Zap2it

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Zap2it is an American national website and extensive affiliate network offering a community of entertainment fans up-to-the-minute news, rich photos and video plus fast local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services (TMS), part of the Publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company. Top Zap2it affiliates include Cox, Dish Network, Disney, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.

[edit] History

TMS first began to offer online listings services as a content provider to online pioneers such as Prodigy in the late 1980s and America Online in the early 1990s. TMS launched its first branded online TV listings service (TV Quest) in 1993 on the AppleLink online service. TV Quest later migrated to Apple’s eWorld services and to the Web in the mid-1990s.

Version 1.0 of Zap2it debuted on the web in May, 2000. In its earliest iteration, the site was a roll-up of TMS-owned listings sites TVQuest and MovieQuest plus the then-recently-purchased content site UltimateTV.

UltimateTV, a recognized leader in the TV space and recipient of accolades from Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Yahoo!, offered fans and industry-insiders breaking news, timely Nielsen ratings, live celebrity chats and more. The site was one of the first to showcase network-provided video clips, interviews and promos in its appropriately-named Promo Lounge area.

The earliest Zap2it focused on three areas: TV, movies and original web-based content. The site was a one-stop shop offering original editorial along with listings information for the small screen, the big screen and the computer screen. Zap2it was among the first to recognize the burgeoning interest on the part of entertainment fans in online content such as short films, interactive games and webisodes offered by ground-breaking sites including Atom Films, Shockwave.com and iFilm,

Zap2it’s TV listings and movie showtimes were powered by TMS data while its web listings were powered by Yack data.

Editorial pages of the site including the front page were redesigned in 2001. Then, in early 2003, the editorial focus of Zap2it was narrowed down to TV and movies and the site was again redesigned. An agreement with Fandango struck in 2005 allowed for the introduction of online movie ticketing for select theaters. Blogs including “It Happened Last Night” offering timely show recaps were first launched in 2006 and expanded thereafter. In 2007, Zap2it launched “click-to-record” functionality allowing users with TiVo DVRs to remotely schedule recordings directly from within the Zap2it TV listings.

[edit] Product development

In early 2007, Zap2it released enhanced TV listings on its flagship site. Upgrades to the product included improved performance, better customization capabilities and the introduction of sharing tools and a user rating system. Following a successful testing period, the TV listings product was soon made available to affiliates.

In 2008, an improved Movie showtimes product was developed and introduced on the flagship site. It more prominently showcased movie trailers and offered expanded cast and crew lists which linked to Celebrity profile pages. These profiles are currently being expanded and will bridge the gap between TV showcard and Movie information.

[edit] Editorial development

In February 2009, Zap2it was tapped to play an expanded role within Tribune Company.^[1] The site became the central aggregator of entertainment content produced by Tribune-owned online properties including latimes.com, The Envelope, chicagotribune.com and others. As part of this development, a major site redesign was planned for midyear 2009.

[edit] References