Renaming EBIFRenaming EBIF

10:40 AM -- The industry that gave us the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (Docsis) and the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) is apparently of the belief that the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) doesn't exactly qualify as a very good consumer-facing label for a technology that enables cable's entire universe of digital set-tops to run simple polls, interactive ads, and some gaming applications.

No argument here. EBIF kinda stinks as a consumer brand... unless the goal is to confuse people.

Just as the OpenCable Platform was officially rechristened as tru2way in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, it was mentioned several times at this week's Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) Summit in Boston that cable's marketing minds are getting together to come up with a new name for EBIF, which Mark Hess, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)'s SVP of product development – video, referred to as an "application engine" during a panel on the topic. But that's clearly an functional description, and not a brand. (See Comcast, TWC Plan for EBIF.)

As a civic duty, let's all use this message board to contribute some other ideas. The catch is that you have to offer up your ideas for free.

But, we are here to help prime the pump. Todd Spangler of Multichannel News suggests "Tru2way Lite." Analyst and tech-translator extraordinaire Leslie Ellis gives us "Able Cable."

Here are some others to get the ideas percolating:

Got some other suggestions? Post them on the message board, and have fun out there.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News