While I am thinking of NAB, it dawns on me again that even through the hype of “Interactive Television” that spawned many start-ups and industry initiatives in the late 1990s and early 2000s (thinking of all the set-top middleware companies, design-once use-anywhere application platforms and CableLabs projects here), television hasn’t been able to move beyond Video on Demand as their killer interactive application. There is nothing “interactive” about VOD. You use your remote, click and your tv bill goes up while you sit on your sofa — ooooh. People have been clicking at television sets since the late 60s. There has to be something better.
Yes, there are some interactive TV applications that were developed for delivery upon the various set-top middleware, but they were never released universally upon all platforms through all television distribution networks.
Interactive television can be found on the Internet now — where there are no walled gardens, where there is no carrier specificity or manditory development certification. The sooner cable networks move from RF/MPEG frames to IP, the sooner consumers will be able to experience everything interactive television can and should be.
