Article posted on Yahoo:
Wednesday April 21 8:25 PM ET
Interactive TV coming home this year
By Robert Lemos, ZDNet
LAS VEGAS -- Interactive TV -- long hyped as the Holy Grail of new
media, and just as elusive -- seems finally ready to hit home this year, said industry insiders at the National Association of Broadcasters show here on Wednesday.
"NAB [1999] is going to go down as a milestone where interactive TV
really started taking off," said Jan Steenkamp, CEO of OpenTV Inc., a
Mountain View, Calif.-maker of operating systems for interactive-TV
capable set-top boxes.
Interactive TV devices will roll out this fall, with digital satellite
broadcasters, cable providers and at least one big name Internet
provider jumping on board. The devices will add features such as
electronic program guides, personalized portals to TV content, the
capability to delve deeper into the programs being watched, and even the potential to buy items seen on TV. Over 10 million will be installed in households by the end of this year, according to one estimate.
Not just WebTV anymore
That's a big difference from today. For the past two years, consumers
wanting TV with a bit of oomph had little choice: WebTV Network Inc.'s
WebTV service.
That's set to change.
By the end of the year, digital satellite provider EchoStar
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:DISH - news) will roll out a new
interactive service on its DISH network that will allow consumers with
special set-top boxes access to enhanced content. Two deals -- one with WebTV and another with OpenTV -- will let consumers choose their way of getting enhanced content. Competitor DirecTV Inc. has closed a deal with Wink Communications Inc. to include that company's enhanced functions in new set-top boxes.
In addition, Internet service provider America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL -
news) is set to release set-top devices running on an operating system
from Network Computer Inc. under the company's AOL Anywhere initiative, according to one source familiar with the deal.
By Christmas 1999, early adopters looking for enhanced TV products will most likely have at least two from which to choose.
An early lead
Despite the new competition, however, WebTV has used its head start to
gain an advantage.
The company has signed deals with EchoStar in the United States, BskyB
in Europe, as well as two U.K. service providers and Deutsche Telecom in Germany. And Sega's Dreamcast can host WebTV's service using a single CD-ROM, according to one company source.
Others operating in Europe, which is ahead in the race to convert to
digital TV, are also better prepared. OpenTV already boasts 2.2 million subscribers worldwide, with most of them in Europe. That experience is scoring big points in the United States, said Clay Conrad, vice president of worldwide sales for the Mountain View company. Conrad said he expects that OpenTV will have over 5 million subscribers worldwide by the end of the year.
Cutting through the confusion
While the confusing array of devices and software for interactive TV has left the consumers and industry wondering where interactive TV really is, one industry insider confirms that TV is about to be changed.
"Regardless of what is in the media," said Marlin Davis, president and
executive producer of enhanced TV content creator Screamingly Different Entertainment. "I know what is going on in these meetings and where this industry is headed.
"Interactive TV has arrived."
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