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Bud.TV to Use Real-time Age Verification Process

Anheuser-Busch will be launching a new web-based “network” online beginning after the Super Bowl and promising full-screen, DVD-quality streams. The effort is likely to be closely watched within the industry to see if a major television marketer can successfully snare consumers by bypassing traditional TV outlets and reaching consumers directly online.

In order to proactively avoid any hint of criticism about marketing to underage drinkers, Anheuser-Busch’s Bud.TV will use an age-verification system to ensure that visitors hoping to view the live and on-demand content are of drinking age, writes MediaPost.

The system, provided by Aristotle Inc., conducts real-time verification checks of visitors’ ages, via a search of public databases. Users will enter first and last names, date of birth and zip code. If the verification process proves that they are of legal drinking age, they will be able to create a password for ease of use in the future.