News Round-Up (V): Hulu, Sony, Jivox, Luxoft (EBIF), Microsoft

The [itvt] editorial team is on the road this week and next, so we are covering most stories in round-up/summary form, and we anticipate that there will be some additional interruptions of our regular news publishing schedule beyond that. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers.

• Sony has announced that its PlayStation3 will be the "first and only" games console to offer Hulu's recently announced premium service, Hulu Plus, in 2010. A Hulu Plus preview, priced at $9.99 per month, is currently available to select members of the PlayStation Plus service, and the general consumer release of Hulu Plus on the PlayStation3 is set to occur "in the coming months," Sony says. According to the company, Hulu Plus will also eventually be available on a range of its connected devices, including Bravia TV's and Blu-ray players.
• Interactive broadband video advertising technology provider, Jivox (note: for an overview of the interactive advertising formats offered by the company, including formats that integrate social media, see the article published on itvt.com, January 20th), has announced that its revenues grew by 400% in the second quarter (compared to the second quarter of 2009), and that its platform is now being used by over 40 media groups, including eight of the top-50 media companies in the US. The company has also just announced that Lee Enterprises, which operates 49 daily newspapers and 300 specialty publications in 23 states, is now using its interactive online video advertising platform.
• Russian tru2way/EBIF application developer, Luxoft, has announced the publication of a set of free tutorials for EBIF developers. "The tutorials are designed to give easy, step-by-step instructions for developers that work on common EBIF applications," the company states in its press materials. "Topics that are covered in the tutorials include two-way communication, creating dynamic content, entering text from remote control and more." The tutorials are available both on Luxoft's and on OEDN's Web sites.
• Microsoft has announced the cancellation of "1 vs 100 Live," the avatar-driven interactive TV game show that it offered on its Xbox Live service (note: for a detailed description of "1 vs 100 Live," see the article published on itvt.com, February 3rd). The company issued the following statement on the cancellation: "After two successful seasons, '1 vs 100' on Xbox Live will not be returning for Season 3. This pioneering show, which combined the best of TV experiences and interactive video games, was a ground-breaking pilot in an entertainment genre that will continue to grow and evolve. During the Beta season, more than 114,000 people played '1 vs 100' on Xbox Live simultaneously, setting an official Guinness world record for the most contestants in a game show. 'When we started on this journey, we knew we were creating an entirely new genre of entertainment that would be a continually evolving concept,' said Dave McCarthy, general manager, Microsoft Game Studios. 'We're very proud of the "1 vs 100" team and their accomplishments, and are excited to apply what we've learned to future programming." The '1 vs 100' team is now focusing their skills and applying the technology used to develop '1 vs 100' to new projects that will be unveiled in the future."