MyPrimeTime pioneers enhanced television programming with interactive tools for PBS TV series "Great Entrepreneurs."

San Francisco (January 23, 2001)--Having already achieved great success with Detroit public television viewers using MyPrimeTime's Web administration kit while viewing "Great Entrepreneurs," MyPrimeTime is moving rapidly to implement a new programming initiative that underscores how quickly enhanced television is gaining momentum.

MyPrimeTime has developed enhanced content based on open Internet and broadcast standards, and as such is compatible with the Liberate TV Platform™ and Microsoft TV. With interactive TV software, viewers will be able to click an onscreen icon and access information embedded in the show.

For example, while watching "Great Entrepreneurs" viewers will be able to test their perceptions about themselves using MyPrimeTime-generated polls and quizzes. They'll also be able to compare how they scored versus the business tycoon "Great Entrepreneurs" is profiling at that very moment on television.

"MyPrimeTime's high-quality, original programming makes for compelling interactive content," said Erik Smith, director of developer relations, Liberate Technologies. "Viewers watching "Great Entrepreneurs" on PBS can enrich their experience thru interactive features, learning more about successful entrepreneurs and how to apply those lessons in their own lives."

While interactive television is just beginning to hit the market, industry sources predict that 27 percent of U. S. households will have interactive television by 2003 and that $7 billion in goods and services will be bought through interactive TV by the same year.

"This is a great leap forward in interactive television," said Craig Forman, CEO of MyPrimeTime, Inc. "With our partners, we're pioneering a new kind of audience collaboration, millions of viewers can get personal benefit and insight for their own lives by using these interactive tools while the show is on the air."

"Great Entrepreneurs" is a weekly television series co-produced by MyPrimeTime, Inc. and public television's Nightly Business Report that compares and contrasts the business moguls of yesterday with today's leaders of the New Economy.