Rovi announces that its TV Guide widget, an application to help viewers find out information on TV shows and programs that are airing, has launched on Samsung HDTV’s Yahoo! TV Widget Engine platform. Rovi’s TV Guide widget provides viewers a snapshot of “what’s on” twenty-eight of the most popular television channels.

Now live on Samsung HDTV’s Yahoo! TV Widget platform, available on select models in Samsung’s 2009 flat-panel HDTV product lines, users can access TV program listings, descriptions and airing times by selecting the options “On Now” and “On Next” using the remote control. Users can also select from several “Hotlists” including the Daily Hotlist of popular prime-time shows, Movies, Family and Sports. Each day, these lists are hand-selected by Rovi’s editors to comprise programming that they feel viewers might find of particular interest.

“Rovi’s TV Guide Widget is an exciting addition to our Widget Gallery, and exemplifies the type of useful and engaging content that is fueling a personalized and enjoyable Connected TV user experience,” said Russ Schafer, senior director, product marketing, Yahoo! Connected TV. “Users will be thrilled to be able to easily access basic television guide programming information that they come to rely on virtually every time they turn on the TV—now packaged in an interactive Widget application that can be added to their personal profiles with the click of the remote.”

“Our customers continue to want cutting-edge services that bring rich, interactive experiences to their television screens,” said Kyung-shik Lee, vice president, Samsung Electronics. “Rovi’s television guides enable viewers to connect with the content that matters to them most, and we are very pleased to be able to offer a compact version of this capability in the form of the TV Guide widget. Our Internet@TV powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine brings consumers the ability to experience the variety of the Internet and the simplicity of television.”

“Rovi is focused on bringing intuitive solutions that help consumers connect and discover new entertainment options,” said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president, product management and marketing, Rovi Corporation. “Our TV Guide widget brings a snapshot of the familiar television guide experience to consumers, enabling them to ‘lean forward’ and interact with their TV, when they so choose."

Samsung and Yahoo! debuted their Internet-based service to Samsung televisions, "Internet@TV - Content Service,” powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, earlier this year to enable TV watchers to interact with a rich set of TV widgets of popular Internet services and online media that traditionally could only be enjoyed on a PC.