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Create
Your TV Channel
NEC
Interview, 2001
Personal
Video Recorder (PVR) technology makes television viewers the
masters of a new universe of entertainment and information.
Adding the power and intelligence of the personal computer,
PVR updates the VCR for the 21st century and gives viewers
unprecedented control and convenience as TV and the Internet
converge.
PVR will
use personal computer technology and agent algorithm to let
viewers create their own private TV channels. With a PVR connected
to the Internet, future agent software "robots" can search
Web sites for reviews and other information that can help
the owner choose which programs to record, says Ani Phyo,
a Los Angeles, California-based designer of interactive programming
that bridges the gap between the World Wide Web and TV. Phyo
founded SmartMonkey Media, and currently designs the Web site
component for popular children's programs on one of the world's
biggest cable TV networks.
More than
100,000 PVR boxes have been sold in the United States as of
June 2000. Market researchers predict that by 2010, more than
90 million U.S. homes will own one. PVR will also become common
in Europe and Asia.
PVR offers
expanded recording capacity, an easy programming interface,
and intelligent search technology that lets each person create
the equivalent of a private TV channel. Does PVR mean the
end of the mass TV audience and no more watching a popular
program and knowing that tens of millions of viewers are watching
it at the same time? Ani Phyo believes not, and says that
PVR will instead help create new kinds of communities and
shared experiences. People will be able to enjoy the same
programs, but they won't have to be watching at the same time.
As PVR
enables the true convergence of TV and the Internet, the content
of television will also change. Zoog Disney provides a good
example of the kind of programming viewers will enjoy in the
PVR future. Zoog Disney uses the same cartoon characters for
the cable TV and World Wide Web components of its Zoog Disney
programming, explains Ani Phyo. Kids watch Zoog Disney on
TV and log on to the Web, moving back and forth between the
two. With PVR connected to the Internet, they watch TV and
surf the Web on a single monitor. At the Zoog Disney Web site
children can vote for their favorite music videos, then watch
the video appear on TV, or they can play games and see their
high scores broadcast on Zoog Disney TV.
If
PVR gives viewers the ability to skip over commercials with
the push of a button, how will the TV industry changes its
ways of making money? Advertisers will have to use one-to-one
marketing strategies developed for the World Wide Web, says
Ani Phyo. PVR owners will see fewer TV commercials and instead
will receive more marketing messages inserted into program
content. However, one-to-many advertising will coexist with
the new wave of one-to-one marketing programs. There will
always be mass market advertising opportunities on TV such
as Olympic Games and Academy Award Shows. Those big event
programs continue to attract huge TV viewers around the world.
PVR lets CATV and Satellite operators collect detailed data
on each viewer and sell it to advertisers who will be able
to target advertising messages specifically to each individual.
The TV industry and the public need to agree on fair rules
to safeguard viewer privacy, and new legislation may be necessary.
NEC
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