Cablevision Systems and NBC Universal are going to provide Olympics coverage that will include interactive applications powered by ActiveVideo.
Cablevision has set up a separate NBC channel for Olympics coverage through which viewers will be able to access several linear video streams, on-demand content and Web-based content. Video will be a mix of SD and HD.
The channel will be available to all customers with a digital set-top – the vast majority of Cablevision customers.
The mosaic application and the platform through which all of the content will be available is the same ActiveVideo technology employed by Time Warner Cable in its Oceanic division during the 2008 Summer Olympics, according to Jeremy Edmonds, ActiveVideo’s director of product management.
Edmonds said several other MSOs are using the ActiveVideo platform to provide similar Olympics coverage, though he was not a liberty to identify them . The company did confirm that Oceanic Time Warner Cable still has its ActiveVideo platform installed.
Cablevision said its customers will have access to more than 835 hours of NBCU’s Olympics programming.
That will include not only the linear channels, but NBCU will also push video clips to service providers’ VOD servers, and viewers will be able to navigate to that content through the mosaic application.
Cablevision said NBCU will offer more than 100 highlight clips, approximately 15 per day, in addition to up to five full-length daily event replays.
Using their remote control, customers also can search for and view features including real-time Olympics news, medal count, features, photo albums, schedules and other content.
The NBC Olympics interactive channel will be available from February 12-28 on Channel 674.
“Events such as the Olympic Winter Games truly showcase the capacity of our advanced digital network to deliver NBC’s total Olympic experience across multiple content platforms,” said John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s senior vice president of product management. “We are especially pleased to offer our customers an advanced mosaic and interactive TV channel that offers the ability to easily navigate through all the available NBC television coverage at a glance and select the events they would most like to watch.”
Cablevision will back up its TV services with additional content on Optimum Online. Many subscribers will be able to access the TV channels as streaming video on their PCs, as well. Optimum Online customers using any mobile device with browsing capabilities can visit the mobile version of Optimum.net to link directly to NBC’s Olympics mobile site, Cablevision said.