Pushbutton

Pushbutton was a British digital agency focused on interactive television and related connected-media services. Established in 2002 as Push Button Limited by former BSkyB executives Sheila Creak, Paula Byrne, and Aly Khalifa, the company emerged from the early development of interactive television in the United Kingdom. Its founders had experience with the Open interactive television platform, a collaborative venture involving BSkyB, BT, Matsushita, and HSBC that later evolved into Sky Active after Sky acquired the other partners' interests. This background gave Pushbutton practical expertise in building services for television set-top boxes, broadcast platforms, and the emerging relationship between television programming and online interactivity. The company's work covered both technical development and creative design. It built interactive applications for digital satellite platforms, particularly services running on OpenTV middleware in BSkyB's set-top-box environment, as well as broadband and internet-connected television systems. Its projects included voting, competitions, chat, games, gambling-related services, television schedules, sports results, advertising experiences, and complete channel or programme services. Pushbutton also worked with systems and tools including WTVML, GEOFF-based interactive applications, broadcaster APIs, content-management systems, and automated broadcast-compilation and delivery environments. Pushbutton expanded its team and capabilities during the 2000s. James Cumberbatch, another former BSkyB employee, joined as development director in 2004 and became a co-owner. That year the company opened a design studio in Brighton. It subsequently added more former BSkyB personnel and broadened its work beyond core interactive television engineering into interactive advertising and end-to-end services for broadcasters and channels. The company later moved its operations from Brighton to Soho in London in 2007, relocated its main offices to St John Street in Smithfield in early 2008, and maintained an administrative office in Harpenden. Its client work included major UK broadcasters and media companies such as ITV, Sky, BBC, Disney Channel, National Geographic Channel, BT Vision, Virgin Interactive, and LOVEFiLM. It also undertook projects for Foxtel in Australia, Kodak, Guinness, Diageo, Camelot, and Microsoft Mediaroom-related services. ITV was described as Pushbutton's largest client for several years. From 2004 to 2007, the agency created interactive services associated with prominent ITV programmes including The X Factor, Coronation Street, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Emmerdale, This Morning, and ITV's World Cup coverage. In March 2011 Pushbutton introduced pbRemote and pbTV, products intended to connect television viewing with mobile and tablet devices. It also announced a partnership with Grooveshark, a US music-streaming service. On 28 July 2011 Amazon.com acquired Pushbutton. Following the acquisition, many Pushbutton employees became part of Amazon Development Centre (London) Ltd. The standalone Pushbutton business therefore ceased to operate as an independent brand, although its staff and technical experience continued within Amazon's London development organisation.

Pushbutton was founded in 2002 as Push Button Limited by Sheila Creak, Paula Byrne, and Aly Khalifa, all of whom had backgrounds at BSkyB. Its origins were closely connected with the development of interactive television in the United Kingdom. Before founding the company, Paula Byrne led work on interactive applications and services for the Open platform, a joint interactive-television venture involving BSkyB, BT, Matsushita, and HSBC. After BSkyB acquired the other partners' interests, the platform developed into Sky Active. The founders carried this specialist knowledge into Pushbutton, which focused on making television programming interactive through set-top boxes, broadcast platforms, and connected services. Pushbutton initially concentrated on digital satellite television, especially applications designed for set-top boxes using OpenTV middleware. Its work later expanded into broadband and internet-based television environments. The agency designed and developed applications for programme voting, competitions, peer-to-peer chat, sports results, schedules, gaming, gambling-related services, interactive advertising, and other data-driven experiences. It also created supporting content-management and server integrations that allowed television applications to exchange information with broadcaster and service-provider systems. In 2004 James Cumberbatch joined Pushbutton as development director. Like the founders, he had previously worked at BSkyB, and he later became a co-owner. The same year, Pushbutton established a design studio in Brighton and continued to recruit people with broadcast and interactive-media experience. Its technical work included OpenTV software-development tools, WTVML for Sky's WapTV environment, XML-based services associated with the GEOFF application framework, broadcaster-supplied code libraries, and automated systems for compiling and delivering interactive television applications. The company also became involved in the development of ITV's interactive services. Pushbutton personnel helped with template development and the direction of the GEOFF platform and subsequently designed and built interactive services for major ITV programmes. Between 2004 and 2007, its work included services connected with The X Factor, Coronation Street, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Emmerdale, This Morning, and ITV's World Cup coverage. Other clients and projects included Sky, Disney Channel, National Geographic Channel, BT Vision, BBC iPlayer, Microsoft Mediaroom, Virgin Interactive, LOVEFiLM, Foxtel, Kodak, Guinness, Diageo, and Camelot. Pushbutton changed locations as it grew. Operations moved from Brighton to Carlisle Street in Soho in 2007, while the main offices moved again to St John Street in Smithfield, London, in early 2008. The company also maintained an administrative office in Harpenden. From 2007 through 2010 it won substantial projects or pitches involving Disney, National Geographic, Foxtel, Diageo, Sky, BBC, ITV, and Camelot. In March 2011, Pushbutton released pbRemote and pbTV, products that reflected the growing importance of mobile devices and second-screen interaction in television. It announced a partnership with Grooveshark the following day. On 28 July 2011 Amazon.com acquired the company. After the transaction, many former Pushbutton staff became part of Amazon Development Centre (London) Ltd., ending Pushbutton's existence as an independent operating agency.

• 2011

  Launch of pbRemote and pbTV

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  Pushbutton introduces two products aimed at linking television viewing with mobile and tablet devices.

• 2011

  Acquisition by Amazon.com

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  Amazon.com acquires Pushbutton on 28 July, with many staff moving into Amazon Development Centre (London) Ltd.

• 2008

  Main office moves to Smithfield

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  Pushbutton moves its main offices to St John Street in Smithfield, London, while retaining an administrative office in Harpenden.

• 2007

  Move to Soho and broader client work

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  The company relocates operations to Carlisle Street in Soho and wins or undertakes major work for clients including Disney, National Geographic, Foxtel, Sky, BBC, ITV, and Camelot.

• 2004

  Development leadership and Brighton studio

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  James Cumberbatch joins as development director and later becomes a co-owner; Pushbutton establishes a design studio in Brighton.

• 2002

  Pushbutton is founded

  [1]Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org

  Sheila Creak, Paula Byrne, and Aly Khalifa establish Push Button Limited as an interactive-television agency.

A specialist digital agency combining broadcast-platform engineering, user-interface design, and interactive television service delivery for broadcasters, channels, advertisers, and media companies.

• Mobile television companion application · 2011

  pbRemote

  A Pushbutton product released in 2011 to provide remote-control functionality for television through compatible mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Android hardware. It represented the company's move toward second-screen interaction between conventional television services and consumer mobile devices.

• Television listings and information application · 2011

  pbTV

  A 2011 Pushbutton product designed for mobile and tablet access to television listings and channel information. It extended the agency's interactive-TV expertise beyond the set-top box and into companion experiences for viewers using portable screens.

• Broadcast and digital television services

  Interactive television services

  Pushbutton created interactive services for satellite and broadband television platforms. These services included voting, competitions, chat, programme information, sports results, games, and other applications connected to broadcasters' content and back-end systems.

• Interactive advertising

  Interactive advertising services

  The agency expanded into interactive advertising, applying its set-top-box and connected-media capabilities to branded television experiences and audience-response features for advertisers and media clients.

• 2011

  Launch of pbRemote and pbTVProduct launch

  Background

  Television audiences were increasingly using mobile and tablet devices alongside traditional screens.

  Action taken

  Pushbutton released pbRemote and pbTV on 22 March 2011 as companion products for television control, listings, and channel information.

  Aftermath

  The products were among the company's final publicly described launches before its acquisition by Amazon later in 2011.

  Source

• 2011

  Acquisition by Amazon.comM&A

  Background

  Pushbutton had developed expertise in interactive television, connected media, and digital service delivery for major broadcasters and media companies.

  Action taken

  Amazon.com acquired Pushbutton on 28 July 2011.

  Aftermath

  Many Pushbutton employees joined Amazon Development Centre (London) Ltd., and the independent Pushbutton operation came to an end.

  Source

1. 1Pushbuttonen.wikipedia.org