--icueTV, the leader in interactive television back-office management and fulfillment services, announced today its partnership with SeaChange International to electronically process and fulfill DVD’s and Blu-ray disc orders of first run VOD movies to SureWest Cable Television subscribers in Kansas City through the SeaChange t-Commerce VOD “Watch & Buy” application. The partnership enables both icueTV and SeaChange the ability to deliver a complete, end-to-end solution for interactive t-Commerce.
icueTV’s Enhanced Television Service or “ETS” is the only platform capable of delivering a complete back-office electronic order management and fulfillment service that is seamlessly integrated with third party product fulfillment warehouses. icueTV provides real-time, measurable transaction data with instant results of the campaign’s performance.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the very first, true t-Commerce deployment with SeaChange and SureWest,” said Michael Huegel, Founder and CEO of icueTV. “It demonstrates our flexibility and seamless integration to the SeaChange VOD Watch & Buy front-end application with our back-office electronic order fulfillment services. Our robust VOD solution possesses many of the same features as our standardized, electronic RFI and t-Commerce capabilities. Our back-office services are able to support any third party applications, managing, processing and fulfilling any request whether VOD, set-top box or IPTV.”
The SeaChange Watch & Buy program includes a lightweight set-top box application, with a customized user interface that will use icueTV’s fully managed back-end order fulfillment service.
A DVD symbol appearing next to select titles in SureWest’s VOD library alerts subscribers that the title is also available for purchase as a DVD or Blu-ray disc.
“We are pleased to work with SureWest and icueTV on the first market offers using the Watch & Buy t-Commerce application,” said Anthony Landamia, Executive Director of Product Management, SeaChange. “This marks a major milestone in true t-Commerce as this is the first time all the partners, technologies and business models have been properly aligned to provide a true end-to-end solution that can be scaled nationally.”
SureWest, Kansas City is the first cable operator to deploy the Watch & Buy t-Commerce application with SeaChange and icueTV. It is indicative of their commitment to continuously embrace new technology. “SureWest is operating in an intensely competitive market in Kansas City and we see the Watch & Buy program as a significant step in differentiating the experiences we can offer to current and potential subscribers,” said Ken Johnson, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, SureWest.
About icueTV
icueTV is actively engaged in empowering interactive applications that enhance the television experience for cable companies, programmers and advertisers across multiple platforms and companion devices with an innovative suite of business and management tools that create opportunities for true commerce driven interactivity: click to call/ text/ email, voting, polling, lead generation, data analysis, RFI's, audio and video downloads and product purchases. The icueTV Enhanced Television Service is the industry's most intuitive and complete, end to end fulfillment platform. The system is already active with several highly integrated fulfillment partners and third party payment gateways. icueTV partners with leading service providers, technology suppliers and application developers to create the perfect product. For more information, please visit www.icueTV.com.
About SeaChange
SeaChange International (NASDAQ: SEAC) is a global leader in multi-screen video and one of the largest software companies worldwide. The Company provides innovative, Emmy award-winning solutions and services for back office, advertising, content, in-home devices and broadcast to hundreds of media companies, including all major cable operators in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, plus other blue-chip companies such as Virgin Media, AT&T, Hutchison Whampoa, Vodacom and DISH Network. Headquartered in Acton, MA, SeaChange is TL 9000 certified and has product development, support and sales offices around the world. Visit www.schange.com
About SureWest
SureWest Communications is a leading integrated communications provider and the bandwidth leader in the markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 95 years, SureWest offers bundled residential and commercial services in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City regions that include IP-based digital and high-definition television, high speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance telephone. Sure West was the nation’s first provider to launch residential HDTV over an IP network and offers one of the nation’s fastest symmetrical Internet services with speed of up to 50 Mbps in each direction on its fiber-to-the-home network.