CTAM Suggests On-Demand User Interface

The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing's On Demand Consortium released a set of icons that it hopes cable operators will incorporate with user interfaces for on-demand programming.

The icons -- including fast-forward, high-speed fast-forward and rewind -- may also be used by operators for digital-video-recorder user interfaces, CTAM vice president of marketing Tania Mennes Jones said.

The icons are available online (www.ctam.com/on_demand/icons.htm).

Jones said no cable operators are currently using the icons, but Comcast Corp. is expected to use them in a new interactive programming guide being developed by its Guideworks joint venture with Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.

Additional icons released by CTAM include graphics for play, search, stop, favorites, special offers, HDTV and wide-screen formats. The consortium also developed an on-demand category icon that could be used in consumer marketing campaigns.