NEW YORK--(BW SportsWire)--Sept. 13, 1999--
39-Game Schedule Includes Super Bowl XXXIV Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG)
and ABC is providing Enhanced TV coverage of 39 NFL games on ABC and ESPN
this fall, including all regular season ABC's Monday Night Football and ESPN's
Sunday Night Football telecasts and all post-season games on ABC, including
Super Bowl XXXIV.
The 1999 schedule includes tonight's Miami at Denver Monday Night Football
telecast on ABC (9 p.m. ET).
"This is the most ambitious example of convergence currently available to
the public," said Kevin Mayer, executive vice president, television
network/broadband product and international, BVIG. "ABC's and ESPN's NFL
telecasts provide a perfect platform to show how synchronized Internet content
provides the viewer with an experience which is much deeper, more compelling,
and more entertaining than ever before."
"Our approach to this new and exciting medium allows us to invent TV/Internet
programming that are immediately appealing to the future television viewer",
said Jonathan Leess, vice president, Enhanced TV, BVIG, and executive producer
of the NFL programming project.
"Enhanced TV is the first application to effectively marry the individual
control and interactivity of the Internet with the mass appeal of television,
thus giving the fan a much richer experience than ever before," said Dick
Glover, executive vice president, programming, ESPN. "This is the way sports
fans will experience games going forward and ESPN is proud to be the first
to present it."
A live production, Enhanced TV enables fans to access unique content via
their personal computers that is synchronized, to the second, with every
ABC Sports and ESPN NFL telecast. The content is highly interactive, produced
from a live control room and offers the user/viewer numerous customized
offerings.
Enhanced TV's three main features include: PrimeTime Player(TM), a live,
interactive game enabling fans to compete against friends and other viewers
throughout the country during the actual NFL telecast; "Game Stats," a
continuously updated, real-time interactive database of game, player and
team statistics originating from the production truck on-site at each game;
and a "Push Channel" of enhanced graphics synchronized to the telecasts.
On-air promotions will encourage viewers to log onto Enhanced TV's applications
during the telecasts. Links allowing PC users access to the applications
will be also positioned throughout GO Network services, including ESPN.com,
Monday Night Football Online (abcsports.com), Bowl Championship Series Online
(abcsports.com), ABCNEWS.com and ABC.com, as well as NFL.com, prior to and
during each broadcast.
Enhanced TV programming, which doesn't include any audio or video, is designed
specifically to accompany the television broadcast. It is delivered via an
Internet-connected computer and is controlled by the user while watching
the game simultaneously on television
It is neither a television experience nor an Internet computer experience,
but truly both at the same time -- the first step towards in-home convergence
programming. Anyone with a personal computer, connected to the Internet via
28.8 modem or better, will have access to the Enhanced TV programming
applications.
Enhanced TV content includes:
--A live, interactive game, PrimeTime Player(TM), in which fans predict the
ball handler before every play from scrimmage. Points are awarded for every
correct choice, and fans can follow their progress on live leaderboards as
they compete against thousands of other real-time players nationwide. Players
can create their own affinity groups to better keep score among friends.
Throughout the telecast, interactive trivia questions, including "watch-and-win"
questions, will pop up on the users' screens. Bonus points will be awarded
for correct answers and added to PrimeTime Players' scores.
--Access to an interactive data base of game, player and team statistics
beamed directly from the television truck game data computer, giving the
stats-hungry fan instant access to almost every offensive and defensive
statistic.
--A synchronized graphics "Push Channel" display of facts, statistics, quotes,
trivia and more, enhancing the television broadcast.
--Clickable banner ads and promos appearing during commercial breaks that
will be synchronized with on-air commercials; these banners, linked to marketers'
Web sites, can be bookmarked by viewers for future access.
--Future synchronized e-commerce opportunities: in the coming weeks, when
a certain player scores a touchdown, for example, viewers will be directed
to ESPNstore.com, where they can purchase that player's merchandise at a
special discount available to only those experiencing Enhanced TV
--Instant sports news and scores updates from ESPN.com, the most popular
sports site on the Web, throughout the telecasts.
Formed in 1997, Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group oversees Web sites that
include ABC.com, the No. 1 network Web site; Disney.com, the top-ranking
kids' family and entertainment site; ABCNEWS.com, the fastest-growing news
site; ESPN.com, the most popular sports site; and Family.com, the Web's premier
parenting resource.
