TELEVISION / The dial is going digital, with an array of new choices
that promise - or is it threaten? / to make TV an even more important
force in our livesBY: By Diane Werts. STAFF WRITEREDITION: QUEENSSECTION: News
DATE: 08-08-1999A17
THE TV AGE is just beginning. The TV age is about to end.
Which is it? Maybe both. Fifty years into its prominence in American
culture, television is at a pivotal crossroads.
The busiest of our household devices, already on for one-third of
each of our days, is bidding to become even more central to our lives by
transforming itself with new choices and capabilities - from interactive
education to electronic home security.
"Television as we know it today is almost over," said AMC Networks
president Kate McEnroe, who is mixing the old and the new by linking her
cable channel's vintage films to a souped-up Internet site designed for
supercharged modems.
"Analog TV five years from now will look as antiquated as the three
networks did 15 or 20 years ago," a short time after cable began
penetrating American homes.
So say goodbye to analog TV - the kind of TV you've been used to
watching since TV was invented. As the dial goes digital, two-way
technology that's already rolling out to consumers will allow an
unprecedented explosion of channels, a much sharper picture, as well as
a variety of new uses for what used to be just a simple, solitary,
one-way video signal.
Riding along on digital transmissions can be "enhanced" content
related to TV shows: You might click on the screen and buy the shirt the
star of your favorite show is wearing, or read his biography onscreen.
The long-unfulfilled promise of TV as an educational tool may come true
as digital technology allows kids to interact with programs that adapt
to their individual learning ability.
Your cable provider could be responsible for your telephone calls
and Internet access - or your TV programs could come to you over the
Internet, whenever you request them.
As for your VCR? A goner. Beyond digital video disks, already on the
market, are the first digital storage devices. They could free you from
TV schedules, VCR settings, and even from watching the commercials. Down
the road, the whole idea of a schedule could become obsolete, with all
the programing available anytime you choose it.
TV won't be a top-down medium anymore, as it was for most of its
first half-century, when just a few networks determined what you'd seeand when.
Viewers will be taking control, perhaps even choosing the look of a
sports program by picking camera angles or customizing a news program by
choosing extra in-depth reports.
Will we watch more TV? Not likely. The average American home already
has the set on 7 hours and 12 minutes daily. But despite the rising
number of channels and choices, that's actually down five minutes from
five years ago - reversing a 50-year trend. The amount of time children
watch daily has declined the most, down by 25 minutes over the past 10
years - a change attributed to the advent of the competing screens of
computers and the Internet, which threaten to turn TV into a secondary
source of attention at home. Almost half the respondents to Newsday's
Future Poll, conducted by Louis Harris and Associates, expect to be
spending less time watching TV by 2020.
But we'll be able to watch more efficiently, more individually, ifwe choose.
We'll be able to make better use of our TV time - whether that means
always catching our favorite shows (they'll be available any time we
want) rather than channel surfing, or choosing our own camera angles,
add-on information or even commercials.
In short, we'll be able to get so much out of a broadcast signal or
cable line that it might not seem like TV at all anymore. Instead,
suggested Mike Bair, president of product management and marketing at
Cablevision, "It's a new way to operate in a world of information." That
new world means buying new electronic components-but you knew that,
didn't you? Unfortunately, your current analog TV can't pick up a
digital signal. And a high-definition picture requires an advanced-and
of course, more expensive-picture tube. We may even see wall-size
screens that work for everything from videoconferencing to changeable
room decorations.
So will that basic HDTV set you buy for $8,000 today be obsolete
tomorrow? It's a tough question, since TV now threatens to be like
computers: As soon as you take home the latest-greatest, something
better and cheaper hits the market.
Experts don't expect HDTV sets to go below $3,000 even by 2006,
because of the complex technology.
But you could also take advantage of the new capabilities of two-way
digital signals by purchasing a converter box, the way you upgrade your
stereo or computer piece by piece.
"There's just too much longevity and usefulness of the existing TVs
people have at home," says Michael Isnardi of The Advanced Television
Lab at Sarnoff Corp., which developed color TV, TV stereo and most
recently the digital Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
standard. "People will just get a digital-to-analog converter." Such
converters - they cost about $600, but prices are expected to plummet -
don't allow you to see the full majesty of high-definition television,
due to be broadcast everywhere alongside analog transmission by 2002.
But if better pictures aren't a priority for you and your budget,
the cheaper converters will still help you into the digital age. They
may even be included in the next generation of digital cable boxes or
satellite boxes, to make sure the other ramifications of digital
television aren't ignored.
Once your set goes digital, you'll see your viewing options
multiply. A News Corp. study estimates that the number of available
cable channels (which may be then known as "content windows") will leap
from an average of 75 today to 1,000 by 2010. Respondents to the Future
Poll said they'd be satisfied with about 100 (and many said they'd
prefer fewer channels, rather than more), but the proliferation seemsinevitable.
We're already seeing the early stages, with some cable channels
beginning to offer offshoots of themselves targeted to specific
audiences. Say you like Discovery Channel. Systems upgraded for digital
transmission have room for a suite of seven other channels launched over
the past three years by Discovery in anticipation of the multichannel
expansion: Home & Leisure, Science Channel, Civilization, Kids, Wings,
Health and en Espa&ntidle;ol.
Others jumping early on the digital cable bandwagon include A&E,
which launched History Channel International and The Biography Channel
last November; the Fox Family Channel, debuting its Boyz and Girlz
channels this fall; and MTV Networks, creating variations of MTV, VH1
and such new Nickelodeon channels as Noggin and GAS (Games & Sports).
Queens viewers may not have long to wait for this plethora of
channels. Time Warner Cable will begin testing digital set-top boxes
early next year that are intended to expand service by dozens or even
hundreds of channels.
The most eager digital expanders so far have been premium movie
channels. On digital Comcast cable systems in central New Jersey, HBO
offers 12 variations (including HBO Family and HBO Comedy) to
subscribers with digital cable converters. The same system features nine
Showtime channels (Showtime Extreme for action fans) and seven Starz!
variations (Starz! Family, BET/Starz! for black-oriented films). And 35
channels of pay-per- view films, for near video-on-demand access.
But the channel explosion facilitated by digital cable also promises
to serve more audiences better. Already, The International Channel (run
by Encore Media) has spun off several other digital channels to serve
specific ethnic groups full-time: Zee TV for Indians, RAI for Italians,
ART in Arabic, CCTV4 in Chinese. Interests, too, are more closely
served: BET has a digital gospel channel, Bravo is planning a World
Cinema offshoot. More will pop up as digital homes grow in number;
they're expected to reach 10 million by the end of next year.
So with all these channels and choices on the horizon, what's a
couch potato to do? Who can keep up with what's on when? Not your
fingers, surfing through some 200 channels; by the time you found your
show, it'd be over. Not the slow scroll on today's listings channels.
Not even TV Guide - the granddaddy of listings publications, nearly 50
years old, and bulging at its bindings - is able to list all the
channels offered by local cable and satellite systems, much less the
explosion to come.
Digital cable boxes will let users search for a week of specific
listings on screen, and even set reminder alarms. But the next advance
in viewing choice is just beginning to arrive in consumers' homes -
personal video storage devices.
ReplayTV and TiVo are simplified digital-recording components that
do away with videotape and tedious timer programing, and even allow
viewers to replay moments in shows airing live. VCR-sized boxes contain
a computer hard-drive that can store from six hours to 30 hours of
programing; larger capacities are promised soon. The device can even
record while it's playing back. And it continuously records whatever
you're watching. So if the phone rings during that pivotal scene in
"NYPD Blue" some Tuesday night at 10:15, you can "pause" the device,
talk on the phone, and come back to pick up with the show precisely
where you paused.
Both systems include onscreen listings you can personalize: You
program the devices to record every episode of your favorite show - or
your favorite movie actor or director, or even a topic such as Christmas
episodes. Then you can start (or stop, or restart, or jump around in)
the programs at your leisure.
ReplayTV actually has a "quick skip" button to edit commercials out
- but it also enables you to choose among ads that might interest you.
"We think if you watch television on your own schedule," says Replay
Marketing Director Jim Brand, "you should watch advertising on your own
schedule, too." Both systems - which cost from $500 to $1,500, depending
on their capacity - can be found on the companies' Web sites; a big
consumer push is planned this fall.
But these bulky additional devices are only the first step in what
promises to be a light-speed race toward total viewer control of what,
when and how we watch TV. Future versions may be contained in your cable
converter or even your set: WebTV, which merges TV and the Internet for
subscribers, says it has plans to incorporate digital storage in its
next-generation unit, whose release date is uncertain.
Then TV viewing could remake itself completely. It could mean less
reliance on real-time TV broadcasting - though breaking news and sports
obviously might be exceptions. Instead, we'd have a library model; we
might download TV programs the way we borrow books today or rent videos,
to enjoy them at our own pace.
WebTV Networks president Steve Perlman sees it that way. He told a
Denver conference of digital broadcasters last spring: "We believe
children of the next century will view scheduled programing as an
anachronism of the 20th Century." Also primed to become a relic is the
notion that watching TV is an entirely passive experience. In the next
century, viewers will be able to take control of their sets, influencing
what they see on the screen.
For viewers of Dallas' regional Fox Sports Southwest channel, that
kind of interactivity is about to happen. Starting this fall, they'll be
able to choose their own camera angles, replays, stats and even specific
commercials for three local teams.
It's the first full rollout for ACTV Inc., a Manhattan-based company
with the idea of giving digital consumers not just more channels or a
better picture "but more compelling programing," says ACTV chairman Bill
Samuels. He's been working for 11 years on developing "enhanced
television" and "individualized television," aimed at giving viewers
more information and/or more choice in what they watch.
ACTV expects to test with CNN within a year. When a newscast report
on, say, Kosovo ends, but you want to learn more, you could choose a CNN
alternative that stays with the correspondent for other information she
didn't have time to include in the main broadcast.
To get the service, your home just needs to have a digital box
equipped for ACTV, most likely supplied by your cable company. While
news and sports are areas of interest to ACTV, it's possible the system
could be used with sitcoms and other plot-driven programs. Viewers, for
instance, might be offered a choice of watching their favorite sitcom
characters from a variety of camera angles, though ACTV isn't convinced
there's a market for that use.
Educational programing is also ripe for interactivity, said Samuels,
who envisions the possibilities of "TV that talks right back to your
child individually." A pre-recorded science show, for instance, could
ask the child to push remote control buttons to choose between an
experiment involving air or water; if she picks air, it might then ask
her whether a container of air will become larger or smaller over heat;
if she correctly answers "larger," she'll get a tougher question next.
The ACTV chip in the converter box "remembers" her choices - they're
stored as a simple stream of numbers - and can summarize her actions,
congratulating her on her progress or encouraging her to keep trying.
"We're interested in online learning - we are really committed to
that," Samuels said. "But the reality is that the money is in
entertainment." When entertainment uses push the product into homes, he
said, he hopes to prove "a prettier picture and more channels is not all
that digital offers." A potential key to some new kinds of interactivity
is "convergence," the much-ballyhooed - perhaps over-ballyhooed - union
of the TV and PC. Will the TV usurp the functions of the PC, since the
set-top box itself is a powerful minicomputer? Or will we be watching TV
on our PC? For now, the focus has shifted to developing "interactive
applications that marry the best features of both platforms," said Larry
Gerbrandt, senior vice president for Paul Kagan Associates, an industry
analysis firm. MTV, for instance, is launching a live game show this
fall, "WEBriot," that allows computer users to answer trivia questions
about videos while they air on the channel, then see their names on TV
if they're among the high scorers.
Other programers are experimenting with "enhanced" TV that offers
viewers the chance to "dive" below on-air shows for more info. Cable's
HGTV is working with WebTV to highlight information on the TV screen and
invite viewers to click to a Web link on shows such as "Bob Vila's
Restore America." But few view those kinds of crossovers as the future.
At some point soon, if one machine does it all, TV types are hoping it's
the tube - albeit one enhanced by computer functions. This souped-up TV
can offer video and audio, several additional picture-sound streams,
data transmissions and more.
Although programers would decide which options to send out, you
could choose which you'd like to view and hear. Spanish dubbing, maybe,
on an extra audio track? Digital surround sound for that action movie?
More details on a news report, maybe maps and charts? Or a descriptive
soundtrack for the blind, explaining what things on the screen look
like? Future converter boxes may be able to process all of that, at the
click of a remote.
Another option is "datacasting" - the broadcast dissemination of
data, such as stock prices, sports stats, or the downloading of computer
programs or video games - like on the Internet, only on TV.
And the plans grow grander. "If we're already installing HDTV and
cable in your home, why not a security system," asks Mike Bair,
president of product management and marketing at Cablevision.
Suddenly, your TV isn't just a viewing box.
"When you turn the television on" in this future scenario, said
Bair, "the screen is not unlike your America Online screen ... You'll be
able to click to some simple additional info related to TV shows using
just your remote, or to move seamlessly to a channel's Web site." Say
you're watching "The Searchers" - you could read about star John Wayne,
locations where the movie was filmed, even how to travel there, or
perhaps electronically purchase a DVD of the film.
AMC senior vice president Gemma Toner calls it "lazy interactivity."
"It's not quite TV, but it's not quite the Web," she said. "It's a new
entertainment experience." And a new selling experience: Bruce Anderson,
Sarnoff's technical director of consumer products, envisions the day
when if you like the shirt Joshua Jackson wears on "Dawson's Creek," you
just click on the screen to find a nearby store or even to order it.
Most Future Poll respondents say they're interested in combining TVs
and PCs; still, there is strong skepticism among experts about whether
we'll really want all these technical bells and whistles. When it comes
to total "convergence," says AMC Networks president Kate McEnroe,
despite her company's ambitious plans, "I don't believe that. Television
is an essentially passive experience.
People want to disconnect from daily life." Nevertheless, even if
you just want to watch TV the old-fashioned way-sitting back and letting
the programing wash over you-what you'll see will be a quantum leap fromtoday.
Demonstrations on HDTV screens at Sarnoff's Princeton, N.J., labs
include nature shows in which you can see every feather on a bird, every
drop of water on a tree in the rain, with none of analog's annoying scan
lines. Watching a B.B. King blues concert, you can practically smell the
sweat and touch the sequins on his jacket. Football demos make you feel
like you're in the stadium.
"It's basically like looking out a window," Sarnoff's Anderson said.
"It's much more robust viewing." Now, if there's only something we
really want to watch. On Monday: Tuning In To Tomorrow's Radio
ILLUSTRATION/PHOTO: 1) Newsday Photo Illustration / Jonathan Pillet - New Television 2)
Photo by Thomas A. Ferrara - Engineer Peter Ellerr works at WNET / 13's
new digital studio. Riding along on digital transmissions can be
'enhanced'' content: News junnkies may one day be able to get in-depth
background on a brief news segment, while shoppers can click on the
screen and buy the shirt a sitcom character is wearing. 3) TiVo, along
with ReplayTV, offer digital recording components that do away with
videotape. Both have onscreen listings you can personalize. The ViTo
system, above, has a computer hard drive that can store from six hours
to 30 hours of programing. Charts - THE FUTURE POLL - 1) Watching TV 2)
Combining Mediums 3) Changing Channels (NOT IN TEXT DATABASE)
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