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Cable Technology Feature Article

September 08, 2009

Alcatel-Lucent to Offer Interactive TV Applications to Tele Columbus

By Raju Shanbhag, TMCnet Contributor


Tele Columbus has reportedly signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent to introduce interactive television applications and a new TV experience to its independent cable networks. Tele Columbus is among the largest German cable operators and the company serves around 2.5 million households.

The Interactive Media Manager is an application development and management solution for interactive advertising (RFI (News - Alert), telescoped and portal destination sites) and enhanced TV applications (voting, competitions and polls) for multiple platforms and devices. The ready-to-deploy, end-to-end portfolio of applications and tools provided in the solution can be used by operators, broadcasters, and advertisers to quickly and efficiently create, manage and deliver innovative, revenue-generating interactive TV services.

With the help of Interactive TV services, customers can use their remote controls to buy additional content that belongs to a specific consumer brand product. It also provides other services such as voting, quizzes and games. With the help of its Interactive Media Manager solution, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) will deliver these engaging iTV services across the Tele Columbus platform.

“Our partnership with Tele Columbus illustrates the aim of Alcatel-Lucent to set the pace in the introduction of new digital communications,” said Alf Henryk Wulf, president of Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland AG, in a release. “Our innovative solutions support Tele Columbus in building a new relationship with its customers and broaden its horizons by introducing new potential sources of revenue.”
 
According to Alcatel-Lucent, the integrated and flexible approach of its Interactive Media Manager can reduce the cost of creating and managing interactive TV applications by over 80 percent. With its partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, Tele Columbus expects the distribution of interactive content considerably easier. Interactive Media Manager enables the creation and management of unlimited interactive applications for multiple platforms and devices.

Recently, Alcatel-Lucent announced that its Interactive Media Manager (IMM) now supports the two main standards-based platforms in the cable industry, EBIF and tru2way technologies. Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs (News - Alert) is developing a wide range of enhanced interactive applications that provide mobile, call back and other digital media redemption capabilities to the brands and advertisers.

Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Patrick Barnard