• TV is constantly looking for new ways to interact with the customers. While enhancing the user experience by adding interactivity into the programming, TV-channels also need to make money short-term
• While the industry is still waiting for digital TV to allow "real" interactivity, TV-channels have found a way to bypass the technological limitations and interact with the customers in a way that is not only easy but involves a clear business model. As almost everyone has a short-message (SMS) enabled cellular phone, users can interact to what they see on television by SMS
• The first TV format successfully combining SMS and TV, the TV Chat (a phone to-TV SMS service where end-users can have their messages flashed up on the TV screen) has become a goldmine for TV-channels

• TV-Chat is an easy-to-use system for incorporating viewers‘ mobile text messages (SMS) into television programmes.
• TV-Chat can be used to make live programs more interactive or can run unattended as a standalone programme. By sending a mobile text message with a specific command (e.g. TXT.) to a specific number, television viewers can have their messages displayed on television
• This system not only provides a base for a wide range of interactive program formats, but also creates revenue and allows for collecting real-time statistics. Also, messages can be moderated before broadcasting, or they can go directly onto the screen

TV-Chat is a value-added service for your television audience. The main benefits of introducing TV-Chat on your channel are:

• Easy and quick start-up
• Multiple revenue streams (SMS-Premium - Advertising - Sponsoring)  
• Real-time statistics  
• Modular, scaleable technology

• The game was launched on SubTV in February 2002 and is transmitted daily during weekdays between 15:00 and 17:15. In a very short time, WaterWar has become the most successful and most traffic generating TV-SMS format to date
• SubTV, which is a small cable TV channel in Finland (0,8 % penetration), has experienced SMS volumes as high as a the national TV channel, MTV 3 (38%), averages with their TV Chat format, thus making WaterWar an interesting format for TV channels with less viewers as well.
• WaterWar, with its nice graphics and animated effects, is an important step for SubTV to profile itself as a quality TV channel for people that are young at heart, while at the same time make real money for the channel.