• by David Kaplan , November 16, 2004

emuse Technologies, a Dublin, Ireland-based interactive TV software marketer, is making the rounds of advertisers and cable/satellite companies offering to help promote ITV.

Modelstream, the company's ITV software, has been modified to work with the U.S. cable industry's standard middleware platform, and is being officially released here this week. The company is marketing it to broadcasters, advertisers, and content developers as a single tool that will allow them to author iTV content.

Last week, the company helped facilitate a live televised game show in the UK that had 85,000 viewers playing along.

"Each of those viewers paid one pound--about $1.70 here--to participate in this game, and there's no reason why we couldn't do the same here in the U.S. on a larger scale," said John Bryan, emuse's vice president of U.S. operations.

"Rupert Murdoch's BskyB [European cable and satellite service] really got behind interactive TV and now, the U.S. is starting to accept it," Bryan said. "People here have been really scared by the threat of [Personal Video Recorders], but they've suddenly warmed up [to] them this year and next year, the same will be true when it comes to iTV."

emuse was founded in 1998, and in addition to Dublin, has offices in London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.

"We now have the tools to realize the mass deployment of interactive content to an audience of global consumers," Bryan said. "And that is finally being recognized."

The company has been talking to all major cable and satellite players, and expects to have deals set up within the next three months.