ZillionTV has announced a new “personalized television” Internet television service.

Through agreements with Hollywood studios and TV networks, ZillionTV plans to offer an extensive array of entertainment content; targeted and addressable advertising; and, television commerce, letting you make purchases through your television.

The ZillionTV Service, currently in its Beta phase, will offer instant, subscription-free access to entertainment content from Hollywood studios and TV networks, tapping the libraries of Disney, 20th Century Fox Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. All content is offered on-demand and delivered directly to the television set via a common high-speed Internet connection.

Users will pay a one-time, initial service activation fee to receive the ZillionTV Device and motion-sensing ZillionTV Remote control.

Missing from ZillionTV’s announcement is any discussion of user-generated content and indie content. The Internet audience has clearly shown their interest in long-tail content, making YouTube, by far, the most popular Internet video destination. This is likely to be a stumbling block to adoption.

More details below.

Targeted Advertising

ZillionTV viewers select advertising categories based on their interests and preferences … and, as a result, get ads that are more personally relevant when selecting to watch ad-supported content. The service also allows advertisers to target audiences by geography, demographics, consumer preferences, and viewing behavior.

In addition, through the ZillionTV Service, advertisers are no longer confined by 30-, 60- or 90-second television spots – a 30-second commercial is just as welcome as a three-minute, episodic video. I

Advertising campaign business models such as cost-per-click, cost-per-action and revenue-sharing, already in practice on the Web, will become available to ZillionTV advertisers on the television. In addition, from the onset ZillionTV offers tangible metrics that link media spends to actual results, and link commercial viewing to purchase data – making calculating a TV campaign’s return-on-investment easier than ever.

ZillionTV is conducting field trials in multiple markets nationwide and will continue a market-to-market roll-out strategy throughout 2009.