TVs, Viewers Get Closer With Interactive TV

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September 22, 2000 (8:50 AM EDT)

By Jill Morneau,

Want to interact with your TV beyond yelling at the screen? Soon you'll be able to.

Industry exectives said interactive TV is the wave of the future. The average American watches seven hours of television per day, and with interactive TV, viewing is expected to increase by two to three hours per week, according to executives at Wednesday's Silicon Alley Breakfast Club sponsored by Silicon Alley Reporter.

"Seventy percent of the Internet generation have a television in their own room, and 80 percent of American consumers want high-speed access to the Internet," said Jack Myers, chief economist and CEO at The Myers Group, New York, a television consultancy. "Fifty-three percent will pay the high premium to watch what they want when they want."

The Internet generation, which he calls "N-gen," consists of computer literate people aged 9 to 17, Myers said.

Kim LeMasters, chairman and CEO of Replay TV, which sells digital video recorders said he thinks all TV set owners should be able to enjoy the benefits of interactive television, and encourages viewers and businesses to jump on the bandwagon.

"It can't be stopped and it's time to get on board or be left behind," LeMasters said. "If you're not already there now, it's time to join the shaping of personal television."

Interactive television lets users find a show with interactive channel guides and save it on a hard drive for digital playback at their convenience and create personalized channels for automatic recording. They can also hunt down information on the Web through keyword searches.

LeMasters pointed out interactive television will not only benefit viewers, but allow advertisers to target their audiences more directly. Viewers, in turn, can choose to rid their programs of commercials, but they can also choose to click on a longer version of an advertisement and buy the product, he said.

"People will watch the commercial multiple times if it appeals to them," LeMasters said.

"Frankly, if I'm going to be targeted with ads, I'd rather see something I'm interested in anyway," said one Breakfast Club attendee who wished to remain anonymous.

She said she did not mind advertisers being able to gather personal data, since it appears online advertisers are going to gain access to it anyway.

The data will be collected anonymously, and only used in aggregate, LeMasters said. He said privacy is a high priority with interactive TV, especially since the living room is the second most private room in the home.