Coming Soon! Multiple Channel Screen
- From: "My2Cents" <dana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Aug 2005 11:09:18 -0700
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112536033078726213-6nbA_iBpwzmHcvE4b46Bk3vMoAA_20060830,00.html?mod=blogs
New on TV: The Multiple-Channel Screen
When pro football starts in September, fans who sign up for the
"SuperFan" game package offered by satellite operator DirecTV Group
Inc. will get a new feature: a channel on which they'll be able to
watch eight games on one screen.
But viewers who don't feel like shelling out about $300 for SuperFan
will have other options for watching several programs at once --
whether it's sports, news or shopping shows. The multiple-channel
screen, known in the television industry as a "mosaic," is about to
show up on millions of TVs throughout the country. It's another sign
that satellite and cable systems are beginning to embrace interactive
television after years of hype about the concept.
EchoStar Communications Inc. is set to announce today that its Dish
Network satellite service has added the mosaic feature to its "Dish
Home" channel. Viewers who tune to Dish Home, where they have access to
a wide range of interactive features like games and shopping, will see
what's happening on six channels, currently all tuned to news stations.
Dish Home subscribers will be able to watch six programs on one TV
screen.
Comcast Corp. this fall is planning to launch a similar mosaic feature
on a new "portal" screen that subscribers to its cable systems will see
when they first turn on their TVs.
On the left side of the portal will be the various viewing options,
like switching to on-demand movies or scrolling through channels.
In the middle will be six screens showing what's happening on different
channels organized along different themes, like children's shows,
sports or news.
Viewers will be able to use their remote controls to navigate among the
channel boxes on the mosaic guides offered by all three operators. The
audio they hear will be from the screen they highlight. By selecting it
again, the box expands to fill the entire screen.
"When the consumer comes home and powers on they'll be greeted by a new
experience," says Gerard Kunkel, a Comcast vice president who heads the
joint venture between Comcast and Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.
that is developing the new guide.
The television industry has been promising interactive features for
more than 15 years, but now it's finally starting to deliver as
competition intensifies. The cable industry is fighting to keep
satellite companies from luring away subscribers, and both of them soon
will face telephone companies that are beefing up their lines so they
also can offer TV service.
Dish Network subscribers, for example, also can now use their remotes
to play games, buy goods from Sharper Image or even bet on horse races,
in the dozen or so states where that's legal. Time Warner Inc.'s cable
division is launching a new guide that will enable viewers to do such
things as call up local weather and traffic reports, upgrade their
service and see the phone number of a caller when the phone rings. In a
pilot program, Time Warner cable customers in Austin, Texas, can
monitor the progress of their eBay auctions and increase their bids via
remote while watching TV.
Programmers also are getting into the act. Playboy Enterprises Inc. is
working with operators to enable viewers to order the channel via
remote instead of by phone and is exploring the use of the mosaic
feature to promote its content. Discovery Communications Inc. has been
looking at ways viewers can shop with their remotes for fitness-related
products on its Fit TV network.
Interactive TV is coming of age at a time of dramatic change in the
television industry. Not only are new competitors emerging but the
viewing habits of millions are being transformed by technology,
including TiVo-like digital video recorders and video-on-demand
services. Since most operators offer essentially the same channel
lineup, they are turning to new features like mosaic to attract and
retain subscribers.
They also are hoping that by making TV appear more like the Internet,
they'll reverse the trend among some segments of the population,
particularly younger people, of spending more time on their computers
and less time watching TV. "Kids that grew up with calculators and
computers are now adults and they want to punch keys," says media
analyst Paul Kagan.
Some interactive features also have the potential to generate revenue,
especially in the $60-billion-a-year TV commercial market. Operators
like EchoStar and Time Warner Cable already have begun to experiment
with commercials that allow viewers to request more information from
advertisers with their remotes.
"Viewers can interact with advertisements on TV as much as they can
with advertisements on the Internet," says Peter Stern, executive vice
president of Time Warner Cable.
Cable has a technological advantage over satellite on the interactivity
front because signals can be sent both to and from a cable subscriber's
home, allowing the customer to order a show or a product with a click
of the remote. (Satellite, by contrast, is a one-way system.) But cable
operators have held back on offering many interactive features because
only subscribers who pay for "digital" cable, which costs about $10 to
$15 more a month than standard "analog" cable, can get them. Today,
with close to half of subscribers at some cable companies getting
digital, it has become cost-effective to offer interactivity.
Satellite operators have attempted to make up for their handicap by
sometimes using a customer's phone wire for a return path -- which ties
up the line if there's only one in a household.
Lacking a two-way path, satellite operators can't offer video on demand
the way cable companies do. They've started a similar service for
subscribers who get their latest boxes, which have enough storage for
movies and other programs downloaded by the operator. But the operators
won't be able to match the volume of content that many cable companies
make available.
DirecTV, which is controlled by News Corp., lets subscribers watch
practically every Sunday National Football League game with the
SuperFan package. Subscribers can monitor the scores and progress of
every game. A special alert is sent whenever any team moves the ball
within the 20-yard line so the viewer can switch to the game to see if
they score.
Write to Peter Grant at peter.grant@xxxxxxx
.
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