At CES 2011 Panasonic has announced VIERA Connect, a new cloud-based Internet service. 15 new flat-panel TVs models are compatible with this service - initially released in the US market.

Panasonic Viera Connect
The new VIERA Connect allows users to enjoy sports, health & fitness activities, interactive games, and a variety of other contents in addition to the standard movies and television programs.

- “In addition to increasing the number of provided applications drastically, the capacity to expand hardware functions through linking health & fitness equipment or game controllers and an online shopping service through the television that allows users to easily purchase these related equipment, is a world first for the television”, Panasonic says.

Panasonic will continue to create new and more exciting television experiences by accelerating the development of related technologies and creating stronger connections to affiliated developers. 

Main VIERA Connect Services
Live Sports 
Live broadcasts will be available for the four major sports of the US, a first for Internet TV services.

Health & Fitness
Through the use of connected treadmills or armband pedometers, one can enjoy watching TV while exercising in addition to easily accessing the exercise data such as calories burned or number of paces right on the TV screen. Furthermore, used in a combination with weight scales and body-fat meters, one can easily record, check and predict their daily health progress on the TV screen, making for easy and fun health management. 

Gaming
Using the special game controller, one can enjoy real-to-life games such as racing or other similar genres with the thrills of a big screen even without a game console, an experience never before available through Internet TV services. The TV processor is not used, instead the cloud-system handles games.

VIERA Connect Market
Purchasing applications, health & fitness products, game controllers, and other related equipment for above services with a single remote control via the TV screen.

Panasonic's Viera Connect will be available in the US soon. No words on an European release at this point.