DIRECTV Launches 'What's Hot' ITV

[Brewer4]

DIRECTV Shows America ``What's Hot!'' with New, Interactive Application That Gives Viewers Instant Visibility to the Most Popular Programs on DIRECTV at Any Given Time
Thursday June 1, 7:54 pm ET
DIRECTV First Programming Provider to Offer New Service to its Customers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2006--DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading digital television service provider, launched "What's Hot!" this week, the first-of-its-kind interactive application that allows viewers to instantly access a list of the top ten most popular programs on DIRECTV in real time, any time of day or night. "What's Hot!" is available, starting today, on DIRECTV News Mix (Channel 102) and DIRECTV Sports Mix (Channel 104).
Source: DIRECTV, Inc.

With the new service, DIRECTV customers will have a fun and entertaining way to access a list of the most popular programming in their area, whether it be sports, news, movies, local channels or national programming. The instant results are aggregated from a universe of fellow DIRECTV customers, who are more than 15.4 million strong and counting.

"Never again will DIRECTV viewers miss the most-talked-about shows because they will always know what they are thanks to `What's Hot!,'" said Eric Shanks, executive vice president, DIRECTV Entertainment. "No other satellite or cable provider delivers this unique service, so we're proud to be the first to offer this exclusive access to our customers."

In addition to providing a tool for viewers to see "What's Hot!," the anonymous information will also be used by DIRECTV to determine which services are most popular to its customers to help make programming choices in the future.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060601/20060601006092.html?.v=1

 

[bgsmallwood]

I don't have it...

I checked both channels and I have the same old newsmix and sportsmix that I always had. This must be one of those new interactive features that subs with new equipment like the H20 can't get.

I am not likely to use this anyway so it is no big loss.

 

[Brewer4]

I tried on my H20 too. I know it didnt have ITV features but is it ever going to get them? How many D10's are out there? Any one actually able to use the new feature?

 

[Fiah]

D11

Its nice I like it. It works here on my D11.

 

[Harrelson 69]

I have 2 D10 boxes with remotes for sale. Anyone interested?

 

[Jhon69]

Works on my D-11 and guess what?No software upgrade Take that Dishnotwork!

 

[damaged]

It's nice, at least now the customer gets to benefit from the data collected via the STB->phone line.

It would be nice if they added that popularity meter for all the channels, to be included on the top banner of each channel.

 

[DS0816]

There are now eight, rather than six, screens on NewsMix (ch. 102) and SportsMix (ch. 104). And the interactive doesn't highlight. What the hell is this?

 

[DS0816]

There are now eight, rather than six, screens on NewsMix (ch. 102) and SportsMix (ch. 104). And the interactive doesn't highlight. What the hell is this?

 

[steve615]

I just checked these channels out on our equipment (2 H20s and the AT9 dish).Channels 102 and 104 show 8 screens.Channel 111 shows 6 screens.The screens do not highlight on these channels.Perhaps a bug/flaw in the software that D* needs to correct?

 

[jonaswan2]

NOOOO!!!!!

ONLY THE D10, D11, AND R15 RECIEVERS CAN GET INTERACTIVE FEATURES!!!!!!!

There will be an update for the H20 soon so people with an H20 can get interactive features as well.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG ON DIRECTV'S PART!

 

[steve615]

NOOOO!!!!!

ONLY THE D10, D11, AND R15 RECIEVERS CAN GET INTERACTIVE FEATURES!!!!!!!

LOL.....Well,believe it or not,they are showing up on our H20-600s....Perhaps a case for Ripley's Believe It Or Not? Maybe D* has slipped an unannounced software update into some of the newer receivers?Who knows,but,all I know is that we are currently getting 8 screens on the News and Sports Mix channels,and 6 screens on the Kids Mix channel.

 

[jonaswan2]

LOL.....Well,believe it or not,they are showing up on our H20-600s....Perhaps a case for Ripley's Believe It Or Not? Maybe D* has slipped an unannounced software update into some of the newer receivers?Who knows,but,all I know is that we are currently getting 8 screens on the News and Sports Mix channels,and 6 screens on the Kids Mix channel.

Yes, you can get the channel, but do you have the yellow box around it? Can you highlight a program then select it with the select button?

Everyone gets the channel, but only those certain recievers can access the interactive features.

 

[steve615]

Yes, you can get the channel, but do you have the yellow box around it? Can you highlight a program then select it with the select button?

Yes.

 

[jonaswan2]

Yes.

Then you must also be able to press the Active button and access the interactive menu. Can you tell me the menu listings?

Anyway, I guess some H20s do have the update that DirecTV planned to do a long time ago to every H20 reciever. What software version do you have?

Wait a minute, you said the screens do not highlight! Fool me once...

 

[bgsmallwood]

They are just changing the second, third,... audio channel by pressing the yellow button. Not interactive.

I have 8 screens and I can change between them but it doesn't look at all like what the screenshot shows from the announcement with the vertial tabs. Does anyone with a D10 or D11 see the screens shown in the screenshot?

 

[jonaswan2]

You pressed the Red button, right? And it will look a little different depending on where you live.

 

[steve615]

I checked these channels out on 3 different occasions today.The first time I looked at them,there was no yellow highlighting of the 8 channels to choose from.The second time I looked at them,the channels had the yellow highlighting around them.I looked at them again about an hour ago,and they show no yellow highlighting around the 8 channels to select from. I guess D* is actively toying with these features today,who knows?

 

[bgsmallwood]

To clarify, the newsmix and kidsmix and sportsmix channels I hear being described are NOT the feature in the press announcement. You should be seeing a screen similar to this...
http://home.businesswire.com/portal...60601006092&newsLang=en&contentItemId=1421763

So far, I have not heard anyone with an H20 describing anything remotely like this.

 

[steve615]

Thanks for that link bgsmallwood.No,nothing like that showing up on our H20s as of yet.