14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo's Internet TV venture got a boost at CES 2011, when the company announced will allow broadcasters and advertising partners to blend the viewing experience with a variety of interactive widgets.
Yahoo! Connected TV is a two-year old venture in developing software programs to be installed on Internet-ready television sets and allow users to watch high-quality TV programs, but at the same time navigate the Web from their TV.
In a video interview with Beet.tv, Ronald Jacoby, VP of the Yahoo! Connected TV Group, proclaimed the service will allow for many interactive features and widgets usually found in Internet TV broadcasts to be fully supported on Yahoo's platform.
“Our <<Broadcast Interactivity>> feature that is part of our 2011 platform. […] that feature […] allows to create interactive enhancements over broadcast programming,” said Mr. Jacoby.
In a more common man's words, this means that users will be able to interact with their broadcasting content (polls, tweets, user-choices, etc.), while broadcasters will be able to send and retrieve data on broadcast channels (statistics, ads, etc.).
But that's not it. Yahoo's Connected TV software framework consistently evolved during the past two years, now supporting communication between other Internet able devices like smartphones, tablets or PCs.
It will possible to control the content being viewed on the TV screen, not only from the TV, but from friendly authenticated remote devices and apps.
Companies working with Yahoo to develop this feature currently include programming suppliers like Showtime, Home Shopping Network, ABC, CBS; and in the role of advertisers Ford, Microsoft and Mattel.
Of course, Yahoo-owned content like Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, etc. will be delivered as well.
Distribution partners include D-Link, Broadcom, Haier, Sony and Toshiba. These companies will mainly supply hardware device support for the Connected TV software platform.
Also at CES 2011, D-Link announced the future release a media player box that will support Yahoo's Connected TV service for non-Internet-ready TV sets.
At the same time, WebProNews' Doug Caverly made public a possible content delivery deal between Yahoo and Disney. No official statement has been made to support the rumor from any company at the time of this article's publish date.
Here's the video interview from Beet.tv: