blinkx announces the availability of blinkx BBTV helping add dimension and context to the viewer’s experience. Launching with a library of premium independent films and a variety of high-quality programming from existing partners, blinkx BBTV is a small download (0.5 MB) that is available free of charge starting April 2nd, 2008.

With hybrid peer-to-peer streaming and a simple, point-and-click channel interface, blinkx BBTV delivers a new kind of online television: full-screen, TV-quality and truly immersed in the Internet. Until now, Web video has simply used the Internet as a new distribution mechanism, failing to exploit its true potential. By fusing TV and other video with the Web, blinkx BBTV enables users to instantly browse or interact with online sources related to what they are watching, whether it’s Google, Wikipedia, IMDB or other Web sites offering relevant information – from news and entertainment, to travel and sports.

With the click of a mouse, BBTV enables an unprecedented level of interaction with online television. blinkx’s patented video indexing automatically creates a speech track of content within the video, making it easy for viewers to navigate literally word-for-word and jump to specific points in a program, simply by searching for a spoken word or name. While watching programs or movies on blinkx BBTV, viewers can instantly access features never before possible, including transcripts of the audio track and background information on everything from actors and personalities, to reviews and locations shown within the video. Alternatively, users can opt to sit back and watch the video full-screen, on-demand and in TV quality.

In coming months, blinkx will be adding dozens of additional channels and premium video content to the BBTV offering, and will also be working behind the scenes to power similar BBTV experiences for partner media and entertainment sites that are looking for new ways to connect with their viewers. BBTV is fully compatible with blinkx AdHoc, blinkx’s contextual advertising platform.

Key features of blinkx BBTV include:

Speech-based Navigation

Leveraging blinkx’s patented speech recognition technology, BBTV automatically creates a speech track of the video, allowing users to search through content, literally word-for-word, and jump to specific points in a program, simply by searching for a spoken word.

Full-Screen, TV Quality Experience

BBTV provides a superior user experience by leveraging hybrid peer-to-peer streaming technology to allow fast, high-quality delivery of video content. All content appearing on BBTV is delivered over an encrypted network and protected by Microsoft DRM technologies.

Clickable Video

BBTV delivers online television that is truly interactive – users can “shift-click” on a word in the speech track for additional information on a person, location or object within the video.

Automatic Web Linking

BBTV is part of the fiber of the Internet, so in the same way that information on the Web is linked to other information on the Web, video that is delivered through BBTV is connected to the universe of online content, whether it’s Google, Wikipedia, IMDB or other news, entertainment travel or sports Web sites, adding a new dimension to viewers’ experience.