Up to 24 simultaneous live events were available to satellite and cable homes via Red Button , with Freeview homes getting up to two extra channels in SD, and one in HD. Over twenty four million people (42% of the UK population) watched at least 15 minutes of coverage on the BBC Red Button, which is a fantastic uptake. The reaction in the press and on Twitter has been hugely positive - thanks to everyone for their thoughts and feedback.

The home page of the service on Sky and Freesat presented an overview of the most exciting events at that moment in time, using text and still images.

The existing service carries six channels, but we needed to carry up to 24, via an interface that viewers would understand instantly.

Even though the 24 channels are available on the Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media programme guides as well as via Red Button, Red Button is the main access point for most people.

The Red Button app had to be an easy-to-use tool for those people - and add enough value that people would choose to use it even though the channels were available elsewhere. We also wanted to put HD video at the heart of Red Button – something we’ve never done before.

We focussed on two tasks - help viewers find something to watch now, and help them decide what to watch later.

We rejected other features - such as a full schedule, or news stories - that would have added complexity. During the Olympics there is live video for approximately 16 hours each day, so we focused on the one thing viewers would really want to do - watch it.

The schedule data had to be accurate 100% of the time.

In the past, Red Button applications have had a bespoke production process, separate to that used for BBC Online. Given the complexity of 24 live events, that approach would have led to inefficiency and errors.

On this occasion exactly the same content was going out online and on TV, so we were able to share production tools across both services, and drive the application from the same data services as online (blog post by Oliver Bartlett). This means time and schedule information is created once by BBC Sport staff, and updated simultaneously across Red Button, online, mobile and Connected TV. This saves money and ensures complexity is kept to a minimum.

On all platforms viewers could access an a-z of all sports, which gave an overview of everything that was covered live that day.

We worked closely with our satellite and cable partners throughout to make the application as responsive as possible, and adapt the design to the capabilities of each platform.

For example, Sky and Freesat boxes were able to display still images, so we could incorporate these into the application.

This was not possible on Virgin Media, but we were able to have a quarter-screen view of each channel available as a preview, so we incorporated this into the application.

You can see the similarities and differences in the applications from the images below.

In addition, we took advantage of HD technology to present HD video streams where the viewer’s set-top box supported them – this meant HD was made available seamlessly, and the viewer did not have to press a button to select it.

The Red Button homepage in Virgin Media homes used a mini-video window to showcase the best live events, due to the different capabilities of the cable platform.

Finally, we wanted to ensure that the Red Button service looked like our other Olympics products.

My colleague Nick Haley has previously blogged about the design thinking across 2012. This work was established when we started building Red Button, so there were design elements ready for us to adopt - in particular, the use of blue to represent live, the use of timelines to represent how much of an event had elapsed, and the use of Olympic pictograms. We hope this made it easier for users to adapt quickly to our products as they move from device to device to follow the Games.

Early designs for Red Button were based on our Connected TV app, and needed to be simplified to ensure ease-of-use and responsiveness.

We've also had feedback from users with accessibility issues - in particular, those with poor eyesight - that the application has proven easy to use for them, which we are delighted about.

The project team is overwhelmed by the reaction this application has had and we hope it enhanced your experience of the Games.

Aaron Scullion is Executive Product Manager, BBC Future Media

Related:

• Cait O’Riordan blog post on the usage of BBC Olympic services on desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TV

Update: "Connected TV" removed from title 17:04 Aug 04. Aaron has blogged about BBC Sport on Connected TV in a previous post.

Mockup of the Facebook app during play, showing the social enhancement of the video

I'm Aaron Scullion, Executive Product Manager at BBC Future Media. I'm currently working on sport and the Olympics at the BBC, and recently blogged about the new BBC Sport app for connected TVs that we launched in April. I'd like to tell you about another way we're making it possible for you to watch live video from BBC Sport.

Today, we have launched a new BBC Sport Facebook app – the details are in the press release. During the Olympics this will enable users in the UK to watch up to 24 streams of live Olympics video the BBC is broadcasting (plus BBC One, Two and Three) – directly within Facebook.

Right now, we're running the service as a beta, featuring all our live video from Wimbledon – up to six live streams, plus BBC One and Two.

This means that we can use the social functionality Facebook offers to enhance the experience.

For example, when you watch a match in Facebook, you can see how many people - and how many people you're friends with on Facebook - are watching that same event.

As well as that, the fact that you're watching the match is shared with your friends, via an update in their Facebook news feed. (You can easily remove each update with a single click if you don't want to share at a particular time).

You can also see which matches are proving most popular on Facebook, and switch to a different video stream on that basis.

We want as many licence fee payers as possible to have access to the full Olympics live video offering, and our Facebook app will offer this to viewers who may not regularly visit the BBC Sport website. As previously announced, during the Games the BBC will offer audiences more choice than ever before with up to 24 Olympic streams on cable, satellite, online and connected TV. Helping viewers find the event they want to watch is key, and our Facebook app offers another way to choose what you want to watch, by showing which events are most popular with the public, and which events your friends are watching.

We will be testing the BBC Sport app during Wimbledon, and updating it with more functionality as we go.

This is the first time the BBC has streamed content in Facebook, and we are excited to offer our audiences a social viewing experience around big sports events.

As ever, the full BBC Sport offering continues to be available at www.bbc.co.uk/sport.

In the near future we’ll blog about this app again, with more details on the technical architecture that underpins what we’ve launched today. I'd be very interested in hearing feedback from anyone who has tried the application in the comments below.

Aaron Scullion is Executive Product Manager, BBC Future Media

Mock-up of the new BBC Sport App for Connected TVs, showing live Formula 1 coverage

In my role as Executive Product Manager in BBC Future Media, I'm responsible for launching and developing BBC products - such as News and Sport - on Connected TV.

It’s a hugely exciting time to be working on such products, with the Olympics on the horizon. They are set to be the first truly digital Games and last week Roger Mosey announced that 2,500 hours of live Olympics coverage will be available in HD, via BBC Red Button and 24 dedicated channels.

My main focus for the past year has been working out how we would also make this content – which will also be available on the BBC Sport website - available on internet-connected TVs.

As such, I'm pleased to announce that today we have launched the BBC Sport app for connected TVs, enabling audiences to access the BBC’s interactive coverage of major sporting events via the BBC Red Button.

At first, the app will be available via the red button on the Virgin Media TiVo platform. This brings the service into over 500,000 homes, and provides Virgin Media TiVo viewers with access to a BBC Red Button service for the first time. Later in the year, a wider range of devices will offer the service - more details to follow.

Mock-up of the new BBC Sport App for Connected TVs, showing how the app will look between live events

Right now the application focuses on Formula 1. At any time you can watch key moments from recent races in video, as well as the entirety of the BBC’s live F1 coverage. This includes full coverage of the practice sessions (which are not broadcast on BBC One), simulcasts of qualifying heats, together with multi-feed coverage of the race itself (including our on-board camera and ‘driver tracker’ options). The BBC’s coverage of the F1 season begins on Friday 13th April.

The video walkthrough below, presented by F1 presenter Jake Humphrey, provides a quick demo of what the service has to offer.

For fans of other sports, more coverage of this year's major events - Euro 2012, Wimbledon and of course, the Olympics - will be added. More details of coverage of those events will be published on this blog nearer the time.

I'm also pleased to announce that today the BBC News connected TV service (that I blogged about before) becomes available to Virgin Media TiVo homes for the first time. The service makes up-to-date video news reports available to viewers 24 hours a day, together with a full range of text articles from the BBC News website.

The BBC News and Sport apps will continue to be made available on other connected TV devices, and as mentioned above, Sport in particular will be launching on a wide number of devices in advance of the Olympics. More details will follow later in the year.

For now, I’d be delighted to hear feedback on either the BBC News or Sport applications, and will aim to answer questions later in the week.

Aaron Scullion is Executive Product Manager, BBC Future Media

Update Jul 25 2012

I wanted to update this post to let you know that the BBC Sport application is now available on the following devices:

• Panasonic 2011 and 2012 TVs
• Samsung 2011 TVs (6000 series and upwards)
• Samsung 2012 TVs
• Sony 2012 TVs
• Sony Playstation 3
• Virgin Tivo

HD-quality coverage of the Olympics Games will be available on all devices, if you have a high-speed broadband connection.  

BBC News App running on a Sony connected TV by the BBC Blue Room

In my role as Executive Product Manager for the BBC News app for connected TV I’m responsible for bringing the product to new platforms, to ensure availability for a broader audience.

Today I want to tell you about a new launch and share some details about the way the product has been used to date.

Sony launch

The BBC News product for connected TV was launched in June 2011 on the Samsung Smart TV platform for both UK and international audiences. Later that year, we partnered with Panasonic to launch the product on their VIERA Connect TV platform in the UK .

Today, the product launches on the Sony connected TV platform in the UK.

I’m delighted that we’ve been able to get the product – now developed from BBC Future Media’s Salford base – onto three sizeable platforms so quickly after launch; audience response has been fantastic, but first a quick recap of the product and its key features.

The BBC’s approach to digital development turns around the idea of products made available across four screens.

The BBC News product experience on the web is strong following a recent redesign, and the product has been optimised for Apple and Android handheld devices also.

When building an expression of the product for connected TV we had a rich BBC News interactive heritage to borrow from. Ceefax and more recently BBC Red Button have provided rolling access to breaking news and analysis for decades.

The product we arrived at – designed to complement the BBC’s live 24-hour news channel – built on this by providing a more immersive, web video-based experience which could be navigated via the remote control.

My editorial counterpart Steve Herrmann blogged about the around-the-clock editorial curation that underpins the product at launch. My Future Media colleague Rob Hardy blogged about the technical principles shortly after.

The BBC News product for connected TV has proved popular with users, many of whom are using it in a way that complements their usage of web and mobile.

• Peak usage: Visits to the product in the UK increase significantly at weekends, and in the evening between 8pm and 11pm. This is quite different to our website, where UK usage tends to peak in the middle of weekdays.
• Content: on average, users of the product engage with 6.2 ‘pages’ per day, which could be a video or a text story, but the vast majority (around 97%) are videos.

Please continue to tell us what you think via comments under this blog.

Next steps

Analysts predict there’ll be almost 36 million TVs with built-in internet capability installed in UK homes by the end of 2016*.

We’re responding by working with manufacturers to bring our product to their platforms as quickly as possible – versions delivered to date are in HTML though the product can be repurposed for a range of operating systems. (For example, we’ve recently announced plans to bring the service to Virgin Media’s TiVo boxes).

By working with standardised products we minimise complexity for the market and keep our re-versioning costs low.

In terms of the product itself, we’re looking at ways to improve the service.

Clearly there are opportunities for increased personalisation, for instance to deliver more localised news, remember users’ favourites etc.

Many of the learnings we’ve picked up via the launch and development of the product have informed proposals for a BBC connected TV experience for London 2012 – you can imagine a similarly structured product allowing users to navigate between the multiple live streams we’ll deliver via the remote control, in an experience enriched by the quality sports journalism of BBC Sport online.

The BBC’s sixth public purpose is to deliver the benefits of emerging technologies to the public, and the benefits of the coming together of broadcast and broadband are clear – new ways for audiences to enjoy content, enhanced availability of services and programmes, and opportunities for audiences to curate their own experiences.

The BBC’s connected TV products will continue to evolve to meet this need.

Aaron Scullion is Executive Product Manager, BBC Future Media

* Source: 3 Reasons Ltd, Spring 2011. This number projects sets technically capable of connection; numbers of actual connected sets will be lower, depending on broadband penetration, consumer behaviour etc.