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CALLINGALLCOUCHPOTATOES
CALLINGALLCOUCHPOTATOES
INTERACTIVE TV IS THE FLAVOUR-OF-THE-MONTH. BUT, ASKS STEVE CLARKE, IS IT JUST MOSTLY ALL TALK?
Suddenly everyone is getting very excited about interactive TV. At broadcasting talking shops the sub- ject is flavour of the month. Put together a panel of interactive experts on a conference platform and programme mak- ers will queue up for hours to get a seat.
This year’s Worldview Address at the Edinburgh International Television Festival is to be given by NTL’s chief executive Barclay Knapp who, last spring, announced a Digital Content Fund, worth £25 million, aimed at boosting interactive production. The talk is cer- tain to be a hot ticket.
But what exactly is interactive TV in the 21st century? Is it here to stay or is it another technological hype as ephemeral and consumer resistant as 3-D TV or quadraphonic sound?
Strictly speaking interactive services have been available for more than a decade. “Teletext and Oracle are both interactive applications but they’ve never been regarded as all that sexy,” says Scott Gronmark, an executive at the BBC’s Interactive TV division in Bush House.
This is undeniably true. It is, of course, the slow but inexorable emergence of digital TV and broadband technologies that have upped the ante in interactivity but until digital cable starts to real- ly bite many interactive TV applications are likely to revolve entirely around text-based services.
This technology, which may ultimately lead to the convergence (that word, again) of TV and PC, enables audiences to operate the so-called ‘return path’ and the capacity to interact with their sets via the remote control or electronic programme guide, rather than just being pas- sive couch potatoes force-fed by schedulers and planners.
For some time producers and the men and women in white coats have experimented with dif- ferent types of interactive applications. An interac- tive version of Top Of The Pops, giving audiences the chance to obtain detailed background infor- mation on, say Oasis, in the corner of the screen without interrupting the band’s performance, has been doing the rounds at TV exhibitions.
And this summer the BBC ran a rudimenta- ry interactive service during Wimbledon fort- night available to On Digital subscribers. This enabled viewers to increase their knowledge of the game and its players thanks to around 200 text pages containing tennis facts and figures, and a custom-made quiz.
An anorak’s paradise, but the service fell well short of the closed trial carried out during last year’s Wimbledon fortnight. This was much more exciting and, if everything goes according
“Sport is more cost effective than, say, pro- viding interactive access with a documentary series like The Planets because The Planets is a finite series whereas sports fixtures take place every week.”
Compared with traditional linear TV, most practitioners agree that only certain programme genres are interactive-friendly. News, sport, chil- dren’s and education all offer potentially great interactive potential, as do e-commerce areas
was introduced this summer giving audiences the opportunity to select from various camera angles and play back highlights and access a text-based service providing background infor- mation on the players.
In addition Sky subscribers can access Open, the home shopping channel backed by BSkyB and BT. In common with many in the industry, Jason George, creative director at independent producer Victoria Real, which makes Iceland’s Open promos, believes that dig- ital cable services offer the most potential for interactive TV.
He says: “Digital cable is much more advanced technically. Unlike terrestrial and ana- logue, cable has a secure pipe that goes through the ground and carries more band- width. The possibilities are enormous.”
Cable programmer Flextech, newly merged with cable operator Telewest, is well placed to take advantage of these developments. Flextech already provides interactive services across a variety of platforms – TVs, PCs and mobile phones, and runs 15 websites linked to such channel brands as Discovery, Bravo, Living, Trouble and Challenge TV.
Yet even Flextech has run into difficulties with some of its more ambitious interactive TV initiatives. Last year, it made a pilot for an inter- active game show to run on Challenge. The idea was similar to ITV’s Play Your Cards Right with one important difference - viewers at home could join in. But the project’s high-cost and technical complexities forced it to be shelved.
Despite these setbacks many advocates of interactive TV are convinced that Britain, a world leader in digital TV, is uniquely placed to provide viewers with genuinely exciting interac- tive services.
NTL’s Barclay Knapp will be giving an update on his digital fund and interactive pro- duction at Edinburgh; Channel 4’s digital enter- tainment channel, E4, due to be launched in the coming months, promises to be fully interac- tive. Meanwhile the BBC’s first interactive drama, The Affair, is in the pipeline but initially will only be available on DVD.
In each case, the aim is to make services as attractive to the viewer as possible with none of the ‘navigation’ pitfalls that can be so off putting for internet users.
“Interactive is here to say,” insists John Holland, managing director of Pittard Sullivan, a company that designs interactive media. “The UK is providing a case study for the rest of the world but if the navigations services aren’t absolute no-brainers, then we’ve failed.” ■
Focus on Interactive
to plan, will eventually allow audiences to take their pick from four or five different matches as they are played simply by pressing a button on their handset. Each match comes complete with dedicated pictures and commentary, and choice of camera angles.
At the time of writing, there was some enhanced interactivity being made available for BBC’s coverage of the Open Golf Championship at St Andrews. But, say, an a la carte Wimbledon still remains some way off because the corpora- tion and other broadcasters are still coming to terms with a learning curve that has proved far steeper than many had anticipated.
“Every broadcaster is finding interactivi- ty more difficult and more consuming of human resources than they at first
thought. We’re learning on the job.
It’s complicated for the viewers, but
it’s also complicated for the broad-
caster,” admits Katharine Everett,
controller of Interactive TV &
Navigation at the BBC.
such as retailing and gambling. But with the latter various regulatory hurdles need to be overcome.
BSkyB has made much of the running in digital TV. Last year the outfit launched Sky Sports Extra, an interac- tive sports channel. The service allows viewers to choose from a num- ber of different camera angles when they are watching their favourite foot- ball or rugby team. Interactive cricket
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Photos from top: BBC TV series The Planets
Flextech’s Interactive screen for SceneOne ticket shop; Wimbledon 2000