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TV's the medium of Blue Frog message(Seattle Times, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 21--Just when you thought you avoided the text-messaging trend -- think again. Text messages, or notes of 160 or fewer characters sent to and from cellphones, may be appearing in front of you, on your TV screen. Blue Frog Mobile, a two-year-old Seattle company that sells ringtones and wallpapers, is testing the concept in Detroit, Indianapolis and Phoenix, and starting today in Los Angeles. Its product, TXTV, allows viewers to send text messages that appear on the bottom of a television screen tuned to participating stations. Plans call for the service to be in more than 10 other markets in the next two months, said company President Ian Eisenberg. The service is part of Blue Frog's larger effort to become a "mobile social networking" company that can help cellphone users interact with one another. The entertainment aspects are readily apparent at the company's downtown Seattle office. Three blue frogs, a typically poisonous species, live in a corner aquarium, and a stuffed elk head wearing a blue necktie hangs in an entryway. At the office, Blue Frog demonstrates the two formats for TXTV. On a flat-panel screen, a music video plays in the background, while a bar across the bottom displays scrolling text that says "Go Mariners" or other short messages, which, for the most part, have nothing to do with the programming. Part of the scroll bar lets viewers know how to send a message using a number called a "short code." Blue Frog also uses those short codes to sell customers ringtones and other content without having to go through a wireless carrier. In the second version of TXTV, a music video appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, while the rest is dedicated to text messaging. On the right side, messages scroll down the screen. In the bottom left corner, people can play a game by texting in their name and the name of their love interest. A meter then ranks how compatible the two names are on a scale of 1 to 100; the answers appear to everyone watching. The fun is not free. Each text message costs 99 cents, with the proceeds divided between Blue Frog and the TV station. Employees at Blue Frog's call center in the Philippines, which houses 250 of the company's 300 staffers, carefully read and approve each message to make sure nothing inappropriate is displayed. To keep children out of trouble, Blue Frog has installed limits on the number of messages sent. It's also flexible when it comes to erasing huge fees, but it banishes those customers from participating again. In Phoenix, Blue Frog said, the music-video station KPHE on Channel 44 expects to increase the number of hours it uses the service from eight to 24 hours a day. The station gets an average 3,000 text messages a day, with more than 500 between 11 p.m. and midnight, the company said. "The broadcasters like this because it's a new source of revenue generation," said Ron Erickson, Blue Frog's chief executive. The application will continue to evolve, Erickson said. But first, Blue Frog is trying to teach viewers how to use the service and introduce it to the TV stations. Once that happens, it plans to offer new features, including creating profiles for people so that when they text message, their photo and age appear. Viewers may also be able to dictate what song is played next. The idea is not entirely new. Text-message campaigns are integrated into such popular TV shows as "American Idol." Also, MTV and other stations have experimented with putting messages on the screen sent via a chat room, said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research. "People will do anything to get on TV," Bernoff said. His one doubt about a service like this is whether it will remain popular. "The question I'd have is if there is staying power, or whether it will continue to be popular a year from now," he said. |