Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional

television technology Large-screen television technology (colloquially big-screen TV) developed rapidly in the late 1990s and 2000s. Prior to the development of thin-screen technologies, rear-projection television was standard for larger displays, and jumbotron, a ...

. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information technology can be integrated vertically into established technologies and commercial structures.

History

Prior to the development of interactive television, interaction could only be simulated. In the 1950s, there were limited efforts to provide an illusion of interactive experience, most overtly with ''

Winky Dink and You ''Winky Dink and You'' was a Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS children's television show that aired from 1953 to 1957, on Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Eastern / 9:30 Central. It was hosted by Jack Barry (game show host), Jack Barry and f ...

'', which encouraged viewers to draw on a vinyl sheet they would attach to a television set. QUBE operated an interactive

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

service in Ohio from 1977 to 1984. An interactive

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

(VOD) television service was proposed in 1986 in Japan, where there were plans to develop an "Integrated Network System" service. It was intended to include various interactive services, including videotelephony,

home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as ...

online banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, web banking or home banking, is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial ins ...

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

, and home entertainment services. However, it was not possible to practically implement such an interactive VOD service until the adoption of DCT and ADSL technologies made it possible in the 1990s. In early 1994,

British Telecommunications BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broa ...

(BT) began testing an interactive VOD television trial service in the United Kingdom. It used the DCT-based

MPEG-1 MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to about 1.5 Mbit/s (26:1 and 6:1 compression ratios respectively) without excessive quality loss, making ...

and

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, ...

video compression standards, along with ADSL technology.

Sega Channel The Sega Channel is a discontinued online game service developed by Sega for the Sega Genesis video game console, serving as a content delivery system. Launched on December 14, 1994, the Sega Channel was provided to the public by TCI and Time W ...

, a service that allowed

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

owners to download video games on demand via

signals, began rolling out in the United States in 1994 and was discontinued in 1998. It has been described as a form of interactive television. The first

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

of interactive connected TV was granted in 1999 in the United States; it expired in 2015. ATSC 3.0, also known as "NextGen TV", adds interactivity features to

terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ante ...

. As of April 2022, broadcasters in 60

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

s in the United States were using ATSC 3.0.

Forms of interaction

Interactive TV includes programs that directly incorporate polls, questions, comments, and other forms of audience response back into the show. For example, Australian media producer

Yahoo!7 Yahoo! Australia (formerly Yahoo7 between 2006 and 2018) is the Australian subsidiary of global internet company Yahoo! Originally a 50/50 joint venture between Yahoo! and Seven West Media, it has been a 100% subsidiary of Verizon Media since ...

's Fango mobile app allows viewers to provide material that producers can insert into live programming. During the 2012 Australian Open, viewers used the app to suggest questions for commentator Jim Courier to ask players in post-match interviews. "One-screen" formats involve interaction on the TV screen, using the remote control. Remote-control user interfaces are known in human-computer interaction research as "lean back" interaction, and as a

10-foot user interface In computing, 10-foot user interface ("10-foot UI"), also known as a 3-meter user interface (especially for international marketing), is a graphical user interface designed for televisions. Compared to desktop computer and smartphone user int ...

. Second screen interactive TV, also called Enhanced TV by ABC and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, uses a personal computer or mobile application. Chat Television, developed in 1996, was the first example of a second screen interactive TV format. The system synchronized online services with television broadcasts, grouping users by time zone and program, so that all real-time viewers could participate in a chat or interactive gathering during the show's airing. Interactive TV features in smart TVs have drawn criticism because they allow TV manufacturers to collect and transmit data about customer behavior for the purposes of

targeted advertising Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. These traits can either be demographic with a focu ...

References

{{Reflist

History

Forms of interaction

See also

References