VH1 is letting its television audience interact with the shows they are viewing by posting opinions, comments or questions in chat rooms using their mobile phone.

The Viacom-owned cable channel tapped mobile application development agency Mobui Corp.'s Mobui Audience Chat, a mobile group chat product that is the first chat application made specifically for television broadcasters and studios. Mobui recently launched the "Watch and Discuss Live Chat" application with VH1 that lets TV viewers use their mobile phone to chat in real time with friends, fans and celebrities while watching TV programming.

"The strategy is to really tap into the personal involvement, enthusiasm and energy level that the audience has with reality TV shows like ?I Love Money 2,'" said John Burry, founder/CEO of Mobui, Redmond, WA. "This lets viewers start humorous channels of dialogue with each other and the broadcasters themselves, just like online bulletin boards, but on mobile.

"This is a two-way channel of mobile communication that didn't exist before," he said. "VH1 is the first brand to actually use the new platform, and they'll be able to advertise VH1 shows on the user interface within the application.

The first show to be mobile-chat-enabled is VH1's "I Love Money 2."

The launch of Mobui Audience Chat enables television broadcasters and studios to immediately deliver mobile group chat services with the launch of new television programs or to enhance existing shows.

TV viewers can use the product to ask a question of a show's host or a reality show cast-off to gain a behind-the-scenes perspective on the show as they watch it.

Chat room postings can also be broadcast on the television screen as the show airs.

"The target demographic depends on the show it's applied to, whether it's a reality or an interaction with sporting events, individuals in stadiums interacting with people watching in their living room," Mr. Burry said.

"The youth market tends to adopt mobile technology faster, but you'd be falling short to say that's the only demographic that will be using this actively," he said.

The Mobui Audience Chat product currently runs on more than 100 different phone models, including Apple's iPhone as well as Research In Motion's BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Java and BREW powered devices.

The application is currently available on AT&T. It will also be available on Sprint and Verizon Wireless within the next few weeks.

Broadcasters can offer a wide variety of branded chat rooms that match their on-air programming schedule, allowing users to instantly access the chat room of the show that is airing at any given time.

Broadcasters can also host celebrity moderated chat rooms to allow the audience to interact with on-air talent when the celebrity's show is airing.

Audience members can set up their own chat rooms and invite friends and other fans to join. They can also set up their own profile, select an avatar, and create and manage friend and group lists.

The product offers SMS send-to-a-friend functionality, which lets consumers invite others to download the application or to join a current chat room via text messaging.

Mobui is a mobile application development agency that creates mobile Web sites and applications for consumer, media and mobile industry brands. The shop has experience deploying interactive mobile applications for a variety of large consumer brands.

In addition to VH1, Mobui's clients include Nickelodeon, TiVo, Dow Jones' MarketWatch and Barron's, AOL, MSNBC, Sports Illustrated and Golf.com.

"We've been able to bring their content to mobile audiences so users can consume and interact with those brands from their handsets, giving them a greater reach than they had before," Mr. Burry said.