A San Francisco-based tech startup, AirPlay Network Inc., says it's about to launch a mobile-phone application that will enable games-addicted viewers of live TV to compete against others around the
country, in real time. The games will allow players to predict sports plays, winners of reality contests, and answers in game shows. Controls will all be mobile-phone based. "'We're
creating a multiplayer experience and a social network synched with television,'" says AirPlay CEO Morgan Guenther, a former president at TiVo Inc. The idea, he said, is to transform TV from a passive
pastime to an engaging, competitive experience. Guenther contends the concept differs from earlier failedattempts to make TV interactive because AirPlay uses the ever-ready cell phone as the
interface instead of an Internet-connected television. 'Chances are, the cell phone is right next to them already,' he says." The question of ad support was not addressed in the
Business Week
report. Nor did Guenther discuss conversations he may have had with TV executives about his plan to leverage their shows for his company's gain.
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