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By Simon Applebaum
At the National Show earlier this month, interactive TV programmer Buzztime Entertainment announced the addition of poker, checkers and pool options to its package of trivia games. It's also expecting to be picked up by a few more systems, further evidence of cable's expansion into ITV. Buzztime is carried by fewer than 10 systems in small markets, although president and COO Ty Lam says Comcast and Time Warner Cable are considering wider rollouts of the NTN Communications-owned service. We caught up with Lam before the show and discussed the status of cable operators' overall ITV rollouts and, specifically, their rollouts of Buzztime.
CableWORLD: Any chance cable will bring interactive TV into the mainstream this year?
Ty Lam: No. Technically, it's impossible for that to happen. The operators would like to, but 2006 will be the first year that the technology will be in place that will eliminate the risk associated with rapidly rolling out ITV applications.
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| Ty Lam hopes big market cable operators will gamble on Buzztime's new interactive pool (inset) and poker games. |
CW: Where does the risk come in?
Lam: In doing things that have never been done before in a cable system. It's not that ITV applications on their own have any technological problems. These applications have to be baked into current and future digital cable technology.
CW: Why should operators roll out ITV services?
Lam: Because of the battle for the consumer pipe--consumers will have one primary digital access point into their home. The company providing the most valuable set of services at a fair price will win that battle. It's cable vs. satellites and future competitors--without a doubt the telcos. But it could be utilities and companies like Qualcomm.
CW: What must ITV services do to capture the public's fancy?
Lam: If we're talking about ITV entertainment, it needs to be fun and fill in the gaps of TV viewing. That's why I don't think that things like home banking or shopping will work. People just aren't going to do that. Those applications will stay on the PC. How entertaining is home banking?
CW: What must operators do to promote ITV?
Lam: They have to embrace it. Then--and this is a big deal--they need to get their marketing departments to use ITV entertainment as a marketing tool, not just as an entertainment product. ITV games would be more fun if they were integrated with the various promotions local operators run. That gives you broader awareness to the promotion, and it also ties together the cable value and the entertainment value of the service.
CW: When will Buzztime be deployed in major U.S. markets?
Lam: I see that happening in 2006. We may get lucky and get a few major cities in late 2005, but operators want to get these ITV applications launched in smaller markets first, work out the bugs and then roll out in the major cities. We're in eight systems--three Comcast, including Alexandria and Arlington, Va.; three Time Warner, including Portland, Me.; and two Susquehanna systems, York and Williamsport, Pa. We reach 260,000 digital subs. The pace of rollouts will pick up when we secure broader agreements with the major MSOs.
CW: How many people are using your service each week?
Lam: I can't give out numbers but I will say this: I don't think Comcast and Time Warner would put us on in more systems unless the numbers looked valuable to them. One cool thing we're doing is promoting the local Buzztime affiliation in restaurants and bars, and we hold competitions in those places. It's a nice in-home/out-of-home cross-promotion.
CW: What sets cable apart from DBS?
Lam: The localism--that's a big differentiator from satellite. Cable should take more advantage of that than it does now.
CW: What's the worst aspect of dealing with the cable biz?
Lam: The bureaucracy--the layers of decision making between the system operator and corporate levels.
Getting Personal With Ty Lam
Proudest Accomplishment: Being a dad.
Favorite Channel: Animal Planet. I love to watch it with my daughter Elizabeth.
Favorite Video Game: Pool.
Favorite Restaurant: Any cantina overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Most Inspiring Person: Mahatma Gandhi.
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