Media: Europemedia summarises Wharton on iTV and Ease of Use

Duncan Alexander Kerr reports for Europemedia that in an article written by researchers at Knowledge@Wharton, the online research faculty of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, several leading figures in the interactive television industry review 'the current status of iTV's development and provide some insight into where the future lies'.

Wharton professor Gerald Faulhaber is quoted as saying that video on demand is the next big thing: '"It will change the way people watch TV. We’re going to start moving away from a traditional model of channels, each of which carries a 24-7 video stream, toward a model where people request shows they want to see. There probably still will be channels but this is going to be a sea change in the industry."

Video-on-demand is viewed as a more viable revenue model than t-commerce.

Eddie Monnier, vice-president of corporate development for Liberty Broadband Interactive Television, is quoted discussing the impact of a usable system: they key to driving consumer demand for the new technology. '"I consider myself quite technologically savvy, and I had some trouble setting up my stand-alone PVR to work with all the other systems I had. This stuff has to be very easy for consumers to set up," said Monnier.

The problem of consumer confusion highlighted by Monnier is widespread, suggests Kerr, and does hinder the take-up of new digital technologies. He gives us Monnier pointing out that consumers are confused about why they even need to use certain functions until they actually try the device.

Faulhaber thinks that interactive television has the potential to provoke groups of the population who are in some way adverse to the internet to get connected online. 'However, some in the industry argue that that the television is not the right device to facilitate internet surfing.' Kerr reminds us and goes on to quote the opposing camp: '"The web is completely a consumer pull experience," Monnier said. "It is a one-to-one, active-mode experience where the user is at most 18 inches or so from the screen. Television, on the other hand, is a push experience. Interactive television will allow consumers to incorporate some pull into their TV viewing experience but it will still be a largely passive experience. The web allows you to call up massive amounts of information. Why would you do that on a television when, in most homes, you can do it on a personal computer?"'

Associated Link: Europemedia: iTV's future will be decided by compelling content and ease of use

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