Big Brother, the latest in a wave of reality TV programs which pits captive housemates against each other on public television, is using M-Web Business Solutions to move beyond simple TV and deliver public access and interactivity through new media on the Internet and on cellphones.
M-Web Business Solutions has created multi-platform media delivery for Big Brother which includes e-mail and SMS in addition to the regular Web site.
M-Web Business Solutions developed the front- and back-end of the site, which includes design and hosting, as well as maintenance on an ongoing basis. Content management has been made easy for M-Net, which has the television rights for the event, by allowing content updates to be made once via one central repository, which then automatically updates the content on all the platforms. The company has also ensured that hardware infrastructure can handle the high level of traffic expected through measures such as load balancing on Web servers.
"As a result of the Web application, Big Brother will be a 24-hour multimedia experience," says Eddie van Rensburg, GM of M-Web Business Solutions. "Through this project, M-Web Business Solutions pioneered the concept of `continuous real-time` media content across a range of devices. This means that, for the first time in SA, consumers will be able to watch the programme on television, view live video streams and daily video highlights 24-hours-a-day on the Web site, get updates via SMS and e-mail, and browse the site via telephone."
According to Van Rensburg, SpeechHTML technology will allow users to navigate the Web site over the phone and have Web page text read out to them.
The official site goes live as soon as the participants enter the house on 26 August and will replace the existing pre-launch Web site. The fully interactive solution enables anyone with a computer, cellphone or telephone to make use of the Big Brother site at www.bigbrothersa.com.
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