Web Exclusive! Viva Las Vegas

by Don Collins
Special Issue 2001

Finally it seems interactive television is ready to live up to its much-anticipated and hyped potential. After a lull, the interactive wave we've all been waiting for is showing signs of life. Couch surfers who've been scanning the horizon for some sort of interactive programming will soon be wowed by more than just the Weather Channel.
One of the latest entries in this new wave is the Vegas Channel, a television portal set to air in the Fall. The Vegas Channel is not a program by itself, but a service for cable television subscribers with set-top boxes.
A TV portal acts as a central gateway for other interactive and enhanced TV-related programming and services. From news to trivia to products to games to programming guides, TV portals are a convenient way for viewers to access and organize a wide range of programming and related services. The Vegas Channel, as its name implies, will feature timely information about nightlife and children's activities and will allow viewers to make hotel and airline reservations and purchase tickets to shows and events. It will also feature streaming audio and video presentations.
Bringing interactive TV and enhanced programming to prime time is complicated. It requires long-term planning and the cooperation and commitment of a number of seemingly different companies. Three companies have joined forces to air the Vegas Channel: Steeplechase Media, Digeo and Charter Communications.
These three trailblazing companies show just how complex the interactive process is and what it takes to bring it together for viewers. Steeplechase Media provides some software and acts as an interactive broker of sorts, working with the various technology and content providers. Digeo provides technology and content and manages the TV portal. Charter Communications of St. Louis, the nation's fourth largest cable operator, provides the distribution network.

Coming Soon
The Vegas Channel will air Fall 2001 and will be available during its trial period for the 6.4 million Charter Communications viewers in the greater St. Louis area. Larry Namer, president of Steeplechase Media, said the Vegas Channel has two big things going for it. First, the Vegas Channel will be the first channel designed especially for the set-top box, not just adapted to fit the new technology. This means the Vegas Channel will exploit the new media's format to bring the best interactive services to viewers. The second reason Namer expects the Vegas Channel to be a success is its content. People all over the world know Las Vegas. There's practically something for everyone.
"The demand is already there," Namer said. "Las Vegas is the nation's number one travel destination online and the number one entertainment channel." Since so many people visit Las Vegas, either online or in person, the Vegas Channel has a wide appeal. And that's just in the United States. Namer said that international interest could prove to be even bigger. "We have a pending agreement to air the Vegas Channel in Israel and Taiwan."

More On the Way
Once the Vegas Channel proves itself in the St. Louis market, it will expand to other areas, both in the U.S. and abroad. Viewers who have set-top boxes like AOLTV or Microsoft's WebTV will enjoy the convenience and comfort of the Vegas Channel. Namer said that success depends on a full range of services and compelling content, not services alone. He thinks the Vegas Channel's wide appeal will be huge.
Digeo provides content and manages a number of TV portals. In addition to the Vegas Channel, Steeplechase Media and Digeo are working on various other interactive channels. One network already in the works is a television version of a Steeplechase-run Web site called Television.com. Offering much the same content as the Web site, the enhanced television program will serve as a TV portal, offering a variety of interactive and enhanced programming and services.
Namer said one of the latest developments is an interactive show called WeirdTV that features weird shows and things that happen on television from all over the world.
Steeplechase founders are all Hollywood veterans, including Larry Namer, who helped found E-Entertainment television. All of the Steeplechase-Digeo programming channels are geared toward the new interactive technologies, including but not limited to set-top boxes.

Don Collins is a freelance writer and consumer electronic enthusiast.