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Interactive Television can be defined simply as “Television with interactive content and enhancements�,(The ITV Business Index). It goes further as to also include that it “provides richer entertainment, interaction and more information pertaining to the shows, props and people involved in its creation. In a sense, it combines Traditional TV viewing with the interactivity enjoyed by those communicating through a network, such as the Internet�. “Already, over 50 million digital cable and DBS subscribers interact with their TVs daily, clicking through program guides, ordering video-on-demand, using PVRs. At an average 100 clicks per subscriber household per day, that's 5 billion clicks�(Forman, 2003). Interactive TV, digital broadcast, and personal video recorders are positioned to transform our relationship to personal entertainment, information, and advertising. (Interactive Television Alliance)
The world of communication grows daily. Combine this with the rapidly increasing technological development of the Television industry, and Interactive television is born. There has been a growing pattern of audience participation and interaction in many mediums. “Broadcast audiences have often been more active than they’ve been given credit for. They have always written letters or rung in to register displeasure and delight. Audiences make telephone calls to talk-back radio shows and phone or email vote in audience polls, to try their hand as quiz show contestants, to find out what track on the radio was or to buy goods and services as advertised. They place bets by phone on sporting events they are watching or listening to�(Given, 2003). This participatory element has naturally progressed to become a vital part of the television experience as it develops into the predominant medium for entertainment and information.
Initially, the main and most prominent method of interactivity in television is a simple one, the television remote control. This highly integrated device allows a user to change channels, volume or mute the sound altogether, giving them control over their viewing. At the press of a button, a user can choose to ignore mid-show advertisements, seemingly watch two programs at once by ‘flicking’ between channels, or simply choose one program on one channel, thereby ignoring all other available content. This desire for such control has more recently evolved, and a new device has been produced, and is becoming evermore popular. The Personal Video Recorder or “PVR� has taken viewer control to the next level, allowing the user to potentially skip advertisements, record programs to play back at a more convenient time (“time-shifting�), creating the perfect lounge chair partner.
Currently the most popular PVRs available are TiVo and ReplayTV. TiVo explains that it allows the viewer “to start getting all of the entertainment you care about…plus, pause, rewind and slo-mo live TV�. While the uptake of the PVR has been less than expected, this new “Digital VCR� provides a control that many viewers are choosing to take advantage of. An indication of the popularity of TiVo for example, can be found in the television show “Sex and the City�, in which character Miranda becomes distraught when her babysitter seems to have ‘broken’ her TiVo (Season 6, episode 76, “Great Sexpectations).
There is another form of interactivity in television that is also becoming highly more utilised. Much in the same way as the talkback radio show, television viewers are now given more and more opportunities to actively comment and affect what they see on television. In many cases, television shows will allocate certain regular time and space in their programs to encourage this. Initially this was done through the sending of letters to television station mailbags, primarily for the viewer to gain access to material covered by the program through fact sheets, or to voice his/her opinions about the show itself. This has been particularly utilised in the case of children’s programming, where often child viewers are encouraged to write letters or drawings and have their parents send these to the television station, with the incentive of possibly having their work shown/read on the program, or receiving prizes for their efforts. This led to the use of telephones to enable viewers to call and listen to a recorded message from the television station, either to gain information about the show, or to leave their own details in the hope of winning an advertised prize. Again similar to the talk-back radio shows, some programs even took live callers on air for various reasons. More recently with the rising popularity of email, internet and mobile phone use broadening, new communication capabilities have been enabled to television viewers.
Interactive television is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s society. It is not uncommon to see this form of audience inclusion used across the myriads of television channels society now has access to. Forms of interactive television can be seen in many countries as well, it is not just limited to Australian TV. The Idol series, seen once already in Australia, three times in America and numerous times in other countries is an example of interactive television in which the viewers can participate. American idol, Australian idol, Canadian idol, Iraqi idol, New Zealand idol and Singapore idol are just some of the countries in the world who broadcast this series, all adding their own spin to it. The means of audience interaction through which the shows operate, however, are all somewhat uniform. Brief case studies on these forms of audience interaction prove that both SMS (short messaging service) and the Internet are extremely popular methods of casting votes and simply providing comments and feedback. Further, these two forms of media are used not only throughout the Idol series’, but through other reality TV shows, such as Big Brother. This television show is also broadcast the world over and again strengthens the argument that interactive television is becoming increasingly popular. Reality TV in general relies on this interaction with its audience to keep it going. To bring this idea into a more local context, the relatively new Foxtel Digital, which has been introduced to Australia and available to subscribers, is the epitome of interactive television. As advertised on its website, Foxtel Digital “gives you the ultimate choice and an enhanced viewing experience� (Foxtel Digital Homepage). It allows the viewer to watch what they want, when they want, all at “a touch of a button� (Foxtel Digital Homepage).
Whilst many of the previous forms of interactive television come at no cost (excluding Foxtel Digital, which incurs monthly access fees as well as fees to set up the cable or satellite to begin with), Internet television can cost the viewer. A relatively new idea, internet television allows audiences to watch programs made specifically for the internet, or view programs broadcast on ‘normal’ television at their leisure. The fee to gain access to these internet television channels is reasonably low. One such website, the Internet TV Station, charges 20 cents per month to have access to over 500 channels. Internet TV can also include movies, music and radio stations and can be tailored to different nationalities through language changes. Live television broadcasts employ the use of streaming media, which allows the viewer to watch the media as it is being downloaded, as opposed to downloading the media first and then watching it.
Mobile Video Phones are another recent trend in interactive television. Many allow viewers to watch live updates of their favourite TV show from their mobile phone as well as giving them the opportunity to play a part in the voting system, for example, of a program. A well known example of a company who sells these phones is ‘3’. They were one of the first companies to offer these products to the general public and had affiliations with TV shows such as big brother, allowing users to view updates and special news from their mobile phones.
As mentioned previously, interactive television is a concept known the world over. A concept that is limited to the USA at the moment, and is a prime example of interactive TV are personal video recorders, possibly the most well known of its sort is TiVo. Television shows such as Sex and the City made poignant references to this example of a personal video recorder (or PVR) on many occasions, which incited viewers to find out more about this technology.
Finally, it is important to see how interactive television has changed over the years, and the forms in which it existed before digital technology and reality television came about. It is an interesting evolvement, and an example of the kind of interactivity evident before shows like Big Brother and Idol came about, were and are programs such as channel 7’s ‘Sunrise’, and other breakfast and lifestyle shows similar to it. Presenters of these programs incite viewers to call or send letters, and in more recent times, send emails and SMS messages to have their say on issues brought up within the show. It is interesting to note that this has been about for a number of years, well before the internet was a routine part of everyday life and before mobile phones were commonplace.
Thus it can be seen that interactive TV is a useful tool in all aspects of television, whether it be reality TV, internet TV, even mobile phone technology.
The ITV Business Index (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.itvdictionary.com/
Interactive Television Alliance (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.itvalliance.org/
TiVo (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.tivo.com/0.0.asp
ReplayTV (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/replaytv/default.asp
Sex and the City: episode 76 (Season 6) “Great Sexpectations� (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.hbo.com/city/episode/season6/episode76.shtml
Foxtel Digital (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.foxtel.com.au/digital.htm
Internet TV Station (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://www.internettvstation.com/tv-guide.html
Sunrise (2004) Retrieved September 8, 2004, from http://seven.com.au/sunrise/
Forman, E. (2003) "ITV is already a part of life in the U.S., and only cable can make the most of it", Cable World, vol.15, iss. 36, pg. 34, retrieved September 8, 2004, via proquest, from
http://gateway.proquest.com.gateway.library.qut.edu.au/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqd&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&rft_dat=xri:pqd:did=000000414593721&svc_dat=xri:pqil:fmt=text&req_dat=xri:pqil:pq_clntid=14394
Given, Jock. (2003) Turning off the TV: Broadcasting's uncertain future, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. ISBN 0868405000
