November 20, 2010

Pushbutton to open Canadian office

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , — Eugene @ 12:27 am

Pushbutton, the award winning interactive TV agency, headquartered in the UK, is opening an office in Canada. The plan was announced during the iTV TVOT Intensive conference in New York, this week.

The Canadian operation will be headed by Pushbutton’s latest recruit, Shane Wilson, who will also act as Director of Product Development, North America.

The news follows hot on the heels of major product announcements from the fast-growing agency, that last week unveiled two significant digital TV projects in Europe.

During November the company revealed that it is the development house behind the BBC’s iPlayer product that will shortly roll out on the BT Vision platform in the UK. It also announced its new role as Digital Partner for LOVEFiLM, Europe’s largest subscription service, streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet and sending DVDs by post. This followed the launch of the LOVEFiLM service on Sony PlayStation 3, also developed by Pushbutton.

Commenting on the opening of Pushbutton’s Canadian office,  Paula Byrne, Managing Director said “Pushbutton has an outstanding track record over the last eight years in developing products and services for key content and technology clients around the world. 2011 will see us begin to launch our own IPTV and Connected Device products and services that play to our significant strengths in user interface design and application development. We are delighted to have someone of Shane’s calibre to help us in this task and look forward to accelerating our product development with him on board”.

Pushbutton Director of Interactive Development, James Cumberbatch added “This is a very exciting stage in the growth of Pushbutton. The establishment of a Canadian office and the appointment of an experienced IPTV expert as our Product Development Director positions us well to fully exploit the many opportunities in the market. Shane will be working closely with myself and the rest of the Pushbutton design and development teams to help us achieve our aggressive product development strategies in the world of Digital TV”.

Speaking about his new role, Shane Wilson said “This is the perfect time to join Pushbutton. I have followed the company and its success for a number of years and have a huge amount of respect for the team. Pushbutton’s Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV work is outstanding. Now that Canadian Service Providers from coast to coast have deployed Microsoft Mediaroom, there is a significant opportunity to deliver great IPTV apps in this territory and throughout the world”.

The opening of the Canadian office demonstrates Pushbutton’s commitment to the North American market. The company set up a US base on the West Coast in March 2010.

November 11, 2010

Pushbutton builds BBC iPlayer for BT Vision

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , , — Eugene @ 4:08 pm

The BBC chose Pushbutton as lead developer to build its popular video on demand service, iPlayer, to run on BT Vision.

The deployment taps Pushbutton’s Microsoft Mediaroom expertise on which BT Vision’s BBC iPlayer is based. In 2009 Pushbutton won an award from Microsoft for the quality of its Mediaroom design and build work.

In a release issued today BT wrote “BT Vision will introduce BBC iPlayer over the next five months, in a phased release starting in early December. All BT Vision customers will be able to access the service by April 2011.  Once complete, the service can be accessed by selecting BBC iPlayer from BT Vision’s programme menu.”

Marc Watson, chief executive of television and online services, BT Retail, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with the BBC to bring the BBC iPlayer service to BT Vision customers. The launch of BBC iPlayer on BT Vision adds to the vast range of quality entertainment already available to our customers.”

This will be the full BBC iPlayer package, offering almost all of the TV and radio programmes available online through a simple and intuitive BBC iPlayer-branded application, eventually replacing the BBC content on BT Vision’s existing 50-hour “TV Replay” package, which offers a small selection of BBC TV programmes.

Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “BBC iPlayer for BT Vision is the single most prestigious third party deployment of a Microsoft Mediaroom application anywhere in the world, and Pushbutton is immensely proud of the application we have created. It is both powerful and elegant, and provides a glimpse of the IP-powered television of the future.”

Daniel Danker, BBC General Manager for Programmes and On Demand, said:  “Licence-fee payers love the option of enjoying BBC iPlayer’s high-quality experience and vast choice of programmes on the living-room TV, and we’re delighted to be able to bring the service to BT Vision.”

November 10, 2010

LOVEFiLM appoints Pushbutton as digital partner

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , — Eugene @ 1:14 am

Today LOVEFiLM launches on PlayStation®3 (PS3™) through award-winning developer Pushbutton who have signed a significant agreement to partner with LOVEFiLM and act as an extension of the service’s internal development team.

LOVEFiLM, Europe’s largest subscription service, streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet and sending DVDs by post, has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Pushbutton to develop services for digital platforms which will be rolled out onto multiple devices. This will allow LOVEFiLM to rapidly develop the service’s multi-country, multi-territory and multi-product deployment.

The partnership will see LOVEFiLM further develop its interactive content applications, user interfaces and service guides to be playable on many new devices across new territories ensuring the largest possible audience for future use.

The PS3™ launch follows in the wake of successful deployment in March 2010 of the Sony Bravia and Blu-ray devices version, also developed by Pushbutton, which won the Best New Product of the Year at the International Business Awards.

Pushbutton is well known for its work with leading brands such as the BBC, ITV and Microsoft. Over the past four years they have developed a framework to facilitate development and expertise in the area of IPTV and connected device deployment including cable, satellite, Internet Connected TV’s, Games Consoles, Tablets and hand-held devices.

In addition to offering its 1.4 million members access to over 67,000 titles for rental, LOVEFiLM now offers thousands of films and TV shows available to ‘Watch Online’ via the LOVEFiLM Player and on connected devices including SONY BRAVIA, Samsung TVs and starting today the PlayStation®3.

LOVEFiLM Group Digital Officer, Lesley Mackenzie, said,

“Today’s annoucement will allow LOVEFiLM to build upon our leadership in launching compelling and ground-breaking video content on many different platforms. Our work with Pushbutton over the last 12 months has convinced us that they are the absolute best partner to work with as we accelerate our digital roll out plans internationally. Their ability to quickly get to grips with delivering to a diverse range of digital platfroms including consoles, IPTV and a multiplicity of connected TV and handheld devices is second to none. They were the obvious choice of partner in what is a very exciting period in the digital growth of LOVEFiLM.”

Managing Director of Push Button Ltd, Paula Byrne, said,

“Pushbutton is delighted to be chosen by LOVEFiLM as its digital partner and looks forward to bringing the LOVEFiLM service to a wide variety of digital devices. Helping big brands with ambitious digital rollout plans is what we do best. It plays to our strengths in designing and developing screen-based services that exploit the potential of a variety of devices and platforms in  the rapidly changing digital media landscape.”

September 28, 2010

World’s first 3D EPG uses ’swish’ gestures

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Eugene @ 11:48 am

The world’s first 3D electronic programming guide (EPG) was shown off by Pushbutton earlier this month at the IBC show in Amsterdam.

The 3D EPG was developed as a proof of concept design for Universal Electronics to help demonstrate the power of its Dolphin remote controller – a unique device that exploits motion sensors to enable users to move an on-screen asset.

The Pushbutton EPG can be navigated using gesture movements, exploiting the Dolphin’s on-board accelerometer and gyro technology, to enable a gentle ‘swish’ of the device to move the EPG’s selector from channel to channel. The EPG was designed to work equally well in 2D as well as 3D.

To further demonstrate the power of UE’s Dolphin controller Pushbutton also created two sophisticated 3D video games that could be selected from the EPG – showing how Dolphin controller could switch from being a relatively simple device for making programme selections, to a fully functioning, Wii-style wireless, video games controller.

Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “We are delighted to have collaborated with Universal Electronics at IBC. It enabled our strongest presence at the show, but best of all it allowed us to do the thing we love doing the most, creating something that many people said couldn’t be done – the world’s first 3D EPG.”

September 6, 2010

Pushbutton builds LOVEFiLM app for SONY BRAVIA Internet TVs

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , — Eugene @ 3:36 pm

Pushbutton has worked closely with LOVEFiLM and Sony to deliver a connected TV application that enables subscribers to the popular mail order media service to rent movies online and have them streamed directly over the internet, to the TV.

The service is available on the latest series of SONY BRAVIA Internet Video TVs, Bravia televisions, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray Home Theatre kits.

LOVEFiLM subscribers will be able to select the service as an icon on the SONY menu bar of SONY Internet Video devices, search for titles through categories such as genre or ‘most watched’ and eventually manage their DVD and Blu-ray rental lists through the TV.

Pushbutton is one of the leading connected TV design and build agencies in Europe, with prize winning designs for Microsoft Mediaroom in its portfolio, and years of interactive TV experience on satellite and IPTV behind it. This is the company’s first app for the SONY Internet Video devices platform, and the first third party app from a European company.

Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “We are extremely proud of the LOVEFiLM app. This kind of project plays to all of our strengths as a design agency with a deep technical understanding of the new wave of Internet connected media devices. The new SONY Bravia’s are gorgeous, and I believe our collaboration with LOVEFiLM has produced an app that truly does them justice, adding an exciting new tier of content choice for viewers.”

Lesley MacKenzie, Group Digital Officer said “LOVEFiLM is setting the pace in Europe with this online DVD rental service. The SONY TV app enables instant digital content and puts DVD & Blu-ray rental in the palm of your hand via the TV remote, greatly enhancing the choice and convenience proposition for our members.” … “Pushbutton provided invaluable design and build expertise in the delivery of this exciting new, connected TV app for LOVEFiLM on SONY televisions. We were extremely pleased with the service they provided.”

June 7, 2010

Boost for IP and 3D TV research

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , , — Eugene @ 2:52 pm

Pushbutton has boosted its research and development efforts with the hire of a dedicated software engineer to focus on 3D and Internet-powered television.

The past six months has seen major leaps forward in television technology – with a wide range of 3D televisions now on sale, and new IP-based TV services being announced daily.

Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said “The past week alone has seen the announcement of Google TV, rumours about a new version of Apple TV, and a new, social- networking-ready version of BBC iPlayer. Add to this, the boom in TV connected devices, and you start to see a picture emerging of a revolution in new technologies to enhance the TV viewing experience.”

Pushbutton has always been the first independent agency to harness the power of the new enabling technologies. Increasing the firm’s investment in R&D expertise for these areas will keep the company ahead of the competition, said Byrne.

“Pushbutton is now the ‘go to’ digital agency in London if you need help with connected devices, 3D television, or IP-based TV based on Microsoft Mediaroom or over the top, straight from the Internet, video-based concepts,” added Byrne.

“I am delighted to announce this new appointment. It shows Pushbutton has emerged strongly from the recession, and is now at the threshold of a new growth phase, as we position ourselves to exploit the new wave of TV technologies,” said Byrne.

June 2, 2010

Social TV concept wows Deutcshe Telekom judges

Filed under: 2010 archive, Press — Tags: , , , , , , , — Eugene @ 4:51 pm

Pushbutton has taken second prize in a global competition organised by Deutsche Telekom with its PLAN-IT TV app, designed to run on the Microsoft Mediaroom-based IPTV service.

The Pushbutton concept is a social TV planning tool, designed to help families plan their viewing, with the aid of an engaging app.

PLAN-IT TV makes best use of IPTV and broadcast media so that viewers can relax, sit back, and enjoy their viewing without all the hard work. Using profiling and recommendation engine techniques, PLAN-IT TV will take the arguments out of family TV schedule planning.

It embraces the family TV and the family group to create a superior social viewing experience. PLAN-IT TV knows what individual family members like to watch, and it recalibrates its viewing recommendations based on which family members are present.

Put simply, PLAN-IT TV takes the entire family and creates a whole packaged evening of entertainment based on their collective profile. Family members can be added into the mix and seeding can be adjusted to produce a different line up. Think of it as autopilot for your remote control.

This takes all the hassle out of searching for the latest TV content that everyone can enjoy and allows content providers to deliver premium content packaged alongside other quality programming.

Pushbutton Managing Director, Paula Byrne, said, “Our PLAN-IT TV app shows the way families will enjoy TV viewing in the future. It is an intelligent TV friend that will help families arrive at the best television to suit everyone. It is there to suggest, to learn, and to help – using clever profiling and recommendation engine techniques. I am immensely proud that Deutsche Telekom spotted the potential of our app, and awarded a prize to it in their competition.”

© Pushbutton 2010