From: Ramon Chen
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 11:42 AM
To: *All MetaTV
Subject: Hot News Alert: MetaTV, Worldspan selected as finalist for Best Virtual Channel Content – Bandies 2001 Awards
I’m delighted to announce that MetaTV and Worldspan have been selected as a finalist for the Best Virtual Channel Content category for the Bandies 2001 Awards to be held at Western Cable. We submitted both Worldspan and Zap2IT and Worldspan was selected. This will be the second time the Bandies has been held and the first time that MetaTV has submitted an entry! Obviously, the quality designs, application and all round compelling content that everyone in Engineering worked so hard on made this all possible. In addition, our core UPP technology that powers our applications – though not visable to the judges evaluating the entries – gave us the competitive edge that allows us to deliver unique applications such as Worldspan in quick time across a variety of platforms. Chris Binstadt deserves significant credit for bringing in the business as well as maintaining excellent relationships with Worldspan that allowed us to gain quick approval for submission of entry.
A big thank you also goes to everyone who put together the “packaged entry” which included a custom designed and burned CD-ROM containing screen shots and descriptive copy from which the entries were judged. As usual pulling together the content was a result of a lot of last minute hustling in true MetaTV spirit.
Special thanks to Sarah Hull who created much of the content and drove and managed the effort and John Bartlett who got the Bandies forms, payments and shipping requirements ready.
For the Worldspan entry: Thank you to Olga and Georgia.(Georgia made several changes on the due date!)
For Zap2it entry, thank you to Christine, Jeff Scales, Alex Chung and Darrell H. (especially for the painstaking screen captures from the live box).
And to Scott Elkington who burned all the CDs (we needed 21 CDs total!).
The folders contain our submissions that we burned onto CD-ROM. (these particular ones are for CTAM Broadband which we also submitted for)
You can see the word docs for the description/business cases, and then open START.htm for the tour of the screenshots.
\\Magellan\Public\Worldspan2
We submitted Worldspan in the Virtual Channel and Killer App categories for the Bandies.
\\Magellan\Public\Zap2it1
We submitted Zap2it in the Virtual Channel category – Bandies.
And both were submitted to the Interactive Broadband Content and Apps competition for the CTAM conference.
We used the most recently approved screens for both apps.
The winners will be announced at Western, we look forward to adding to our E! Online win last year at IMIX, and by the way our very own Andrew Lev is one of the Judges!
Once congratulations all round!
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SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct 16, 2001 (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) — Finalists were named today for the 2nd annual Bandies Awards, the broadband industry’s premier awards show celebrating the creative evolution of the world’s most important medium.
This year’s nominees reflect the leading role of major cable networks in developing interactive programming. Broadband turned a corner in 2001, as the interactive industry’s leading creators seized the opportunity to work with leading cable networks and consumer brands to explore new avenues for interactive television and new forms of broadband entertainment and commerce content and services.
Winners will be announced at The Bandies 2001 Awards gala beginning at 8 p.m. PT on November 28th at The Sun Theatre in Anaheim, California. Developed with the support and collaboration of the California Cable Television Association (CCTA), the event is being co-marketed with The Western Show, the broadband industry’s leading trade show scheduled for November 27 – 30 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Bandies 2001 Awards will be only one of many opportunities during the Western Show to see demonstrations of the broadband technology currently driving the cable industry.
In September, juries gathered on three nights in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to screen 186 entries from over 90 companies. Following is the complete list of finalists in 8 categories:
Best Virtual Channel Content (5 Finalists)
— MetaTV, Worldspan and Site59 for “iTV Commerce Travel Application”
— Metro for “Metro Traffic & Weather”
— MTV Networks Europe for “MTV Live”
— Rainbow Media and Extend Media for “Madison Square Gardens Virtual Channel”
— The Weather Channel for “Interactive Weather ”
Best Two Screen Content or Application (5 Finalists)
— Heavy Inc. for “MuchMusic USA”
— Noggin for “The Hubbub”
— Spiderdance for “Weakest Link”
— Starz Encore Group for “STARZ! Presents the Interactive Premiere of The Sixth Sense”
— Turner Network Television and Turner ID2 for “TNT Enhanced SAG Awards”
Best Enhanced TV Advertising (3 Finalists)
— Cylo for “Volvo: The Road to the S60”
— RespondTV, AGENCY.com and New Line Cinema for “Movie Application”
— RespondTV and Coca Cola for “Product Trial/Giveaway”
Best Enhanced TV Content or Application (5 Finalists)
— Broadband Interactive Group for “RMX 2002 Moto Survival Tour”
— CBS Television Network for “NCAA Basketball Interactive”
— NDS Americas for “Bonzai”
— OpenTV Studios and Discovery Channel for “Walking with Dinosaurs”
— TechTV for “Interactive Super Ticker”
Best Time Shifting Solution (5 Finalists)
— DIVA for “DIVA, The Leader in VOD Solutions”
— The FeedRoom for “The FeedRoom”
— Intertainer for “Intertainer’s Entertainment on Demand Service”
— Metro for “Metro TV Plus”
— Microsoft Corporation for “Movies Now”
Best Broadband PC Entertainment Content (6 Finalists)
— bthere.net, Inc for “bthere.tv”
— Oddcast for “Karaoke”
— Sesame Workshop for “WWW.SESAMESTREET.COM/SESAME”
— Wavexpress for “TVTonic”
— Incanta for “Incanta Music”
— Discovery Communications Inc. and Superscape for “Discovery Channel’s Inside the Space Station”
Newest New Thing – Award for Innovation (5 Finalists)
— h Design Inc. for “Sony Surf Space”
— Oddcast for “Virtual Host”
— OpenTV Studios and Discovery Channel for “Walking with Dinosaurs”
— SONICblue for “ProGear”
— Waveexpress for “TV Tonic”
Killer App (4 Finalists)
— Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. for “BUZZTIME Trivia Channel”
— Canal+ Technologies Inc. for “Mosaic Navigator”
— Oddcast for “Karaoke”
— RespondTV and Catalina Marketing for “Targeted Paperless Couponing”
“These are interesting times. The interactive content creators are maturing and working ever closer with known brands and cable specialty networks,” said Russ Wolske, Director of Awards. “This year, The Bandies Awards will focus on the true evolution of today’s television entertainment.”
This year, The Bandies Awards consolidated the number of categories and added new categories for two-screen, virtual channels, PVR and VOD services.
Sponsors for The Bandies 2001 Awards include: Cahners Television & Telecom Group, ICTV, AT&T HITS, Comedy Central, Game Show Network, Liberate, Microsoft TV, nCube, OpenTV, Oxygen Media, PowerTV and Worldgate Communications.
For more information on The Bandies 2001 Awards, including how to purchase tickets please visit: HTTP://THEBANDIES.COM.
For more information about The Western Show and See Change! please visit: HTTP://CALCABLE.ORG