Article about ACTV from Newsday in Long Island:
It's All in Your Hands
Want replays, stats, and standings during the game? Individualized TV will let you call the shots
By Steve Zipay
Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas
IN THE Houston Astrodome, Astros pitcher Mike Hampton was putting the final touches on a '90s rarity: an old-fashioned shutout. Across the plains, watching from a state-of-the-art studio, I was dabbling in the future of televised sports.
Almost like a director, but armed with only a handheld remote, I summoned instant replays of stellar defensive plays by Astros infielders; chose to watch a camera zeroing in on runner Craig Biggio dancing off second base threatening to steal, and punched up "The Book,” a graphic scouting report on Indians outfielder Kenny Lofton, while he was at bat. All without tipping my basket of chips or spilling my soda.
Get ready, New York. These high-tech extras are expected to arrive by 2001. While Hampton was corralling the hard-hitting Cleveland Indians, Manhattan-based ACTV Inc. was using the Fox Sports Southwest telecast to rehearse an expansion of the territory for stay-at-home sports fans:
Individualized Television.
By year's end, about 200,000 homes around Dallas with digital set-top boxes will be privy to such Fox Sports Net Plus enhancements during Texas Rangers ballgames, Dallas Stars hockey games and San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks basketball games. The cost: $9.95 per month.
A national rollout of the service in each of Fox Sports Net's regional cable markets follows in 2000 and 2001 after more digital set-top boxes are distributed by cable operators.
The possibilities go beyond sports. There also are plans to offer interactive children's programing, game shows -- and even customized ads, in which you choose which product to see, or a sponsor chooses which commercial to show you based on your demographic profile or viewing habits.
"Sports is a natural place to start, because fans are passionate and are used to clicking around with the remote," said Dick Barron, vice president and general manager of regional networks for ACTV, an interactive television company that also is developing Internet-TV convergence programing. Barron hopes that up to 30 percent of sports subscribers eventually will sign up for Individualized Television.
With ACTV's software in the set-top box, Individualized TV enables viewers to choose between four simultaneous feeds of video and data while they're watching at home by using a diamond-shaped pad of four purple buttons in the center of the remote.
After a brief tutorial, I settled in front of a large-screen TV in an area adjacent to ACTV's master control room for a test drive. At intervals during the Astros-Indians telecast, a graphic along the bottom of the screen showing the four buttons suggested what was available on the other three feeds.
The top button, No. 1, selects the main Fox Sports transmission, which broadcasts the game as usual. Moving clockwise, No. 2 split the screen and provided an isolated camera shot of a specific player; No. 3 offered stats or sound bites from players connected to the action, as well as around-the-league scoring summaries; and No. 4 accessed instant replays.
This should be a breeze, I figured. After all, I can compete with my 9-year-old daughter, Marisa, in snowboarding and auto racing on her PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
Initially, my timing was off. A graphic I had called up obscured an Astros hit. I dwelled too long on a taped interview with Hampton in a large box on the screen and missed much of a Manny Ramirez at-bat. Then I failed to summon a replay in time (you have about 10 seconds after the real-time play).
But by the eighth inning, the Astros pitcher was cruising, and so was I, navigating easily through the four streams of video and data.
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Photo by Jesse Hornbuckle
Not only can you pick different camera angles with individualized Television, you can also pick your own instant replays and see a ballplayer information and graphics.
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I was confident enough to whiz from the main feed -- an at-bat by Astros third baseman Bill Spiers -- to a graphic of his batting average with runners on base (Biggio was on second base at the time). Then back to a regular full-screen for his groundout, which advanced Biggio to third. I clicked to a split-screen showing Biggio on third base, then to a round-the-league scoring summary while the next batter, Jeff Bagwell, was being walked
intentionally. Finally, back to a split-screen to simultaneously watch outfielder Richard Hidalgo rip a grounder to third and see Biggio score for a 2-0 Astros lead. I quickly summoned up my own replay and then cut back to the main feed for the same replay again. All that meant pressing the right buttons seven times. Of course, most fans wouldn't dash through that with every batter.
Not all was peachy. You're unable to access stats or sound bites during commercials. But automakers such as Chevy and Volvo allowed me a choice of which ad I wanted to see at the next break: a spot for a family sedan, a truck, an SUV or the latest compact.
Overall, the system seemed a work in progress. By the fifth inning, I found myself wondering if the speedy skating, blistering shots and crashing checks of the NHL (well, except perhaps for recent Islanders games) might be better suited to the technology. Or maybe a fast-paced NBA game would translate better than the occasional spurts of action in such a low-scoring baseball game. Also, I longed to request a replay anytime, rather than within 10
seconds of the play. And I occasionally wanted to focus on a fielder other than the single one selected by the ACTV studio folks.
Ed Pete, ACTV's director of programing and production, said he'll add a second camera for baseball, but no more. He recalled an experiment with nine cameras -- one for each player on the field. "Viewers were too busy working the technology to enjoy the game," he said. "You still have to trust the producers."
Agreed. For now. The best sports events have a rhythm, a continuity that doesn't need to be interrupted by interactive interference. But it's nice to have the options. Someday this all may seem far more natural to us, something we'll simply adapt to -- and miss when it's not available.
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