JamieG Analysis

Today I want to discuss interactive TV, the Holy Grail that unfortunately does not exist. Well not like we expected it to exist.

Before we jump into the current issues surrounding Interactive TV, let’s look at some perceived ideas of what it is and how history may have a twist on these ideas.

Interactive TV is seen by many producers is seen as the ultimate viewing experience in which a viewer can see an item on the screen and, at a push of a button, find out more and have the option of purchasing it. A fabulous idea in which the broadcaster could possibly take a bigger part in consumer spending. This in turn would add opportunities to make more money from advertisers.

But let’s have a quick look at history. For thousands of years, before we invented TV, we had theatre. Live people on stage with live audiences. They too had the opportunity to yell at the actors. “Like those pants, where dya get um?”. This was likely to have happened, but it has never been seen as polite or realistic.

Digital TV of today and Theatre of old have a lot of characteristics in common. They are not the same by any means, but they are, in general, a one too many method of sharing entertainment.

My point here is that many visions of interactive TV in which the main TV is also the interactive screen simply does not, in my opinion, work as it did not work in the days of theatre. However, that was then, and this is now, and we have a myriad of personal handheld connected devices at hand.

Let’s go over some more history here and look at the initial birth of Interactive TV.

When digital TV came into existence and MPEG digital transmission of pictures became widely adopted, the broadcasters eyes filled with dollar signs. This came in the form of the www.DVB.org, “an industry-led consortium of over 270 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 35 countries committed to designing open technical standards for the global delivery of digital television and data services.”

A number of companies popped up trying to implement STB that could run these interactive applications. This ultimately ended up in Multimedia Home Platform MHP.org which was supported by DVB.org.

Billions was spent. Some interesting experiments done. But ultimately this has been a huge waste of time. This technology is widely patented and completely designed for the advantage of the operators. It had huge restrictions with very complex distribution technologies.

Other problems we should consider were that, to implement the interactive component was extremely expensive and done on proprietary software using Java. Now, in an industry that is fragmenting by the day, budgets halving every year. This had no chance for wide acceptance.

But really at the possibilities where washed away as the Internet, the free and user controlled experience which became the INTERACTIVE INTERFACE of choice.

So whats the answer? How would I know!! But, I do have some ideas.

Firstly, if interactive TV is to mature, it will have to be based on cheap and well resourced open technologies. For example. HTML or flash. There are 100,000s of developers all over the world who know this technology and are competitive on price.

Don’t expect Interactive TV on the big screen. Traditional branding and product placement is the go. Viewers, if interested, can pull out there personal internet device and pull up the URL.

I do admit that some niche markets like OPRA, cooking shows or Infomercial channels may find interactive TV gets a little more traction. Still, the economics of fragmented media make this an unrealistic future for general immersive story line based content.

In conclusion, interactive TV is here and going gangbusters ONLINE right now. The big screen living room display. Not so much. But yes it is still useful and likely to materialise. Just not under the MHP/DVB banner. If it is not licence free, it is not free to grow. So expect it in a form of open standards like HTTP and typical web technologies. Well, hopefully one day.

[Supplement] I will be doing another post soon focusing on standards and how it shapes and accelerates this TV industry. And why it is not happening now.