Interactive TV Leaders Launch Broad-Based Trade Association

Key leaders of the emerging interactive television industry haveunited to create a new trade association, the Interactive TelevisionAlliance. At the top of its agenda, the Interactive Television Alliance(iTV Alliance) declares it will aggressively promote interactivetelevision deployment through consumer awareness campaigns andcross-industry outreach. The iTV Alliance represents a coalition ofcompanies and professionals that create, distribute, and enableinteractive programming delivered through the television.

"We're extremely pleased with the response," commented iTV Alliancepresident Ben Mendelson. "Executives at the highest levels of the iTVindustry have committed to leadership roles in this new organization.More than 30 core companies are already participating and over 100others are ready to join. Furthermore, the roster of companies joiningspans all segments of the industry, and that's critical to makinginteractive television a reality in the U.S."

Indeed, the Interactive Television Alliance line-up reads like aWho's Who of the iTV industry, with executives from Canal +, Liberate,OpenTV, Wink and WorldGate heading the charge. The group is organizedto include members from all segments of the iTV production chain:Content, Distribution, Advertising, Applications, Hardware,Data/Commerce and Production.

As part of its outreach, the association will focus on creatingstrong partnerships with advertisers to facilitate the creation of newbusiness models.

"We're working very closely with forward-thinking companies who arelooking beyond traditional revenues," noted chairman Art Cohen, (Sr.VP,ACTV). "The whole point is to make iTV profitable, and we've found manyadvertisers, agencies, and networks ready to explore revolutionaryinteractive programming approaches."

In keeping with that spirit of cooperation, the iTV Alliance isdeveloping an extensive public awareness campaign. The initiative willbe used to kick-start the industry by stimulating consumer demand foriTV services. The campaign will include a 30-minute TV show customizedfor each network operator, magazine supplements, online information andpublic demonstration centers.

"We, as an industry, are responsible for educating the public,"emphasized Alliance co-president Allison Dollar. "We need to defineinteractive television for consumers, show them examples of theexciting interactive services available. This outreach campaign willset realistic expectations about what can be delivered today, whilecollecting data on what they would like to experience tomorrow."

The Alliance expects to actively cooperate with existing industryorganizations and to support these groups' efforts, not duplicatethem.

"Broadcasters, cable and satellite operators, programmers andadvertisers all stand to profit from iTV," stressed co-chairman KenPapagan (President, Delmar Media.NET). "We plan to provide education,networking opportunities and professional services for our members, andthese can dovetail nicely with needs that already exist in otherassociations that have mutual interests in advancing iTV."

The Interactive Television Alliance will hold its first organizingmeeting during the National Cable & Telecommunications Associationconference this week. "This is long overdue," elaborated Alliancepresident Mendelson. "The structure of the iTV Alliance allows us totake control of our own destiny instead of waiting passively for theenvironment to change. We will foster new forms of revenue, providingtangible value to our members. The iTV Alliance will always keep thisas our primary focus."