Blogging Interactive Television.
The media companies that are best positioned for the future are those with dual revenue streams and that are less dependent on advertising.-- by way of ITV Marketer
Says the FCC: public television must use digital capacity primarily for noncommercial services. "Ancillary or supplemental services" are not subject to the same restrictions.-- by way of [itvt].
The difference between digital television and the Internet? Distributing content requires much more than some server software and a 'net connection.
Poking around DigitalTelevision.com, I stumbled across an archive of old iTV articles. Check out this one: an interview with Paul Sidio, founder of REZN8, a design studio. Says Sidio on designing interfaces for iTV:
An effective GUI in this space must be incredibly intuitive and non-intrusive.
Not sure what I think about this yet. Does it truly benefit consumers to be able to buy cable boxes in the store? Does it force open standards? Does it force honesty in the cable providers?
Sarah and I have become addicted to our ReplayTV deck. In the last several days, ReplayTV has allowed us to miss so many commercials, I'm starting to feel like there aren't enough people pandering to me.
Maybe iTV is just the opportunity the open standards community needs...
Not sure when this was written, but the emphasis on PVR dates it a bit... Regardless, an intelligent overview of the set-top box playing field.
FCC nags industry to deploy advanced services faster. Communications industry says, "Who are you, my mother?"
It's debateable whether this is true video-on-demand. Perhaps the purest would argue that VOD only occurs through the television.The interesting conflict here is that Sony is betting on IP delivery as the platform of choice for VOD. They say that customers forgave Napster for the poor quality of the music. Likewise, soaps viewers will forgive the choppy video quality of IP delivery.
I believe, however, that they are not taking the whole user experience into account. User experience does not begin and end with quality. Context also plays an important role. How do people watch television? Do computers sit in the right place in the house? Do people watch television in groups? Do watching patterns vary by type of show? What nuances do soaps have?
This move also begs the question: what about PVRs? They allow people to record whatever show they want, and watch it on their own time... And if I'm not mistaken, Sony makes 'em.
