Videophoning: Live on Television from Your Living Room

In addition, costs for the transmissions could be kept down to the 49 euro cents normally charged for cell phone calls.

The partnership with the FremantleMedia subsidiary Grundy, which produces the German version of "American Idol" and other shows, is expected to lead to new broadcasting formats on German TV in the near future. A new type of game show has in fact already been offered to German commercial television broadcasters.

People who do not own a UMTS cell phone can use the Surpass Home Entertainment system and a DSL connection to directly participate in game shows via their own television. The resolution provided by the broadband DSL connection even makes it possible to transmit a full-screen image of the contestant. Image resolution via the UMTS connection is of lower quality, however.

Surpass Home Entertainment allows any television to be linked to the Internet, thus enabling clear video telephony as well as transmission of text and multimedia messages on the TV screen. The ability of viewers to influence the outcome of TV shows will lead to greater fun and entertainment when watching television. This concept can also be used with pay-per-view and video-on-demand.