First Interactive Doco From ABC/Austar
SYDNEY
ABC New Media has produced Australia's first interactive television
(iTV) documentary, which will be broadcast through the ABC's services
on Austar's digital satellite platform on Sunday December 1st at
7.30pm AEDT.
Long Way to the Top - Live In Concert is an interactive
experience and the first of its kind produced in Australia, made
possible by the collaboration between the ABC's New Media and Television
divisions. The program offers an enhanced viewing experience, created
around the popular Long Way to the Top documentary series and concert,
which toured Australia in August and September this year.
The program takes viewers backstage at the concert to see a string
of exclusive interviews with the stars, rare archival footage and
puts viewers at the concert itself with some of Australia's greatest
rock legends.
Around 1 million of Austar's viewers across regional Australia will
be able to experience the program, in more than 300,000 iTV-enabled
households around the country that have access to Austar's interactive
digital satellite service (excluding viewers with Pace decoders).
These viewers simply need to tune into ABC Channel 2 on Austar from
7.30pm on Sunday December 1 to be immersed in an interactive rock
experience. The ABC's Long Way to the Top - Live In Concert
is designed with intuitive navigation and easy to follow prompts
that lead the viewer through the service, whilst offering a high
level of choice and interactive features.
The content is synchronised for play out on four parallel video
streams for 24 hours, allowing viewers to return to the program
segments any time during the continuous broadcast to interact with
the content.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BEASTS
The production of Long Way to the Top - Live in Concert
interactive comes after ABC New Media's successful broadcast of
the BBC's Walking with Beasts Interactive program on the
ABC channel on Austar and Optus in July and August.
ABC New Media conducted a survey following the broadcast of the
BBC's Walking with Beasts Interactive and found that 98%
of those who responded to the survey wanted to see more interactive
television documentaries.
"We received such a positive response from audiences to the BBC's
Walking with Beasts that we were encouraged to develop our
own, distinctly Australian iTV content," said Lynley Marshall, Director
of ABC New Media and Digital Services.
"We worked very closely with ABC Television to create this program.
In particular, the vision and expertise of Executive Producer Paul
Clarke, and others at ABC TV, has made this innovation in Australian
broadcasting possible," she said.
Austar's Group Director, Corporate Development & Legal Affairs,
Deanne Weir said; "As the interactive television pioneer and leader
in Australia, Austar is proud to be able to offer more than one
million television viewers in regional Australia this exclusive
experience. Our customers often tell us that they really enjoy the
interactive services offered exclusively by Austar, such as documentaries,
games, and other interactive channel enhancements. We are confident
that the Long Way to the Top - Live in Concert interactive
documentary is going to generate even further interest in the capabilities
offered by digital interactivity."
In addition to the iTV experience, ABC New Media has produced a
comprehensive web site at abc.net.au/longway.
The site includes a large video vault of interviews with Australian
musicians including those who appeared in the Long Way to the
Top TV series and concerts, video segments never before screened
on TV or online, IPIX images from the concert and material from
the original series.
Long Way to the Top - Live in Concert is also marking another
innovative milestone for the ABC - it will be the first time the
ABC has broadcast a program in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
This sound experience will be available to free to air television
viewers with the appropriate digital set top box.
In the future, the program may also be available on other digital
platforms.
"We are able to broadcast the program several times over the next
five years. This means that as the audience for digital technology
develops in Australia, there will be opportunities for the ABC to
re-broadcast the program to an even broader audience," said Ms Marshall.
The ABC's interactive Long Way to the Top - Live in Concert
How It Works
When the concert broadcast begins on December 1, 2002, those viewers
watching via the Austar satellite platform will see an 'OK' symbol
on their screens. Pushing 'OK' on their Austar remote control will
start the interactive experience with viewers being switched to
a hidden bouquet of four channels. This will activate a menu at
the bottom of the screen offering four corresponding choices.
In Concert
Choose the red button on the remote to watch the two-hour concert
straight through. Broadcast is the same as that seen by analog and
terrestrial digital viewers.
 Split
Screen
Choose the green button on the remote to split the screen and view
the concert from different views around the venue.
 The
Vault
Choose the yellow button on the remote to view never before seen
footage and rare archival concert material of the performers, providing
rare and revealing insights into the lives and times of our rock
legends.
 Backstage
Choose the blue button on the remote to view a series of interviews
with the stars conducted by the performers themselves. Find out
what these rock icons really have to say about their rock'n'roll
years and about their fellow rock stars!
Any time through the viewing experience, viewers can press the
red key to return to the main program, which will continue to run
as they explore the interactive elements of the concert. And if
once isn't enough, the interactive program will be looped and available
for audiences to explore continuously for a total of 24 hours after
the broadcast begins (available through the 'MENU' key on the Austar
remote control).
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