TV Guide Launches Web Events Guide
Posted on April 13, 2001
TV Guide Inc. has announced the launch of a web guide to daily, live Internet events. The web guide is now operational on TV Guide Online. In addition, an editorial selection of Web listings can be found in the other TV Guide platforms -- TV Guide magazine, TV Guide Channel and TV Guide Interactive. With the launch of Web Guide, TV Guide enters into competition with other web event guides including Yack.com and Yahoo Events. TV Guide Inc. is owned by Gemstar-TV Guide International.
The Web Guide online will feature the most notable Web events in the familiar TV Guide ``grid'' format along with online chats, interactive games and contests. TV Guide Online has developed an event gathering system that will then feed this information to other TV Guide platforms. At launch, over 40 major event sites have signed on including CBS MarketWatch.com, RollingStone.com, Seventeen.com, Launch.com, COLUMBIArecords.com, getmusic.com, eYada.com and SciFi.com.
``This is yet another example of leveraging our brand and reach cross-platform. No brand is better positioned -- via multiple platforms, gross numbers of consumers reached on a weekly basis and a highly valued guidance heritage -- to break through on Web guidance. TV Guide is a true entertainment authority and this will allow us to do for the Internet what we did for television -- bring quality programming and information to an entertainment-hungry public,'' said Peter C. Boylan III, co-president and co-chief operating officer, Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.
The Web Guide will become a new main section of TV Guide Online and offer a complete specialized listings grid of current Web events. All listings will directly link to the Web event. The format will also allow visitors to sort through and search the events by a number of criteria including event type, event channels (sites), time, date and event categories. Categories include music, sports, television, movies, teens and news. Editorial content on notable online events in each content category will also be provided.
``Our Web Guide places live Internet events on the same entertainment level as television programs,'' said Tom Hagopian, president, TV Guide Online. ``Visitors to TV Guide Online will now be able to find the best of the Web and the best of TV in one convenient place. Internet event promoters for the first time will have the opportunity to use the powerful platforms of TV Guide to build their audiences and awareness for their specific content. We encourage their participation and look forward to forming relationships with sites committed to building audience.''
TV Guide magazine will continue to spotlight selected Web events and content in its ``Web Guide'' and ``Sitelines'' features in both its TV Guide digest and TV Guide Ultimate Cable editions. In addition to the Web listing presence online and in print, The TV Guide Channel will feature a selection of the best Web event listings as part of its daily programming. TV Guide Interactive, an on-screen guide seen in homes with digital cable, will also promote the Web Guide via interactive graphic advertisements. The viewer will be able to select ads using a remote and read information about specific websites and events listed in the Web Guide.