How do you spell interactive television? John Reardon, former president of MTV, spells it Z-I-N-G. Reardon's latest cable venture, Zing Systems LP, will soon offer "The Zing Device," a remote control-like unit that will allow viewers to become "actively involved" with their favorite TV shows. Hidden text messages, seen only on the Zing Device's display screen, will prompt viewers to play along with game shows and to order products.
Using a Zing Developer's Tool Kit, TV program producers and advertisers will be able to encode the hidden text messages into their broadcasts. Another unit (the Zing Dialer), connected to the user's phone, will send responses back to Zing's central computer. Various prizes and "Zing points" (redeemable for products) will be awarded to viewers who respond to beeps or messages transmitted during commercials. Part of the idea behind Zing is to "reward viewers for watching both the programming and the commercials," said Susan Marshall, senior vice president of Zing Systems. No more pesky channel surfing!
Applications for the device include armchair quarterbacking (guess plays before they happen and collect points), game shows (play along for real prizes), instant home shopping (instantly placing orders), guessing whodunits on mystery/detective shows, and Q&As on educational programs.
If this all sounds like a Skinner Box version of interactive TV (press bar, get treat), Marshall points out that what the system can do is limited only by the applications that programmers can dream up using the Zing software. The "more sophisticated" uses Zing offers include opinion polling and tracking users' viewing habits. The whole "Zing thing" is destined for a national roll out in the spring of 1994. Licensees already include MTV, HBO, TBS, CNN, Home Sports, and The Weather Channel.
The price to become a button-pushing Zing zombie? The consumer device will retail for under US$150 with a US$25 a year subscription fee. Zing Systems: +1 (303) 488 2500.
- Gareth Branwyn
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