• by Fern Siegel , February 26, 2010

Showtime Networks and Verizon have teamed to give sports fans a more engaged TV experience. Together, they have launched the first nationwide, HD interactive television application: Showtime's new sports interactive feature.

The technology, which uses EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format), will kick off during the live "Strikeforce Challengers" mixed martial arts telecast today. Subscribers can access fighter stats, records, bios and quotes via a simple on-screen prompt. The app gives fan an opportunity to vote in interactive polls, participate in a trivia game and check out a fight calendar on their TV screen -- all while watching Showtime.

Any FiOS TV customers with a high-def set-top box who subscribes to Showtime can access the interactive experience.

"We are excited to be joining Verizon at the forefront, bringing this state-of-the-art feature to Showtime HD," states Robert Hayes, senior vice president and general manager of digital media at Showtime Networks. "Our sports programming provides the perfect setting for the lean-forward experience that is now possible with interactive TV."

Shawn Strickland, vice president of consumer strategy and planning for Verizon, says the feature is offering "more value" to FiOS TV subscribers, supplying added weight to their premium subscriptions.

Showtime is a subsidiary of CBS Corp., which also owns and operates the premium television networks The Movie Channel and Flix.