Four screens of the beautiful game
by Kate Battersby
I have seen the future and it works. But then, I knew it would. The difficult bit was whether I, lifetime president of the Society for the Technically Incompetent, would (a) be able to make it work, and (b) do so without breaking it.
The occasion was the arrival of live interactive football, courtesy of Mr Murdoch's Sky Sport. Yesterday's Premiership clash ("clash" being a mainstay of the Sky lexicon) between Arsenal and Manchester United marked the first time British viewers could control what they saw during Sky's live coverage.
Frightfully exciting, of course. But also deeply alarming for we analogue dinosaurs who still cannot programme a video. Have no fear, fellow technophobes. This interactive lark really is easy.
I used it for more than two hours and not only mastered it inside five minutes, but was unable to break it. It works with a remote control handset. Yes, another one to join the happy band of zappers operating TV, satellite, cable, video etc.
While watching a match live, you can also select one of four options. First, an alternative view from behind the goal (Sky intend to offer more angles soon). Second, highlights of the match so far. Third, match facts and statistics. Fourth, an instant replay. All the while, a smaller inset screen keeps track of the action. Mutant viewers who have three pairs of eyes are catered for with the inclusion of a continuous sports news ticker.
The surprise is that you do not require a double first in complex computer games to make the thing work. I was a tad depressed by the size of the 50-page instruction manual, until I found there are hardly any words in it. A typical instruction is "press the red button", accompanied by an annotated diagram of the handset with the red button arrowed "RED BUTTON". But not all the instructions are as complex as that.
The only tricky bit is keeping half an eye on the live action while delving into all the other options. Get too absorbed in the highlights and you could miss another goal, as I did when Roy Keane scored United's winner two minutes from time. But even then Sky rescue you by injecting a goal update into the highlights within 60 seconds of ball meeting net.
The service is available only to digital satellite subscribers. Sky say more than one million viewers receive that service, but only those who pay the œ25 minimum monthly fee for Sky Sport's three channels can use the interactive option. How many of these customers there are, and thus how many might have witnessed the new broadcasting dawn yesterday, Sky was mysteriously unable to divulge.
If sport isn't your thing, chances are all these groovy new options will leave you cold. But then this service isn't aimed at you, so it's no skin off Sky's nose. The point is that if you like sport enough to subscribe to Sky anyway, then you are likely to appreciate a free optional extra.
Apologies for sounding like an advert, but the brave new world of interactive whatsit is hard to knock because it is optional, useful and easy. It may even prompt me to abandon the cosy Jurassic world of analogue before the Government switches it off in favour of universal digital some time in the next decade.
Just one thing. Sadly there is no useful little button on the handset marked "goal now" or "gratuitous violence now" to liven things up when the action is on the dull side. That really would be interactive TV. But give it time. You never know.
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¸ Associated Newspapers Ltd., 23 August 1999
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