Interactivity with TV program content

Interactivity with TV program content

Screenshot of a OpenTV program browser set-top box resident software

Screenshot of a OpenTV email browser set-top box resident software

In its deepest sense, Interactivity with TV program content is the one that is "interactive TV", but it is also the most challenging to produce. This is the idea that the program, itself, might change based on viewer input. Advanced forms, which still have uncertain prospect for becoming mainstream, include dramas where viewers get to choose or influence to plot details and endings.

• As an example, in Accidental Lovers viewers can send mobile text messages to the broadcast and the plot transforms on the basis of the keywords picked from the messages.
• Global Television Network offers a Two-Screen Solutions interactive game for Big Brother 8 (US) "'In The House'" which allows viewers to predict who will win each competition, who's going home, as well as answering trivia questions and instant recall challenges throughout the live show. Viewers login to the Global website to play, with no downloads required.
• Another kind of example of interactive content is the Hugo game on Television where viewers can control the game character in real time using telephone buttons.
• Another example is the Clickvision Interactive Perception Panel used on news programmes in Britain, a kind of instant clapometer run over the telephone.

Simpler forms, which are enjoying some success, include programs that directly incorporate polls, questions, comments, and other forms of (virtual) audience response back into the show. There is much debate as to how effective and popular this kind of truly interactive TV can be. It seems likely that some forms of it will be popular, but that viewing of pre-defined content, with a scripted narrative arc, will remain a major part of the TV experience indefinitely. The United States lags far behind the rest of the developed world in its deployment of interactive television. This is a direct response to the fact that commercial television in the U.S. is not controlled by the government, whereas the vast majority of other countries' television systems are controlled by the government. These "centrally planned" television systems are made interactive by fiat, whereas in the U.S., only some members of the Public Broadcasting System has this capability.

Commercial broadcasters and other content providers serving the US market are constrained from adopting advanced interactive technologies because they must serve the desires of their customers, earn a level of return on investment for their investors, and are dependent on the penetration of interactive technology into viewers' homes. In association with many factors such as

• requirements for backward compatibility of TV content formats, form factors and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE)
• the 'cable monopoly' laws that are in force in many communities served by cable TV operators
• consumer acceptance of the pricing structure for new TV-delivered services. Over the air (broadcasted) TV is FREE in the US, free of taxes, usage fees.
• proprietary coding of set top boxes by cable operators and box manufacturers
• the ability to implement 'return path' interaction in rural areas that have low, or no technology infrastructure
• the competition from Internet-based content and service providers for the consumers' attention and budget
• and many other technical and business road blocks,

American television content providers and operators must contend with the existing infrastructure and business models. Satellite and cable will force broadcasters to adopt interactivity or the broadcasters will become less competitive than they already are.