Web Behind Walls

primetime was meant to be a blog dedicated to the user experience of interactive television. With the business in its infancy, user experience analyses and articles hardly abound. As such, our periodical focuses on the business as a whole.

The occasional article comes along, however, like this one in Technology Review, which pulls the curtain back a little and reveals the issues that iTV content developers will have to face. Here, Jeffery Chester shows us the dark side of convergence: the walled garden.

In simple terms, the "walled garden" is a sub-set of the world wide web accessible via set-top box. Because users are surfing through cable lines, rather than phone lines, cable providers can limit the scope of available sites. Chester explains how this played a crucial role in the AOL Time-Warner merger hearings.

When you bring together a linear medium (television) and a non-linear medium (Web), you're bound to encounter this kind of culture clash. Whenever viewers tune into a particular channel, they are, in a sense, entering a walled garden, a sub-set of all the shows out there. By subscribing to a particular cable provider or level of service, they are signing up for a walled garden. My wife and I enjoy the Food Network, but not HBO.

Of course, we have a choice. By selecting a provider or a plan, we have chosen the acreage of our garden.

Presumably, people who access the Web through their televisions will also have the same choice. As more and more cable providers offer Web access, they will need to be competitive in how much of the Web they're going to show. Providers who limit their access will lose customers to providers who do offer access.

But the problem here is not so much that providers are walling off the Web to make it less worldly and less wide. The fallacy lies in the assumption that people will be accessing the Web from their televisions. The promise of the set-top box is not Web access, it's at worst an improved television experience, at best a new medium altogether.

As with any medium, the challenge of this new one will not be quantity, but quality.

OPENTV SHIPS LATEST PUBLISHER ENGINE

XML-based publishing tool for the OpenTV platform.

Viewers can order pizza from a local pizzeria or browse for CD's from the national e-retail chain The CD Store. Channel surfers can also obtain the latest data from Bloomberg News and AccuWeather.

Sarah and I watched The Human Face with John Cleese last night which we had on Replay. TLC.com's associated site adds a nice dimension to the show...

Lexmark first to offer both interactive TV and PC users stackable and sleek solution for printing

Is it just me, or is this weird? I can print from my iTV!

When attached to an interactive TV set top box, the i3 allows users to print photos, email, and email attachments, as well as document t-commerce activities such as banking and online shopping. With a self-contained, stackable* front-loading paper tray, front access for all print functions and easy cartridge installation, the i3 offers the utmost in convenience and usability.

I'm a little unclear on the functionality. I suppose I can print only digital stuff, not video stuff. I'm not sure:

1. what I would print
   
2. if it's really usable if I can't print video
   

Enhanced Programming and iTV Platforms: Making Sense of the U.S. Market

What a great looking report. Can anyone lend me 3500 bucks?

The AllNetDevices newsletter yesterday had TWO (count 'em) digital television articles!

New Entrant in PVR Market

MS Updates Ultimate TV