BSkyB finally launched their SkyNewsActive special elections enhancements to the application on the
SkyDigital platform Thursday in time for the election (in case you weren't watching, Labour -
Tony Blair won). Additions to the existing SNA application included party information on the 3
leaders, the latest results, and video highlights on demand and video of the main election program.
See http://www.itvt.com/sky.html and http://www.itvt.com/sky2.html. In the opinion of
one of our UK [itvt] observers, "it is not very special - a lot of hype designed for die hard
politico's. The problem is that the user cannot select the results they want to see using the
app - they [the video highlight] cycle round and you have to wait for the one you want. On ITV
Digital's election info only app developed by BBC News in conjunction with BBC New Media
called Vote 2001 Interactive Election Special, the viewer was able to click the red button on
the remote shrinking the screen to select from the following: "Results" - A-Z for all
constituencies in real time; "Battlegrounds" - territories the parties needed to win; "Swing
with Snow" - The swingometer made famous by Peter Snow that showed support or non-support
for certain issues; "State of the parties" - breakdown of Parliament's seats; "Share of
the Vote" - poll turnout per party; "Turnout and Votes" - info on who went to the polls;
"Latest Prediction" -forecasts as the evening progressed; "Latest news headlines" - latest
news; "What's happening" - timetable of events for the election; and "Quiz" - an interactive
trivia quiz.