iCueTV plans to launch interactive television platform in fourth quarter

Imagine seeing a product you want on a favorite television show and using your remote to view more information, download accompanying audio and video, and purchase it without leaving the comfort of your couch.
It could happen sooner than you expect.
In May, Cherry Hill-based iCueTV met with peers at a cable television industry conference held in Colorado to test its plug ‘n’ play interactive cable platform that can do just that, according to a press release.
A convention hall was transformed into a small town – complete with cars parked on the street and a fake supermarket – and a cable signal was broadcast from Washington, D.C. Onlookers could pick up a remote and test the interactive capabilities of the technology.
iCueTV President and Founder Michael Huegel says it was an industry first.
Since the demo, iCueTV has been testing in Comcast Media Center‘s labs and is building up “slowly but surely” to a planned fourth quarter deployment, when users could start seeing it in their homes. In select markets, of course. Huegel did not indicate if Philly will be a test market.
Huegel took a break from a move into a nearby office space to speak to Technically Philly last week.
In two-and-a-half years since it was founded, iCue has moved three times. The company started in the back of a small law firm, moved over a small pizza shop, moved into their current digs, and now with 40 employees, they’re moving up again, opting to stay in Cherry Hill.
Huegel, who calls himself a serial entrepreneur, says it was inspiration from his sister-in-law that put iCueTV into motion.
She was watching a Jennifer Anniston movie, Huegel says, when she was enticed by wristwatch Anniston was wearing. She wished she could pick up the remote and purchase the watch from her TV.
“That stuck with me. I began researching why set-top boxes hadn’t reached a point that you can really interact with them. Turned out that companies had been trying to do it since the 80s. Set-top boxes in the industry weren’t any smarter than a toaster,” he says.
“Where there’s chaos there’s opportunity,” he says.
But before tru2way, a new industry standard championed by cable operators and manufacturers that lets users interact with their television in innovative ways, there was only chaos.
Comcast is currently demonstrating Sony’s first tru2way television at Sony Style Comcast Labs retail store in the Comcast Center, which we visited in March.
iCueTV is utilizing the technology to create new avenues for commerce-driven interactivity, including interactive program product placement, in-television marketing, voting and polling.
For consumers, this means being able to purchase a clothing item or accessory they see their favorite Gossip Girl wearing, or voting with a remote control instead of a cell phone on shows like American Idol and America’s Best Dance Crew. For content providers, this means allowing instant lead generation and product ordering directly from the television set.
“The person advertising not only has opportunity to introduce product, but turn it into a merchandising event. It’s compelling to anyone who produces television programming or commercials or infomercials,” Huegel says.