ITV

Tag: SyFy

  • Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    MUMBAI: Syfy and LG Electronics USA have launched a new interactive TV consumer experience. The new Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV app allows viewers to go inside their favorite Syfy shows in a whole new way by recognizing the episode viewers are watching and delivering contextual content to their LG Smart TV in real time.

     

    Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV launched with the Season 3 premiere of Defiance on 12 June on Syfy. Viewers with LG Smart TVs can get behind-the-scenes trivia, participate in interactive polls and learn more about the backstory of the series. The Syfy Sync app responds to what viewers are watching and delivers a whole new level of interaction while they are actively watching their favorite Syfy shows on their LG Smart TV.

     

    The Syfy Sync app for Defiance is available exclusively on LG Smart TVs, delivering an engaging new dimension to home entertainment with fun, interactive features paired with leading LG TV display technology.

     

    The interactive feature will be available on Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)-enabled LG TVs with Netcast since 2012, and will be available soon on LG Smart TVs featuring LG’s award-winning webOS Smart TV platform. LG webOS makes the Smart TV experience fast and simple with an intuitive interface that enables users to spend more time enjoying their home entertainment experience, and less time finding and switching between content options.

     

    “From its inception, Syfy Sync has always been seen as a multiplatform play and we’re thrilled to be partnering with LG to bring the experience it to a new platform with season 3 of Defiance. The LG Smart TV platform provides an incredible user experience along with an incredible TV picture quality for Syfy’s devoted fans to go even deeper into our programming,” said Syfy vice president of digital media and strategy Matthew Chiavelli.

     

    LG Electronics USA vice president of marketing David VanderWaal added, “Interactive TV with Syfy’s Defiance delivers a new, engaging TV experience, leveraging the power and simplicity of LG’s webOS Smart TV platform along with our incredible picture quality. Syfy and NBC Universal have been pioneers in real-time interactive TV for second-screen viewing, and LG is enthusiastic to work with them to bring this integrated experience to the big screen.”

     

    Syfy engaged Watchwith to power the in-program interactive engagement that appears as a subtle broadcast graphic-style overlay in the upper left portion of the screen. Watchwith’s unique in-program interactive audience engagement platform delivers an award-winning Syfy Sync experience right to the living room screen.

     

    LG’s recognition and interactive platform is powered by Cognitive Networks, the leading provider of ACR services on Smart TVs. Cognitive’s system allows Smart TVs to become contextually aware, enabling the launch of intelligently synchronized HTML5 web applications and the real-time seamless connection of live or time-shifted over-the-air programming with services delivered via broadband. 

  • FremantleMedia acquires stake in 495 Productions

    FremantleMedia acquires stake in 495 Productions

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia, has signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in 495 Productions, a US-based production company, known for its cutting edge reality programming.  Under the terms of the deal, FremantleMedia will have a 75 per cent holding with the opportunity to acquire the remaining shareholding in the future.

     

    This acquisition adds another strong and prolific US production companies into FremantleMedia’s increasingly diverse group of North American holdings, alongside its subsidiary FremantleMedia North America (“FMNA”) and previous acquisition Original Productions.

     

    Founded in 2006 by SallyAnn Salsano, one of the preeminent US entertainment producers and creators, 495 Productions is a formidable hit factory specialising in riveting unscripted character-driven reality series with colourful personalities at their heart.  The company developed and produced the pop-culture phenomenon series Jersey Shore, which went on to become MTV’s highest-rated show in its history and a global hit with multiple spin-offs including Snooki and JWOWW, The Show with Vinny and The Pauly D Project.

     

    Other ground-breaking productions include Spike TV’s Tattoo Nightmares, which FremantleMedia already distributes internationally, and Repo Games; MTV’s dating show Friendzone and the daytime syndicated talk show The Real for which SallyAnn Salsano is the executive producer. 

     

    The company also produces recent ratings hits Jerks with Cameras for MTV, Tattoos After Dark for Oxygen and Party Down South, which has quickly established itself as CMT’s highest-rated series ever.

     

    FremantleMedia  CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz in a press statement said, “495 Productions is undeniably one of the US’s leading reality production companies with a unique approach to formatted character-driven reality shows which have proved compelling TV in the US and around the world.  This deal will allow us to expand our share of the valuable US cable market and will complement and diversify our existing portfolio of content and clients.  Together, our ambition is to continue to grow 495 Productions in the US and to broaden its global footprint even further through our extensive distribution and production network.”

     

    FremantleMedia North America CEO Thom Beers added: “SallyAnn is a brilliant leader, an unstoppable creative force and one of the most successful producers in the entertainment industry. Since founding the business 2006, she and the talented creative team at 495 Productions have built the company into a powerhouse responsible for some of the most watched and talked about programming on TV at the moment. This is a key strategic acquisition for FMNA which, with both Original Productions and 495 Productions in the fold, now commands a best-in-class production slate across all family, male and female demos, and for network, cable and syndication platforms.”

     

    495 Productions has enjoyed great success in the US with shows airing across major broadcast and cable networks including a long-standing relationship with MTV and other Viacom channels such as Spike, CMT and VH1 and more recently with Fox, TLC, SyFy, Oxygen, National Geographic, TV Guide, A&E, Lifetime and History Channel.  Additionally, the company has recently signed a multi-year deal with Warners’ Telepictures Productions for SallyAnn’s services as executive producer on new shows for syndicated television, the first of which, The Real, launches this fall.  The company’s production team and the casts of its shows have been nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards and People’s Choice Awards and have won Teen Choice Awards for two years in a row.

     

    495 Productions founder SallyAnn Salsano commented: “This is a huge moment for me and the entire team at 495. That said, the decision of who to partner with and where to make my new home was easy because of my long term relationships with both Cecile and Thom. They know me, they understand how I run my business and they appreciate the way I produce my shows. I started this company with nothing in 2006 and this is proof that if you love what you do, work your ass off and want it bad enough someone will notice and it will pay off.”

  • NBCUniversal renews carriage deal with NCTC

    NBCUniversal renews carriage deal with NCTC

    MUMBAI: NBCUniversal has renewed its carriage deal with National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) that encompasses broad distribution for the programmer‘s full portfolio of cable and broadcast services, as well as a first-ever retransmission consent deal for NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations.

    With completion of this renewal agreement, NBCUniversal‘s national cable networks, including Bravo, cloo, Chiller, CNBC, CNBC World, E!, G4, Golf Channel, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Sports Network, Oxygen, Sprout, Style, Syfy, Telemundo, Universal HD and USA will be carried by NCTC‘s nearly 1,000 independent cable operator members nationwide.

    Included in the deal are rights to carry the Olympic Games, as well as on-demand content from NBCUniversal‘s cable and broadcast network portfolio, and access to live channels across multiple platforms, both in and out of the home.

    NBCUniversal EVP Content Distribution Matt Bond said, "NCTC‘s members will continue to have access to the best English and Spanish language cable network and broadcast programming. This agreement reflects NCTC‘s understanding of the value that NBCUniversal delivers to their members."

    NCTC EVP of Programming Judy Meyka said, "NCTC is pleased to extend our long relationship with NBCUniversal and provide members continued access to their linear networks. In addition, we are excited to add NBCU‘s broad portfolio of on-demand content for multiple platforms to the agreement. We had over 80 members participate in delivering the 2012 Olympics to multiple platforms, demonstrating that members have both the capability and interest in serving customers on new platforms. Including retransmission consent for NBC and Telemundo owned stations are another valued addition to this agreement."

    The agreement with NCTC follows NBCUniversal‘s recent distribution agreements with Cablevision, Mediacom, Suddenlink and Verizon.