Zynga Partnership with Syacor Brings the 'TV Everywhere' Concept to Farmville

Are you a big fan of Farmville? By all reports, over 110 million people are, and at least one player has committed murder to raise money to buy tools for his virtual farm. If you play on Facebook (News - Alert), you probably like to encourage your friends to play, too. (By the way, if your friend hasn’t accepted your first 67 requests to play, that means he or she probably isn’t into it. Just a tip.)

So what if all these Farmville addicts could play the game on their televisions instead of being tethered to Facebook? Think of it: you can grow potatoes while being a couch potato yourself.

Thanks to new content partnership, you may be able to do so soon.

Game company Zynga, the maker of Farmville, has reportedly partnered with digital platform provider Synacor (News - Alert) with a goal of bringing Zynga games to the pay television providers Synacor works with. These providers include Verizon, Charter and Dish Network, who may eventually be able to offer the in-game currency required to advance in “freemium” Zynga (News - Alert) games such Zynga Poker, Words with Friends, FarmVille2, ChefVille, CityVille, Bubble Safari, Ruby Blast, and more, PC Magazine is reporting today. All in all, Synacor provides authentication services and Web-based TV services to 45 cable, satellite and telecom companies.

With the partnership, avid players of Zynga’s popular games would be able to use their credits across platforms: credits earned in Facebook, for example, could be moved to Zynga.com or to Google (News - Alert)+ so players can unlock options such as power-ups, energy and other items.

The idea of being able to cross content over from computers to mobile devices to televisions and back again with authentication technology and creating what’s known as a “TV Everywhere” environment, is hot right now. Increasingly, technology companies are breaking down the barriers between devices and ensuring that all content – movies, television, personal or group gaming, YouTube (News - Alert), etc. – can be viewed and interacted with anywhere, from any device.

Synacor, with its cloud-based platform, is one of the companies leading the charge toward the new model. And with a significant portion of the earth’s population playing either Farmville or Words with Friends, the company says the partnership makes sense.

“TV Everywhere is raising awareness of the value of authentication. It facilitates an evolving definition of the breadth of offerings MVPDs are capable of delivering to their consumers,” said Ron Frankel, CEO of Synacor, in a statement. “Games are an important extension, and Zynga’s leadership in social games makes it an ideal partner. Synacor is delighted to be working with Zynga, and this partnership will build upon an ecosystem that continues to expand the definition of the bundle for our customers,” said Ron Frankel, Synacor CEO.

As the TV Everywhere model expands and consumer demand increases, chances are, the industry will see more partnerships between authentication technology companies, content providers and telecom companies. Frankel noted that these partnerships, in which pay-TV subscribers get even more benefits and entertainment from their subscriptions, are “redefining the bundle.” Analysts see partnerships like this as a way of helping game developers and other content producers from becoming reliant on only one delivery channel.