Before the year is out, Rovi will offer an enhanced television (ETV) platform that combines its television guides with FourthWall Media’s EBIF User Agent, ETV Server and several widgets developed by FourthWall.

FourthWall Media (formerly Biap) and Rovi announced their agreement to pitch the combined ETV solution to many of Rovi's interactive program guide (IPG) customers throughout North and South America.

Specifically, Rovi will make available through its guides an initial set of TV Widgets from FourthWall. These include eBay on TV, Yellow Pages on TV, news, weather, and numerous sports widgets for nearly every major league, team and college. Each TV Widget can be personalized, Rovi said. The integrated solution will support EBIF applications developed by third parties.

Rovi program guides with FourthWall's EBIF platform and applications will be integrated to work on set-tops from Motorola, Cisco and Pace, Rovi said.

The introduction of the ETV platform seems timed to coincide with a plan by most major North American MSOs to activate the EBIF- and tru2way-enabled set-tops they’ve been deploying for more than a year.

By deploying EBIF technology, service providers can easily offer targeted and interactive advertising and interactive television widgets and applications across legacy and next-generation digital set-top boxes, Rovi noted.

The company said its ETV Platform is designed to simplify the implementation of new applications, making it easier for service providers to bring more advanced features to consumers.