S4C goes live with Interactive Television from Ensequence and MHEG Presenter from S&T

This represents the first multi-platform deployment for Ensequence in the United Kingdom. Ensequence has chosen state-of-the-art MHEG Presenter technology from Strategy & Technology (S&T) to deliver robust enhanced TV services on the Freeview platform.

 

The interactive television system, which went live on 4 March 2009, offers a host of interactive information including national and regional news, weather reports, TV listings and sports scores in both English and Welsh. Accessed via the red button on viewers’ remote controls, the interactive television service adds value to the viewer experience by making S4C content even more powerful and engaging in an increasingly fragmented media marketplace.

 

“By working with Ensequence and S&T, we are able to quickly and affordably update and manage our interactive TV content,” said Arshad Rasul, Director of Broadcast and Distribution at S4C. “The combination of Ensequence and S&T improves our editorial efficiency and supplements S4C’s editorial content while streamlining the content management process.”

 

The interactive TV experience was developed by Ensequence Ensequence Create^TM authoring software. This was Ensequence’s first UK deployment of a custom version of its interactive TV content management and reversioning software for implementing large volumes of iTV experiences. 

 

“We are happy to work with S4C to provide them with an interactive TV solution that enables scale in terms of the creation of a large volume of iTV experiences and deployment across multiple distributor platforms,” says Roger Demuth, SVP Services and Support at Ensequence. “S&T is the premier MHEG specialist in the UK market, and we chose MHEG Presenter because it provides a cost-effective mechanism for the presentation of large amounts of information on the Freeview platform.”

 

Colin Prior, Director of International Sales at S&T said: “MHEG Presenter allows broadcasters to create complex MHEG applications using graphical layout tools and structured content data without writing any MHEG code. Content to be displayed on receivers using a 'push' model can be produced on S&T or third-party design tools in XML format, with no need to write or test MHEG code – so reducing risk and time to market.”

 

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Strategy & Technology Ltd is a specialist company building and implementing technology based on international standards in digital TV. It is the leading independent company in the industry sector that supports the MHEG interactive TV standard, and provides complete interactive applications and systems for broadcasters and manufacturers. S&T’s TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer systems are used for the creation of MHP, MHEG and OCAP interactive TV transmissions, and its RedKey™ MHEG engine is licensed to digital receiver and set top box manufacturers worldwide. For further information visit www.s-and-t.com

 

Ensequence, the interactive television company, provides solutions that enable programmers, advertisers and distributors to create and deploy interactive TV experiences that increase programming ratings, advertising response and audience reach. The company mitigates the technical complexities of interactive TV implementation and enables its customers to quickly and affordably deliver a high volume of robust interactive TV experiences across cable, satellite and IPTV. Ensequence clients include: MTV Networks, NBC Universal, ESPN, The Walt Disney Company, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, QVC UK, HSN, Nike, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett-Packard, Comcast Corporation, DIRECTV, Time Warner, DISH Network, Verizon Communications and British Sky Broadcasting. To learn more, visit www.ensequence.com

 

S4C or Sianel Pedwar Cymru (meaning Channel Four Wales) is the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, and was launched on 1 November 1982, a day before the UK’s nationwide Channel 4. Alongside bilingual (Welsh and English) relays of Channel 4 in analogue is S4C Digidol (S4C Digital), a 100% Welsh-language service. See www.s4c.co.uk

 

Press contact:

 

Richard Dean

Manor Marketing

Tel: +44(0)7986 546 768

 

Colin Prior

Strategy & Technology

Tel: +44 (0)20 7183 1511