Echostar held the 6th Annual Interactive TV Awards last week in Englewood, Colorado, and my project CNN Enhanced (nominated previously for two Emmys) won for ‘Best ITV News Program.’ Echostar – which runs the DISH Network service – offers over 40 virtual and enhanced channels, including entertainment, news, shopping, sports, user support and games.
Yes, that’s our very own Anderson Cooper reporting live from Oscar’s trashcan, sporting a mike with a ‘GNN’ moniker on it as he taped a segment for an upcoming episode of Sesame Street. I hope Sam doesn’t get confused and mistake our gray-haired reporter/anchor with his old buddy Oscar. TVNewser reports this episode was taped this week but doesn’t air until next September. But the photo above is pretty priceless.
Well, it’s deja vu all over again, folks! CNN Enhanced on Echostar (launch, interview) has 
been announced as an Emmy Finalist for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content, this time by the National Television Academy. As those regular readers of this blog are aware, this project I spent over a year of my life managing was also nominated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for that bodies’ similar award for interactive television over the summer. Sadly (for me anyway), the award went to TiVO. But hey, at least I can say I’m a ‘two-time Emmy nominee,’ no? And maybe, just maybe, the judges will see just how spiffy our application is and give it the nod. ‘twoud be nice, indeed. And as they say, the nominees are:
The awards will be presented at the opening evening event of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday, January 8, 2007. You’ll note that we’re up against the Sopranos this time, as well as some friends over at BIAP. May the best app win!
From a story on Sunday on C|Net, pointing out new move towards adding an outlet for ‘citizen journalism’ to the flagship CNN.com site, called CNN Exchange.
On Monday, CNN is expected to announce the launch of CNN Exchange, a page on the company’s Web site that will feature user-submitted video, audio and articles.
CNN snatching page out of YouTube’s book | CNET News.com
In other CNN news, they have also launched a new 3-minute free preview of live streams from the premium Pipeline product. Nice way to sample this cool service.