Will interactive television change the relationship between the viewer and the television set?
Interactive television is not a new occurrence, but there have been recent advances in television technology that has brought about new developments in the way television is watched and used. ‘There is no widespread agreement on the definition of interactive TV.’ (Sawhney, 2002: p1). Through television’s history there have been different forms of interactive television. In 1953 the children’s television programme
Winky Dink and You began a form of interactivity where children use transparent paper to put on the screen and help the shows character by drawing pathways and tools. Teletext is an interactive form of television on which weather reports and news stories can be read. In 1959, NBC’s
Today show held the first telephone call in. For much of television’s history viewers have been able to phone in and recently text in to attempt to win prizes, vote in polls and give their opinions. ‘The telephone, in particular, has proved to be a powerful interactive television tool.’ (Dodson, 2001) Sky digital has been the driving force behind recent developments in interactive television, with many channels dedicated solely to interactivity such as
Avago where viewers can interact through the TV or phone in order to win prizes.
One popular feature of Sky digital is the interactive service which can be accessed by pressing the red button on the remote. A screen comes up offering a various number of options, such as news features, sports and shopping.
In order to investigate the attitudes of people towards interactive television I used a questionnaire consisting of eight questions, some being for statistics and some for opinions. At the beginning of the questionnaire there is a brief on what interactive television is. The reason I chose the age ranges of 0-25, 26-51 and 52+ was due to the fact that people in the range of 0-25 have grown up with many new technological advancements and are the main target market of digital producers. ‘Children are typically seen to posses a natural wisdom in their relationships with technology that the majority of adults seem to lack’ (Buckingham 2002: p 79). The second range seems to be similar to the first but may have less knowledge of certain aspects of the use of new technologies. The third range are commonly represented as being quite familiar with new technologies such as digital television, video games and computers but are not accustomed to their use.
The results from the questionnaires suggest that there is a high awareness of iTV but not a wide knowledge of how to use it. The answer to question 1 was that out of the 24 people, 20 of them were aware of interactive television and 4 were not. The majority of answers to question 6 stated that their isn’t a wide knowledge of the uses and features of iTV, some answers being ‘I don’t think there are many people that use it and that many of the features go unused’, and ‘there isn’t much use of it. Things on Sky interactive such as shopping aren’t used much because it can be done on the internet.’
The results also show that when people are presented with the notion of interactive television they think of the interactivity available on Sky digital. Over the past few years there has been extensive advertising and hype about Sky digital and its latest form Sky Plus, on which there are many interactive services and features. Sky appears to be the most popular form of digital providers. ‘All the time Sky has a stranglehold on the market’ (New Media Age 2005).
From the 24 who answered the questionnaires, 22 have interactive TV. 10 of these answered that they use iTV often and 12 answered that they don’t use it often. This indicates that’s it is not a very popular medium. The results show that more males use iTV often than females (see figure 1).
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In an article called
Difference and Diversity in the journal
Media, Culture and Society, Karen Drotner explains some research conducted on young people and their use of media. She states that ‘there are still marked gender differences in the use of computers.’ (Drotner 2000: 154). The research shows that young males spend more than twice the amount of time on computers as young females do; conversely young females spend twice as long reading than young males. Her point is that females are more interested in print media and males more interested in visual media.
Another issue that arises from this question is the use of interactive television by different age groups. The results indicate that more young people use iTV than others. (See figure 2).
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The majority of people who said they use iTV often are in the 0-25 age group. The youth of today are the first to grow up surrounded by the use of advanced computers, and so are accustomed to using new technologies and media. Drotner states that ‘young people may be said to be pioneers of mediated culture: they are in the forefront of exploring new media technologies’ (drotner 2000: 154). Younger age groups are key targets of iTV producers and creators as they will be the future users of iTV and a quantity of which will be involved in further developments in the technologies and forms of iTV. According to Drotner ‘they (young people) are often innovative in developing new forms of reception, just as today an increasing number of them are involved in the making of media.’ (drotner 2000: 154).
What is interesting in the results of the questionnaires is the attitudes towards the usefulness of iTV and the comparison to the internet. Question 3 asks ‘do you think it is useful?’ Many people do believe it is useful (see figure 3).
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When asked ‘In the future do you think it will have as similar impact that the World Wide Web has had and why?’ everyone answered no. Many find that interactive TV can be useful but none believe it will have the same phenomenal status that the internet and World Wide Web has achieved. Many of the answers signify that iTV will always take a ‘back seat’ to the internet. One answer was ‘many of the features of interactive TV can be done through the internet on computers. It’s more convenient to do shopping and other things that way.’ Interactive television appears to be not as user friendly as the World Wide Web. One person said ‘features such as shopping don’t have a wide choice and it’s not as easy to pay for goods through the television.’ In an article written by J. Van Dijk called ‘
Searching for the Holy Grail’, he talks about research done by
Heuvelman and Peeters into iTV. ‘They found that the more one wasused to working with a computer, the lower the appeal of iTV.’ (van Dijk, J. 2001: 443)
This may be due to the ease of using and inputting information into a computer compared to a television.
In his book Seeing Things John Ellis explains his theory on eras of television. There are three, the first being the era of scarcity which was ‘a few channels broadcasting for part of the day only.’ (Ellis 2000: 39). The second is the era of availability, where there is a wide choice of channels with competition between cable and satellite providers. The third is the era of plenty which ‘is confidently predicted by the television industry itself.’ (Ellis 2000: 39). One answer to question 5 is ‘no one I know uses iTV much and no one seems to be interested in it much. Many people do use things like the sky TV guide and the recording on Sky +.’ Ellis says that the third era
‘is foreseen as an era in which television programmes will be accessible through a variety of technologies, the sum of which will give consumers the new phenomenon of television on demand as well as interactive television.’ (Ellis 2000: 39).
Television on demand seems to be very popular among consumers but interactive shopping and other things like it does not. The problem may be that there is too much available as the era of plenty is establishing. ‘The era of plenty is predicted even as most nations and individuals are still coming to terms with the transition to the era of plenty’ (Ellis 2000: 39).
When talking about the first era, Ellis says that ‘many of its social effects have already been alluded to, particularly its powerful effect in the modernization and urbanization of society.’ (Ellis 2000: 45). This is seems to be technologically deterministic. In the view of the technological determinist, ‘technology is seen as the prime mover in history.’ (Chandler 1995). Saying that television had a powerful effect in the modernization and urbanization of society is a fairly strong deterministic stance.
Many answers to question 4 (What features do you use mostly?)
included features of Sky digital such as the electronic programme guide and the record feature. These are popular features amid consumers. The element behind the popularity of these functions appears to be choice. Before the electronic programme guide viewers were confined to the schedules that the channels produced. ‘The flexible and adaptable guide is often seen as liberation from the tyranny that the schedules seem to exercise’ (Ellis 2000: 169-70). The choice of what to watch lies with the viewer but what is available to watch still lies with the supplier. ‘With all these opportunities of choice the supplier keeps defining and producing the overwhelming part of all form and *******’ (van Dijk, J. 2001: 443).
Most responses to question 8 (Do you think it will change the relationship between the viewer and the television, and in what ways?) were positive ones stating yes, that they think iTV will change the relationship between the two. The overall attitude that emerges from the answers is that interactive TV will give the viewer more control over watch they watch and that the features such as the electronic television guide will become even more popular and widely used. Features such as online shopping and banking will have to develop in its range and capabilities before it is acknowledged as being useful and worth having. The notion of ‘two way TV’ also emerged in the answers. Many were cynical (notably the younger age group) about iTV being two way. Umberto Eco describes young people through their use of media as ‘belonging to a culture of instinctive semioticians’ (Eco 1986 cited in Drotner 2000: 151) and Nava describes them as ‘discriminating audiences’ whose ‘scepticism’ is ‘a great deal more developed than those of older generations’ (Nava and Nava 1990 cited in Drotner 2000: 151). Yonger people are more adapted to new forms of media and so may be cynical, because they have a fairly wide knowledge of media forms and plenty available.
One definition of ‘two way TV’ is where ‘the viewer can make programming choices and produce user input’ (Jensen and Toscan 1999 cited in van Dijk j. 2001: 443).One person stated that ‘programme choices can be made but you can’t choose what you want to be available’, which is true, so ‘two way TV’ may only be accepted when viewers are able to choose what they want to be available. Viewers are able to produce input through voting polls and shopping, and results and feedback are given, therefore information is passed in both directions.
Is there really a need for it, is an important question concerning interactive television. J. van Dijk in his research into iTV found that ‘
communication scientists and television experts are sceptical about the prospects of ITV’ (van Dijk, J. 2001: 443).
Many of the features such as the online banking and shopping can be seen as basic versions of what can be done on the internet, which could be why many do not use these features or are not interested in them. The ability to record programmes, use the electronic programme guide and choose what sport event to watch are popular features because they offer wider choice and ease of viewing. It would be of benefit to the iTV providers if they concentrated more in developing these features than the online ones. Offering more choice to viewers increases interest for example, the sports events on BBC digital, where during a rugby match, viewers have the ability to view the game from different angles, see statistics and listen to the referee. During athletics the viewer can choose which event to watch. Giving this amount of control to viewers has proven to be popular and worthwhile.
Overall then, the responses indicate that people do believe interactive television will change the relationship between the viewer and the set. The youngest appear to be the most interested in it and the main users. The features that involve viewing such as the electronic programme guide and interactive sports events are the most used and most popular and it is these which they feel that will change the relationship between viewer and set, where as there is a sense that people have no need for online shopping and banking through their television. Therefore the impression is given that this form of interactive television will continue to ‘take a back seat’ to the World Wide Web. Many are sceptical towards the notion of two way TV including television scientists and experts. There is a lack of knowledge of the use of interactive television, so viewers will not easily adapt to more advanced interactivity. The younger people will become accustomed easier, as Drotner states; ‘young people’ are a ‘highly media literate generation’ (Drotner 2000: 152). Current forms of interactivity are seen as unsatisfactory so in order to invoke more interest the producers will need to improve the online services found on interactive TV. J. van Dijk believes that ‘interactivity has to be learned’ (van Dijk J. 2001: 443), and peoples attitudes are that interactive television will change the relationship between the viewer and the set.