AirPlay Network targets telly addicts
AirPlayTV to offer mobile games tied with television broadcasts
San Francisco-based startup AirPlay Network has announced its plans to enhance consumer's experience of watching television through the provision of specialist multiplayer mobile games directly linked to sporting and other entertainment broadcasts.
AirPlay will be launching the first in its new interactive range this autumn. AirPlay Sports will be released in the US to coincide with the start of the next professional football season, allowing mobile phone users to interact in a new way with their favourite sport.
Players will need an Internet-enabled handset to access the AirPlay service, downloading the games directly from the company website or a partnered wireless carrier and competing in real-time with others around the country whilst watching the televised broadcast.
Examples offered include predicting the next offensive or defensive play as the game unfolds, challenging the bookmaker's score-cards or indulging in some trivia questions about their favourite teams as the real-life players compete on the television screen.
"We're creating a multiplayer experience and a social network synched with television," AirPlay CEO and former TiVo president Morgan Guenther told the Associated Press. "Chances are the cellphone is right next to them already."
AirPlay, which is backed by a USD 4 million investment from Red Point Ventures and Qualcomm, has ambitions to further expand the TV/mobile service in later months, branching out to reality TV shows, game shows and potentially extending the service further to encompass whatever televised entertainment is attracting the biggest audiences in the US.