Personalized Drawing on online information, Enhanced TV can be personalized for individual viewers, such as a traffic and weather report that specifically covers the viewer's communities and commute routes. The only significant attempt to date to merge television and the Internet, WebTV, does little more than make the Internet available as one more TV channel. True merging of television and the Internet exploits Internet resources to extend and enhance the TV viewing experience with a range of hybrid programming and services.
Hybrid programming combines content from different data sources.
For example, closed captioning and Teletext are kinds of hybrid television programming that have been around for some time now-all it requires is a TV set with the capability of displaying the captions to enhance the main program. As far as what kinds of hybrid programming and services will succeed, consumer tastes and desires will of course drive the market. But the possibilities are rich and varied. Imagine, from the consumer's point of view, watching your favorite sitcom and at the same time chatting with other viewers, or family members across town, about turns of the plot, or voting on your opinion of the leading actress' new hair style. Imagine news programming that's customized to your personal interests-with a ticker of your stocks and mutual funds running in real time across the bottom of the screen.