From The Desk Of The President--Comcast's New Talking Channel Guide Speaks Volumes For Listing Discovery

And now, a word from the President and CEO of FYI, Christopher Stark.

We at FYI Television recently became aware of a revolutionary effort by Comcast that not only represents the best of what technology can do for those with disabilities—it’s also pioneering the industry for everyone.

Because, it’s our feeling that Comcast’s Talking TV Guide for the disabled has permutations that will impact the way guides are used for all consumers.

Here’s a quick summary of what Comcast is up to.

They established an “accessibility team” headed by a blind individual who wanted to make a more effective guide for those who can’t see—but who would like to enjoy the great content in today’s popular programs that they can hear.

Imagine it. This gentleman—Tom Wlodkowski of Comcast—had taken to memorizing the order of channels and identifying programs by the voices of actors or news anchors within them. So, to him, the guide was completely unusable. He had to create one in his own head.

Not content to settle for that, Mr. Wlodkowski (and Comcast) embarked on a working version of a Talking Channel Guide—that they now intend to launch fully in 2014.

The benefits of this capability to those with disabilities who cannot use a guide are obvious. Now, they’ll be able to use the spoken word to get the same full and robust informed content that sighted consumers now experience with their Electronic Program Guide.

Innovations like this are important to the industry for a variety of reasons. First, it allows those with disabilities to more easily participate in the booming popular culture that surrounds television. Second, it pushes the technology in ways that we can all benefit from.

The notion of a spoken Electronic Program Guide is one that could appeal to all consumers. It would allow consumers simply speak and hear options while doing other things—rather than stopping down to interact with a guide.

But there are other reasons we at FYI are excited about the Comcast’s new initiative led by Mr. Wlodkowski. And they all relate to the future of entertainment information—and the dedication we’ve paid to our data.

We’re excited about projects like this because of the vast and appropriate classifications on our data. Let’s face it, if you’ve got generic show descriptions like “Shows” or “Interests” you’re likely to not even have a viewer use THOSE words for a search. It’s just not the vernacular of how people describe programs.

But, if you’ve got multiple appropriate and accurate descriptors, you’ve opened up even more points of engagement that can aid someone in finding the program they’re looking for. Robust data had robust results.

Because of the diligence and innovation we’ve poured into our data for over a decade, we’re positioned to help companies develop new and innovative technologies like the Talking Guide for a variety of reasons:

Multiple categories and genres. Because a person speaking to a talking guide—as in the case of Comcast’s offering, or Cicso’s new product—will use their own vernacular, multiple categories and genres are essential to relate to requests like “Make me laugh” instead of “film comedy.”

Deep, well-written, and vivid descriptions. Descriptions must now carry the water of informing in granular detail for hipper, more entertainment hungry audiences—as well as informing those without sight. No description or the bare bones won’t suffice in the digital age.
Persistent IDs that span plaforms & databases. Our guiding IDs are capable of second party verification or being the standard for merged databases of TV data. So no matter how you incorporate the data, our singular IDs are a bannister for a clean line of program content.
Rich Media content mastery. Although the image portion of rich media doesn’t affect those without sight, the linking properties do. And, in the new digital world, the vastness of FYI’s rich media library becomes an indispensable asset for entertainment savvy developers.
App, tablet, and mobile friendly. We’re especially proud of this aspect of FYI—one that’s growing by the second. We’ve formatted our data for ease of use on app, tablet, and mobile platforms alike. And, in partnership with AT&T, we’re now experiencing over a billion hits per month with our data over their app, mobile, tablet, onscreen, and online offerings.

In the digital future, data will not be a commodity. Because there is a decided difference in data that has been formatted with an editorial standard that speaks in vernacular for viewers, is abundantly searchable along numerous terms, and is flexible enough to accommodate any platform. That’s why we take such pride in the data we provide.

FYI is committed to partnering with companies wanting data and service that really is qualitatively a cut above the rest—and we salute Comcast, and Mr. Wlodkowski’s team—for innovating in such an intelligent and purposeful manner.

                                                                                                                     Christopher S. Stark, Sr.
                                                                                                                     President & CEO
                                                                                                                     FYI Television

FYI's Ultimate 2013 Emmy Winners Guide In-A-Glance

Going through the post-Emmy Night cravings for information?

Want to see all the winners in one spot without a lot of drama except where they're giving an award for drama? Take a fast-paced trip through the Emmy winners with your television metadata and rich media content friends at FYI.

So settle back and enjoy as we deliver a delicious bite-sized snapshot of all the big winners at television's awards show last night.

Drama Series: "Breaking Bad," AMC.
Although the much-honored drama series didn’t win some of the big individual honors it was expected to, it took home the coveted drama Emmy. No word as to whether Heisenberg was in attendance.

Actor, Drama Series: Jeff Daniels
"The Newsroom," HBO.
PORTRAYED: Will McAvoy
FUN FACT: His father owned a lumberyard in Chelsea, Michigan—and was once mayor.
THE WINNER SAID: We’re going to party till dawn, and then I’m going to get on a plane and go to Atlanta and start shooting ‘Dumb and Dumber 2.’

Actress, Drama Series: Claire Danes
"Homeland," Showtime.
PORTRAYED: Carrie Mathison
FUN FACT: Director Oliver Stone wrote her letter of recommendation to Yale.
THE WINNER SAID: Thank you to my husband for making me so happy so I can be so entirely unhappy in the land of make believe.

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Bobby Cannavale
"Boardwalk Empire," HBO.
PORTRAYED: Gyp Rosetti
FUN FACT: Studied acting at the legendary Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York.
THE WINNER SAID: I will go to that HBO party. Then I’ll go to Fallon’s party. And then (Jon) Hamm’s having a party, like a losers party, so I’ll go to that. But if you win and go to the losers party, you have to give him $1,000. So I will.”

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Anna Gunn
"Breaking Bad," AMC.
PORTRAYED: Skyler White
FUN FACT: Provided the voice for Ariel in the Legacy of Kain series of video games.
THE WINNER SAID: Yes, I’m glad there are people out there who enjoy Skyler as well. What the Skyler haters do, they do. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me.

Comedy Series: "Modern Family," ABC.
This year, the ensemble cast took home the comedy prize—and for the fourth consecutive time as the series comedy fans can’t get enough of just seems to keep thriving. And laughing.

Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons
"The Big Bang Theory," CBS.
PORTRAYED: Sheldon Cooper
FUN FACT: Decided to become an actor after playing a Kola-Kola bird at age six.
THE WINNER SAID: I’m not much of an after party. I’m more of an afterthought. I might go home and say hello to the dogs and that might feel like a hell of a celebration, I don’t know.

Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
"Veep," HBO.
PORTRAYED: Selina Meyer
FUN FACT: Her cousin is the former owner of Adidas.
THE WINNER SAID: (On what she’ll do with her Emmy) I’m going to sleep with it.

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Tony Hale
"Veep," HBO.
PORTRAYED: Gary Walsh
FUN FACT: His father taught nuclear and atomic physics.
THE WINNER SAID: This is nuts. I completely left my body. It’s so surreal. I’m so thrilled to be working, and to have this, it’s completely mind-blowing…my wife has an Emmy for makeup so I’m just catching up to her.

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Merritt Wever
"Nurse Jackie," Showtime.
PORTRAYED: Zoey Barkow
FUN FACT: Graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.
THE WINNER SAID: I gotta go. Bye.

Miniseries or Movie: "Behind the Candelabra," HBO.
The story of Liberace, starring two Hollywood heavyweights—Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Michael Douglas
"Behind the Candelabra," HBO.
PORTRAYED: Liberace
FUN FACT: One of his Academy Awards is for producing Best Picture—One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
THE WINNER SAID: (To Matt Damon) You deserve half of this. Do you want the bottom or the top?

Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Linney
"The Big C: Hereafter," Showtime.
PORTRAYED: Cathy Jamison
FUN FACT: Her father was a well-known playwright.
THE WINNER SAID: People can’t really place me. They’re not really sure who I am. Sometimes they think I’m Helen Hunt. Sometimes they think I’m Laura Dern.

Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: James Cromwell
"American Horror Story: Asylum," FX Networks.
PORTRAYED: Dr. Arthur Arden
FUN FACT: Only actor to ever utter the words “Star Trek” on Star Trek.
THE WINNER SAID: To my dearest Anna, you are the best prize a man could ever have.

Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Ellen Burstyn
"Political Animals," USA.
POTRAYED: Margaret Barrish
FUN FACT: Was active in the effort to free boxer Ruben “Hurricane” Carter.
THE WINNER SAID: I want to thank everybody who voted for me, and I’m just glad I was onscreen this time long enough for you to vote for me.

Reality-Competition Program: "The Voice," NBC.
NBC’s answer to the monster of American Idol has proven to be the top of the increasingly crowded Reality-Competition category.

Variety Series: "The Colbert Report," Comedy Central.
Stephen Colbert and his staff FINALLY defeat Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. It’s a battle where everybody wins—especially comedy fans.








There you have it. It's not ALL we know about this year's Emmys and their winners, but it's a start.

To get more information about your favorite celebrities for drilling down deep into information and imagery, you know where to go. Till then, stay tuned.

AT&T Signs Long-Term Agreement With FYI For Exclusive TV Metadata & Image Content Services

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS (September 17, 2013) AT&T and FYI Television (FYI) have entered into a long-term agreement that will bring AT&T Uverse increased programming access quality and deeper program information and imagery, dramatically enhancing informed viewing options to millions of customers across multiple text, mobile, tablet, web, personal computer, and gaming console platforms.

“As the entertainment information industry moves more and more into the digital future, FYI is excited to provide the industry’s most robust and accurate TV metadata and entertainment content. Our content and data services dramatically improve the user experience,” said Chris Stark, Sr., President and CEO of FYI Television.
 
Since March of 2006, FYI has provided linear schedule and program description data for AT&T’s onscreen EPG, listings, and various mobile applications.

That arrangement has now been extended in the long-term agreement to include richer and deeper program descriptions, extended cast and actor information, biographical/work history and individual program showcards with related cast and episodic images, and image hosting services.

Consumers can expect to experience more in-depth show information content, a broader and specific library of rich media images for entertainment, plus expanded celebrity and show facts & more.

“With 850+ categories/genres, an unyielding editorial standard, plus our vast image content and rich media database, FYI products and services are perfectly poised to satisfy the growing and divergent entertainment information demands of consumers in today’s market, and the service standard of excellence our partner AT&T is known for,” Stark continued.
 
The AT&T Uverse product is universally recognized for providing high quality content and television/internet services to millions of customers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Their selection of FYI as their on-going entertainment metadata and content provider of choice was based upon FYI’s proven ability to deliver superlative data content, tracking and analytic information, as well as meeting critical metrics in  terms of delivery, quality assurance, and economies of scale.

The data and content enhancement from the FYI and AT&T partnership is scheduled to be available to millions of AT&T Uverse’s subscribers during the month of September 2013 across all AT&T Uverse onscreen, mobile, tablet and other connected devices.
 
The latest AT&T/FYI agreement was recently executed, and was based on FYI’s suitability for stewarding the entertainment data needs of AT&T—along with FYI’s track record working with the telecommunications giant in the past.
 
About FYI Television:

FYI Television, Inc. (FYI), the TV metadata and entertainment image content expert, accumulates and distributes TV entertainment content and linear scheduling data from over 12,000+ TV networks daily, aggregating the information into customized formats for various television, mobile, internet and print clients. Through the vast array of applications our data is filtered into, hundreds of millions of consumers

engage with FYI’s content daily.

FYI is at the top of its game, maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, flexibility, scalability and consistency for all clients, and furthermore, setting the overall pace in the fast-evolving world of entertainment programming.

Clients in both domestic and international markets including AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Disney, SONY, Discovery, Gannett Newspapers, Scripps, Triveni Digital, Star Media, Ygnition, Titan TV, BIM, Frontier Communications, Cannella comScore, NBC Universal, Rentrak, Media General, Ole, National Geographic, Motorola Mobility turn to FYI for its top-notch tailored TV metadata, data management, image content, media measurement and analytics.

Learn more about our products and services at www.fyitelevision.com.

Or, you can request specific information by clicking this Get Info link.

Media Contact:
Lauren Gustafson, Marketing Manager
817-459-1600
lgustafson@fyitelevision.com

About AT&T:

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s largest 4G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T |DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/aboutus or follow our news on @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

The ABC’s Of ROI—How To Rescue The Viability Of Your TV Listings Tab

When it comes to your TV Listings Tab, we feel your pain.

If you’re planning on keeping your printed TV Listings Tab around awhile, you’ll still need it to do everything it’s always done—including ROI—but you have no extra time, money, staff, or resources to devote to it.

Again, we feel your pain. So, we’ve come up with some ways to make that ROI happen without any extraordinary invasive measures—especially for those who are still looking to maximize their print efforts as they transition to digital.

Always improve the product—without pain.
Improving the product doesn’t require changing the earth’s rotation. But, your first step is a simple one. Make sure the product is addressing the way readers use TV listings in today’s environment.

It’s not 1972 anymore, and today’s audience uses listings in a brand new fashion. And, they’re using listings to sift through dozens and dozens more channels. If your TV listings offering isn’t playing by the new rules, you’re not giving readers what they want the way they want it.

For example—consider converting and expanding your print listings with link backs to an expanded digital version. And, consider your entertainment articles to do the same thing, online and offline. Whatever it takes to tailor your current offering to the current format readers are demanding. It can yield big results with just a little effort.

So get current, get improved, and get more ROI.

Bring insights with a Reader Survey—ROI straight from the customer’s mouth.
Want ROI? Why not get it right from the source—your customers.

Readers are most anxious to tell you just what they want from a paper—and they’ll demonstrate it with actions, too. Therefore, a simple and easy way to execute a reader’s survey could yield a bevy of important insights, observations, and responses.

But perhaps you’re thinking a reader’s survey is too complex, far-reaching, and resource-draining for your operation to implement? If so, think about how valuable user information could be to illuminating your efforts and where they’re really paying off. And, how much it will cost to continue in the dark.

Then, think about the fact that a reader’s survey doesn’t have to be difficult. Remember, these suggestions are here to remove pain—not add to it.

Readers surveys don’t have to be invasive. They can be quick, targeted, and painless. There are partners out there—FYI would be one of them—who can handle the heavy lifting and have good feedback for you in less than a couple of weeks.

Construct a “programmatic” approach—and then get with the program.
Turnkey. Automatic. Programmatic. That’s the way to think of your TV Listings Tab.

Instead of viewing it as a series of cumbersome, time-consuming, and resource-hogging events (and experiencing the lesser results such a viewpoint is likely to produce), view your TV Listings Tab as a program. Where weekly listing data is supplied, then handed off to a source who can format it to your liking.

And that formatted listing is then handed off to the printer. Who implements and prints it. So, all you’re doing is approving, suggesting, tweaking to your reader’s content. Without a giant time commitment. Without allocating staff. Without tying up resources.

That’s turnkey. That’s automatic. And that’s how to eliminate headaches while generating that all important ROI.

Designate outsourcing smartly—maximize resources, not overhead.
Outsourcing for outsourcing’s sake is not recommended. To remove the pain and increase the ROI, outsourcing must be done in the smartest way possible. Like everything else you do to keep things running.

The key aspect of outsourcing is that it should maximize resources without cannibalizing profit—or increasing overhead. Outsourcing printing could be a good idea—unless doing so cuts into your revenue stream beyond the necessity of cutting overhead.

It’s a fine line. And every single situation is different, so you must choose your outsourcing partners wisely. Gravitating toward those who bring a variety of skills and executional abilities to the table with the minimum overhead.

If an outsourced service doesn’t make your life easier, better, and more productive? Then why have them at all? Outsource with those who bring the most benefit to your operation—with the least allocation of resources.

Everywhere you can—localize, localize, localize content.
Everybody says that newspapers are small. Local. Not big enough for this day and age.

So use that perceived weakness as what it really is. A strength.

The more local TV Listings Tab content is, the more specific it is to a newspaper’s readership. And, the more local and exclusive content is, the more it differentiates itself from more generic national offerings.

Also, when content is localized, it appeals more to a local reader’s lifestyle, knowledge base, cultural awareness, and a myriad of other things. Local content allows you to maximize the relationship you have with your reader.

Finally, give us a call. Soon.
Admittedly, one of the best things you can do to maximize your TV Listings Tab ROI is to call FYI.

We’ll get our expert, John Dodds, on the case quicker than you can spell R-O-I. He’ll show you plenty of “programmatic” ways to make your TV Listings Tab sing without giving up a ton of notes.

And best off all, there’s no commitment. Just some invaluable advice from the industry’s leading expert that understands the past, and is ready to talk about your future.