Montreal-based ITV Media Experts and Vidéotron ltée have announced a new service offering to launch in the summer of 2005 that will bring long-form interactive advertising on an on-demand basis to the cableco’s digital TV customers at the press of a button. The system, similar in some ways to the now-defunct-in-Canada Wink system (CNM, Oct. 6/04), is being touted as a breakthrough technology for advertisers, broadcasters and distributors as they each seek to exploit digital TV platforms and mitigate negative trends towards personalized, advertising-free TV made possible by personal video recorders and other technologies. While an unnamed advertiser and Vidéotron are pressing forward with the offering, called etc.tv, experts caution that its success will depend on the participation of broadcasters – a group that has traditionally been aggressive in seeking a share of the ITV revenue pie.

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