Ricki Lake to stream production meeting live on Facebook

Ricki Lake is coming back to TV, premiering on The Ricki Lake Show in September. In the meantime, her crew is hard at work on the syndicated show, and they’ll be streaming an hour-long interactive meeting on Facebook today (Thursday) at 7 p.m. ET. During the stream, users can ask questions, and Lake and her producers will answer them live. “We want you guys to be producers of the show,” Lake explains. “We want your input. We want you to be active participants in this project and create the show that you want to see.”

ACTV8.me adds second screen loyalty program via Tango Card

Fresh off new partnerships with FOX and Oxygen, the second screen platform ACTV8.me is rolling out a loyalty program aimed at rewarding TV viewers. Powered by Tango Card, a virtual currency that can be redeemed for gift cards, ACTV8 says it will provide “real rewards” to encourage TV viewers to watch shows and engage with the app during the broadcast — and the commercial breaks. Rewards span Amazon, Fandango, The Gap, Target, Nike, Starbucks and more.

KNBC live-tweeting the LA riots for 20th anniversary

Ever wonder how some of the most memorable breaking news stories would play out on Twitter? The NBC-owned TV station in Los Angeles has launched the Twitter account @RealTimeLARiots to replay the Rodney King trial and the LA riots twenty years later. “With the 20th anniversary coming up, there is a ton of coverage out there, so we were looking for a unique way to tell the story…”

MTV to gamify the election with ‘Fantasy Election 12?

MTV is planning to launch an ambitious election game that incorporates real-life actions by candidates and players alike, merging journalism fact-checking with social media. “Fantasy Election 12″ — which has yet to launch — features an incredible list of partners, ranging from Politifact and RealClearPolitics to GetGlue and Foursquare. And the Knight Foundation is funding a chunk of the project.

Shazam expands into Spanish-language TV with Telemundo deal

In its first partnership with a Spanish-language broadcaster, Shazam said it will be enabling viewers of Thursday night’s Billboard Latino Music Awards on Telemundo to tag the event for expanded content. Viewers can learn more about their favorite artists walking the red carpet, find links to videos and photos, and buy music directly through the Shazam app.

Tablets outpacing computers as place to watch TV shows [study]

People who own tablets watch more full-length TV programming on their devices than their computers, finds a new study by Viacom. “In just a few years, tablets have risen to second-screen prominence for full-length TV show viewing, ahead of computers. Yet, television still provides the better experience,” explains Stuart Schneiderman with Viacom Media Networks. The study found that tablet owners spend 15% of their time spent watching full-length TV (FLTV) shows on a tablet. Viacom’s research went beyond…

Shazam signs exclusive advertising partnership with ITV

The battle over the second screen is heating up in the UK. The content-recognition app Shazam, which has been aggressively expanding into TV, has signed a exclusive deal in the UK with broadcaster ITV. Under the deal, ITV’s sales team can offer advertisers the ability to make their spots “Shazamable” for coupons and other content, undoubtedly for an additional fee.

NAB wrap-up: Social features creep into TV production gear

Over a decade ago, Lost Remote was the first blog to cover the National Association of Broadcasters convention — a huge showcase of television technology in Las Vegas — about how the internet was changing the business. This year, I returned to NAB to see how social TV is impacting production, from tech to workflow. Like the late 90s with the internet, it’s still early, but social TV is beginning to make inroads. “There are so many technology providers here, and the interest in social TV is disproportionate to the innovation,” said Sam Decker, CEO of Mass Relevance….

Briefs: Facebook, NBC Olympics, Google TV, Netflix

Some social TV stories from around the web today: – Facebook tests “trending articles” to encourage users to try social apps (InsideFB) – NBC says it plans to stream everything that moves at the Olympics (NYT) – Google TV debuts “trending shows” based on Google searches (Google Blog) – The future of Netflix isn’t just [...]

NAB: BreakingNews expands to TV with on-screen alerts

Every so often, there’s something at my “real job” at BreakingNews that I can’t resist sharing. Today, our team launched a Samsung TV app that brings breaking news alerts to your TV, over any live channel you’re watching. When a story breaks, a ticker appears, scrolls the alert and disappears a few seconds later. The Breaking News app also features a consistent ticker of the moment’s biggest stories, and you can set…

NAB: Never.no debuts social media prompter for TV talent

Producing live TV is tricky enough, but add real-time social media to the mix, and it can be downright difficult. The social TV startup Never.no has rolled out a new product here at NAB that aims to make it easier for on-air talent to react to social media without waiting for a producer to add it to a script. Called “Prompter,” it runs on an iPad app. “It’s a second version of a companion app, but specifically for presenters,” said Never.no’s Scott Davies, who showed us how it works…

NAB: Yap.tv rolls out a sync platform for networks, producers

We’re here in Las Vegas for the annual NAB convention, and the social TV news is coming fast and furious. Among them, Yap.tv announced this morning that it’s offering content producers and networks the ability to sync their content directly to Yap.tv’s app — for free. In other words, Yap.tv is allowing others to create second-screen experiences inside its app, powered by audio fingerprinting technology through a new partnership with Audible Magic.

The Daily Show launches new app (but no full shows)

The Daily Show has rolled out a new iPhone, iPad and Android app called “Daily Show Headlines” with lots of video, social sharing features, “personalized tune-in reminders” and backgrounder on episodes and the show itself. For iOS users with Apple TVs, it uses AirPlay to let you watch clips on the big screen. But as the name might suggest, the app doesn’t feature full episodes. For that, you’ll have to shell out some cash on iTunes.

Briefs: ESPN, morning shows, Monterosa, Facebook

A few more social TV stories from around the web today… – ESPN wants to own the second-screen for sports – without all the TV rights pacts (Ad Week) – TODAY’s Palin beats Couric’s GMA in the social TV battle (Ad Age) – Social TV startup Monterosa rolling out a second-screen platform, partners with Zeebox [...]

MLB hits 3 million app downloads 8 days into season

MLB’s At Bat app, which baseball fans can use with or without television, has flown off the virtual shelves. According to MLB, the app has been downloaded 3 million times just 8 days into the season — last year, the app hit that milestone after 145 days, three-quarters of the way through the season.

Clearly, sports fans like their apps. “At Bat returned with its fifth edition in February to such strong fan demand that within a matter of hours the app rose to become the highest grossing sports application for iPhone, iPad and Android, top spots it currently maintains,” explains MLB.

KOMU scales back social media inside innovative TV show

KOMU has been leading the way in incorporating real-time social media elements into a live TV news broadcast, especially around Google+ Hangouts. Last September, the station launched News_U, which incorporated Hangouts on air along with other ways for the audience to participate. Anchor Sarah Hill grew a huge Google+ following across the globe. But now KOMU “plans to scale back on how we present interactivity…

Tablets are the new ‘couch computer’ for TV viewers

There have been no shortage of studies (click our research tab) on how TV viewers are engaging with the second screen, and today Forrester has released it’s own report focused on the TV-tablet connection. “Tablets are displacing PCs and smartphones as the ‘couch computer’ of choice,” writes Forrester’s Sarah Rotman Epps, citing Nielsen data we reported earlier this week. That study found that 85% of US tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV.

20-somethings switch between media 27 times an hour

For those who may have doubted that incredible photo of teens in front of TV we shared a few weeks ago, there’s new research that illustrates the fast-paced, media-shifting minds of younger consumers. A study commissioned by Time Warner found that “digital natives” — people in their 20s — switched media venues 27 times a non-working hour (for example, switching from TV to phone while sitting on the couch.) That’s 13 times during a 30-minute TV show.

Betty White joins Twitter just in time for new TV show

Updated: Valerie Bertinelli claims to have spoken with Betty White who didn’t know she had a Twitter account. “An account was opened on her behalf by her people,” Bertinelli tweeted, adding that White was just notified about it today. If that’s the case, the first three tweets would have been written by marketers, not Betty White.

Twitter leads social TV’s public conversation, but varies by show

In a white paper for March, Trendrr breaks down the public social conversation around television: 69% of the activity stemmed from Twitter, 16% from GetGlue (its highest month) and 15% from Facebook’s publicly-available comments (keep in mind, the vast majority of Facebook’s conversation is private and not measured.) For the month, The Voice and Pretty Little Liars led the shows in social activity — both are strong on Twitter — while The Simpsons and The Walking Dead performed well on Facebook.