Sky to Receive Pioneer Prize at International Interactive Emmys

NEW YORK, March 12: The International Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences today announced the 11 nominees for this year’s
International Interactive Emmy Awards, where BSkyB will receive the Pioneer
Prize.

Actor Roger Bart is returning to host the event, taking
place April 18 during MIPTV featuring MILIA in Cannes. The event will honor
achievements in three categories: Interactive Program, Interactive Channel and
Interactive TV Service.

Up for Interactive Program are BBC Children’s Level Up; Xenophile Media’s Extended Reality Game for Regenesis; marblemedia/NFB/Bravo! Canada’s Shorts in
Motion: The Art of Seduction; and Lost the
Plot Productions/Zinc Roe Design’s Zimmer Twins.

The Interactive Channel nods went to Canada’s BITE
Television, and the U.K.’s Movies Now, operated by Video Networks, and Win Win
TV, from Two Way Media.

For Interactive Service, meanwhile, the contenders are BBCi
in the U.K., the BigPond Windows Media Center Movie Downloads for Viiv in
Australia, Chellomedia’s Sport 1 iTV Service and Israel’s Xrace.

The event will also present a special honor, known as the
Pioneer Prize, to BSkyB. According to Bruce Paisner, the president and CEO of
the International Academy, the Pioneer Prize is being presented to Sky for its
“innovative contributions to the field of interactive television.”

Sophie Turner-Laing, the MD of entertainment at BSkyB, will
accept on behalf of the company. She commented: "BSkyB is proud of its
commitment to innovation and of continually embracing new technologies to
enhance its delivery of content. As an entertainment company we look towards
technology as a route through which to offer our customers a better television
experience. Interactivity is a cornerstone of that philosophy and we are
enormously pleased that that commitment has been recognized with this award.”