BY JONATHAN WEBDALE
ITV has unveiled the initial line-up of companies it will work with exclusively to source its growing interactive TV output.
This is the type of roster the BBC originally announced plans for two years ago but then dropped.
The list of companies that will supply ITV's interactive TV division, ITVi, with its technical and creative requirements includes Mindhouse and Pushbutton TV as signatories, with TwoWay TV, Fernhart, emuse and Manchester based JDA all in the final stages of signing contracts.
ITVi has pledged to increase the number of iTV formats it has aired by the end of the year to 30, with the likes of Pop Idol, Hells Kitchen and I'm a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here already behind it.
Louise Okafor, ITVi head of programme management, said the process of going out and meeting the various companies that had applied to be on the roster had been "invaluable".
"We've found companies that we can work with really well and hope to forge relationships that will bear fruit," said Okafor. "We're planning to put out 30 programmes by the end of the year."
ITVi will pick from these suppliers when interactive commissions get the go-ahead.
The BBC announced plans for a roster of iTV and new media agencies two years ago and received detailed submissions for companies hoping to take part. But director of new media and technology Ashley Highfield told NMA last week the idea had proved impractical and had been dropped.
But Steve Scott, MD of Mindhouse, said, "It's great that ITV has done this where the BBC fell flat on its face at the first hurdle. If ITV can do it, why can't the BBC?"
itv.com
