Zenith Electronics was touting its 27-inch television with a 56K modem inside at the Consumer Electronics Show, where companies are trying to take television from a passive to an active experience. The purchase price includes free lifetime Internet access from start-up portal company Transcast . Transcast will deliver localized content including news, sports, and shopping, that is specific to the location of the store where it was purchased. To speed up Web browsing, Transcast will send out news updates overnight that will be cached on the TVs, and an enhanced programming guide will provide local TV listings.
Users interact with the TV through a wireless keyboard, and can have up to five e-mail accounts.
Cazares said Transcast can provide the free Internet access because it gets a commission on all transactions and will receive revenue from advertising on its portal. To help encourage e-commerce, Transcast is working on a digital wallet that will enable secure shopping on any of the partner websites. Panasonic has also signed up to produce a TV which will be out in the third quarter. Future televisions might include an ethernet adapter for broadband connections. AOL on the other hand, didn't have anything new to show on the TV side.