
Disney Channel UK is the leading children's entertainment channel in the UK, broadcasting to digital Satellite and Cable homes. Disney Channel UK comprises 4 main channels including Disney Channel and Disney Channel +1 plus Toon Disney and Playhouse Disney.
Tamblin has been working with Disney Channel UK for over 2 years and has deployed
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Disney
Channel Active
The Disney Channel launched a 24/7 ITV application to accompany its programming on the Sky platform in September 2003. The application, which was designed and developed by Sky Interactive using Sky's WML Microbrowser technology, can be updated on an regular basis to ensure that its interactive content and its look and feel are related to the currently airing program. It is integrated with Tamblin's i-ZoneTV® Core content management tool and Sky's Automated Broadcast Build (ABB): Disney has used i-ZoneTV® Core thousands of times to edit, manage and publish content to the ABB, which then delivers that content over satellite. The new application replaced an earlier Disney Channel application, "Studio Disney Active," which was based on OpenTV technology. According to Tamblin CEO, Stuart Waite, Disney decided to use WML for the new app because this would allow its content to be updated much more easily: "Using the WML browser with i-ZoneTV® Core allows Disney to see the app at their offices with an Internet browser," he said. "They can update the content from there, and, in a matter of minutes, it is updated at the carousel at Sky and playing out on 2 channels. They weren't able to do that with the OpenTV application: they had to go onsite to Sky, and spend the best part of the day updating the application there." As well as allowing easy content updates, the new application is reskinnable (there are currently 5 skins, which are changed throughout the day) and features a number of templates designed to facilitate ITV voting and competitions: "One day they might use an image template, allowing viewers to vote between images; the next day, they might use a text template, allowing text-based voting," Waite explained. "For competitions, they have, for example, a multiple-choice template and a free-text template that allows people to actually type in their answers," he added. Among other things, the new application allows viewers to use their remote control to send email to a show: on the live show, "Studio Disney," which airs in the afternoon, presenters read out viewer emails and encourage viewers to use the application. The application also features informational areas that provide viewers with, for example, tips on drawing cartoon characters, and allows viewers to access a separate OpenTV quiz application. |
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