Motorola and FOX Sports Team up for Wireless iTV

Reprinted from a Motorola press release:

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — FOXSports.com and Motorola will make “armchair” football coaches out of mobile phone users during the upcoming championship games by giving FOX Sports television viewers the ability to register their opinions and game play predictions through Internet-ready wireless devices in addition to personal computers.

Virtual Coach on the FOXSports.com website enables cutting-edge viewers to vote on action from the game, controversial moments in the game or to make other predictions. Now, with technology from Motorola and Proteus, a leading Internet development and consulting firm, fans will be able to vote without leaving the couch with just a few clicks on the keypad of any web-enabled wireless device.

Further enhancing the experience, those who use their Internet-ready wireless devices during timeouts will also be able to play exclusive football-themed episodes of two popular trivia game shows: SMUSH and the best-selling, award winning You Don’t Know Jack. Both games were created and developed by Jellyvision, Inc. Hungry fans can also check out Dominos menu items and specials and then order their favorite pizza via Motorola’s mobile shopping technology for web-enabled devices. Whether they are voting, playing games or ordering pizza, fans won’t have to leave the comfort of their couches.

FOXSports.com’s highly popular virtual polling feature debuted during the 2001 Major League Baseball World Series, with questions like, “Are the Yankees done in the Series?” and “Who has the edge going into Game 7: the Yankees or D-Backs?” Over 100,000 viewers participated in the online polls. FOX Sports anticipates that virtual polling will offer significant growth opportunity for the entire industry. Teaming it with wireless technology brings a new dimension to the television-viewing experience, expands the audience, and creates the possibility of new revenue for advertisers.