ITV DIGITAL VIEWERS TO GET INTERACTIVE THIS MORNING

ON OCTOBER 15 ‘This Morning’ viewers that were using ITV Digital boxes or digital TVs were able to benefit from the latest enhanced TV service.
They got, exclusively, up to the minute information that accompanied and complemented the award-winning ITV1 programme.
When watching ‘This Morning’, digital TV viewers see an on-screen prompt inviting them to press the Red button on their remote control. On doing so, the broadcast stream will resize to a quarter screen and a welcome menu will appear alongside the programme with various options from which to choose.
These options include a recipe of the day, background on phone-ins, extended information on the medical issues discussed on the programme, helpline numbers and hobbies. Broadcast sponsor Learndirect offer detailed information on their most popular educational courses, many of which will have a relevance to topics discussed during the show.
By using the 'up and down' keys on the TV remote control, viewers are able to move around the service. At anytime during the show the enhanced service can be accessed or exited by pressing the colour coded buttons.
The enhanced service, designed and developed by Granada Broadband and built by interactive programming house Carlton Active, will be broadcast alongside ‘This Morning’ from October 15 through until July 12, 2002.
Patrick Irwin, Broadcast Interactive Development Manager at ITV Digital, said: "By providing an enhanced service for a mass-market show like ‘This Morning’, ITV Digital are delivering a major boost for interactive TV and viewers of daytime television. Interactivity is of great importance to our platform and this has been displayed through the increased wealth of services that we've offered this year." (CD)