The idea was to give 15 executives from television-production companies one minute each to pitch a panel of judges on the merits of their interactive TV proposals. A trip to L.A. for the chance to meet with some Hollywood-type hotshots who may be able to make the interactive dream come true. I've talked to the winner and one of the judges. I also saw a bunch of demonstrations and talked to people a few weeks ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But for all that exploring, interactive television has been a hard subject for me to fathom.
Interactive television is something everyone has heard about.
That's not for a lack of technology. All the software, hardware, and distribution already exists. You may even already have an interactive-ready cable box and not know it since the technology has yet to be enabled by your cable company. That level of secrecy and disinformation makes it hard to figure out what's going on. We'll start seeing a lot more of whatever is going to happen beginning about a year from now.