Cablevision Systems
has now deployed Zodiac
Interactive’s interactive TV
platform — including support
for the industry’s EBIF
specification — across the
MSO’s entire New York-area
footprint serving 2.9 million
digital cable subscribers.
The operator is using
Zodiac’s PowerUp
framework software,
running on Cisco Systems’
native set-top box environment,
to run several
interactive applications and
services. These include iO TV
Shortcuts, search, an enhanced
program guide, video-on-demand
navigation and dedicated
ITV channels.
The companies also are
working together on Cablevision’s
remote-storage DVR —
which the operator has been
planning to launch this year —
and the MSO is using Zodiac’s
PowerUp Advanced Messaging
Solution (AMS) software to integrate
Web and mobile applications
with set-top boxes.
In addition, the Cablevision
deployment includes Zodiac’s
EBIF user agent and headend
systems, as previously reported
by Multichannel News. CableLabs’
EBIF, the Enhanced
TV Binary Interchange Format,
forms the foundation for Canoe
Venture’s initial interactive advertising
services. Cablevision
is one of the six founding MSOs
behind Canoe, along with
Comcast, Time Warner Cable,
Cox Communications, Charter
Communications and Bright
House Networks.
“Through Zodiac Interactive’s
PowerUp Platform, we
are able to design and build
pioneering interactive applications
for TV, as well as guarantee
that our millions of
subscribers have
access to advanced
next-generation
applications, like
mobile integration
with home-based
services,” Cablevision
senior vice
president of software
technology
Richard Neill said
in a statement. “In
addition, Zodiac’s
unique of fering
allows us to write
once and deploy everywhere,
which is crucial in today’s hyper-
competitive market.”
Cablevision is the biggest
customer for Valley Stream,
N.Y.-based Zodiac.
“We are honored to continue
working with Cablevision
and look forward to helping the
company maintain and expand
its position as a clear leader
in its market and one of the
world’s largest and most successful
cable and technology
companies,” Zodiac CEO Brandon
Brown said in a statement.
Zodiac announced the
availability of an EBIF agent
for Cisco set-tops in December
2008.
