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Interactive TV (ITV) is television that allows the viewer to interact with
the television set in ways other than simply controlling the channel and
the volume and handling videotapes. Typical interactive TV uses are
selecting a video film to view from a central bank of films, playing games,
voting or providing other immediate feedback through the television
connection, banking from home, and shopping from home. Interactive
TV involves adding a special set-top box to the existing television set.
In addition, other installation and infrastructure arrangements are
required, depending on the particular approach. Most services involve
offering special programming, news, and home shopping and a number
offer video-on-demand and home banking. An early form of interactive
TV is provided by companies that offer personal video recorder services.
In general Satellite TV has more interactive services than Cable TV.
Digital services like Dish Network's DVR (Digital Video Recorder) which
gives the option to rewind while recording even in live broadcasts, EPG
(Electronic Program Guide), Instant Weather, video on demand, etc. are
all available on Satellite TV, but not all are available on Cable TV.
Interactive satellite TV is one of those technologies that enable a wide
range of services, although most people don't know much about it. It's
sometimes hard to perceive how come a simple push of a button can
trigger events to happen on the TV. How can your vote get counted if
you use your remote control at your home?
The meaning of interactive satellite TV is the two-way exchange of data
through satellite TV, that allows for events or sequences of events to be
affected by the user's input. Whenever you push the button, then and
only then does the action occur and you are severed with data that has
been uniquely requested by you.
One of the first interactive experiences available on TV was the analogue
teletext, where the user selected from pages either by directly typing in
a number or by 4 colored button options. The analogue television
system used some kind of data carousel that was pre-loaded with pages
and much like a slide projector it spined until a user selected which page
(or slide) he wished to view.
Today the heart of the modern digital interactive system is a streamer
which sends data out to the satellite. The red button is the start key of
the satellite interactive platform. Pressing this button will load the
application the broadcaster wants to run on that channel.
Unlike the telesthetic system where the refresh rate of the data carousel
was limited by the number of data lines available in the vertical blanking
interval (within the signal but outside the visible picture) the interactive
streamers rely on allocated bandwidth, much as a channel selects the
amount of bandwidth for its video and audio. An interactive broadcaster
must allow data flow for the application. This is a kind of balance - too
little bandwidth allocated to the interactive stream and the application
will be slow; too much and you will be paying a high price for something
you are not using.
One of the typical applications is when a channel provides the viewer
with additional information about the program. Stations use this heavily
to promote series and competitions, although it's a pure 1 way
application. The user requests data which is apparently served in private
to them but in fact is being broadcast to everybody and the users are
merely selecting which data they wish to view.
Then there are interactive adverts. The data layer is used to provide
additional information or perhaps let you order a sample of the product.
This application uses the same technology but is far more difficult for the
broadcaster as the application has to be pre loaded before the advert
appears on screen. Since adverts are typically 30 seconds there is no
margin for error. After all, you don't want to press the button on a Bud
ad and get a Cola special offer.
Advertising is the one of the applications that uses an element of
interactivity. The concept of a back channel is used to transfer your
request back to an aggregation point where actions can be taken based
on your input. DTH satellite is one way unlike Vsat or DVB RCS systems
where users can send information back via the satellite. This is the main
reason for keeping the phone line connected, through this 56k dial up
back channel data can be sent from the interactive application back to the
broadcaster, in its simplest form. This way you can request a brochure
or order a film on pay per view.
It is still rare that this data makes its way back to the screen. Some
applications will input this back to the studio, like when voting on reality
shows or betting on interactive gambling.
The next few years will be the make or break of interactive services
across all platforms. It's up to the broadcasters to make engaging
content and to drive the use of technology to deliver the rich viewing
experience that viewers want.
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