Fast Net Access Could Invigorate Your TV

Consumers will freeze time, answer e-mail, and order videos through interactive TV.

Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA-- Most people today would be happy with simple access to a broadband Internet connection for their PCs--but in the near future, they'll want that pipe to do much more, says a panel of industry experts.

And the centerpiece of those expectations will be interactive television, networked throughout a home, according to James Penhune, director of media and entertainment strategies at theYankee Group.

Consumers are very interested in interactive television services because they want interactive program guides, complimentary data such as updated news and information, video on demand, and Internet access--all on their TV, Penhune said at the Networked Home Symposium here Tuesday.

Another technology that will be part of the interactive TV landscape is digital video recording--a capability now found in stand-alone products such as TiVo and ReplayTV, he said. While these products have found critical praise, they haven't sold particularly well. That's because consumers want to get them bundled with services, he said. Analysts say such bundled services are in the pipeline now, and will begin to appear in high profile advertising during the coming holiday season. (See "Personal Digital Video Recorders Upstage VCRs.")

Cable, Satellite Services Go Interactive

Expect cable operators to quickly get behind interactive television services, Penhune said.

"Cable has always been about video," he says. While cable operators have turned their attention to other services such as high-speed Internet connections, delivering video still makes most of their money.

Cable's competitors are direct broadcast satellite companies such as DirectTV, and they are embracing interactive television, too, Penhune said. Yankee expects subscribers to these services to leap from about 14.5 million now to 25 million by 2005. Today's top two cable companies serve a combination of more than 28 million subscribers, he notes.

Microsoft Begins Broadcasting

Microsoft plans to be part of the coming interactive television explosion. The company's WebTV division will soon introduce Ultimate TV, said Jeff Sasagawa, manager of strategic planning. The company is announcing products and service pricing by year end that will "change the way you watch TV," he said. (See "Try WebTV for Free.")

Ultimate TV can actually pause live television, Sasagawa said.

"It sounds very simple, but it is an amazing feature," he said. Plus, the unit will record the shows it knows you want to watch, he said. The device changed the way his wife watches TV, and she is not even a very technically savvy person, he said.

And interactive television is only part of the wider evolution in consumer choices and control, said Yankee Group's Penhune.

Eventually, Internet access and networking functions will be standard equipment on nearly every type of consumer electronics, from televisions to PDAs to cellular phones, he said. He envisions this technological evolution will give us better control over when, where, and how they access media, he added.