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COMMENT NOTE FROM RUEL:
The Ying Yang In Interactive Television
Or Achieving Commercial Chi For On-Demand TV

This originally appeared in the May 5, 2001 issue of
the Ruel.Net Interactive TV Report newsletter
(You can click here to subscribe to the newsletter)

05-MAY-2001 (Ruel.Net) - Compare the first two news headlines [see below] regarding Disney and Viacom. The first news headline is regarding an article from the Washington Post where Disney's Michael Eisner is quoted as stating he used a TiVo-type personal video recorder (PVR) "for three days and never was more annoyed by anything in my life." Eisner is then quoted as stating "a big percentage of viewers prefer to stick with fixed TV schedules rather than to move shows around on their own" using TiVo-type PVRs. To this, Viacom's Sumner Redstone readily agreed. Then in the next news item, you have Disney and Viacom announcing they are working towards providing a video-on-demand (VOD) service via the internet.

There is a ying yang here where on the one hand you have passive (ying) TV scheduling with TV viewers following the network-prescribed schedule and on the other hand you have a more active (yang) TV interaction using some sort of on-demand capability. I personally see the personal video recorder as a companion function to video-on-demand where both provide an on-demand capability for selecting what you want to watch when you want to watch it. The difference between the two is (1) the PVR records regularly scheduled broadcast content which is typically supported by advertising and (2) access to VOD movies and other premium content is directly paid for by the subscriber. The problem with the PVR, is that the TV viewer could skip commercials. The commercial-skipping problem will most likely be solved to the satisfaction of all of the networks and advertisers in due time.

The "chi" for on-demand TV could be some sort of balanced interface such as an on-screen guide with "scheduling" provided by the networks or by some other service that would rank which shows come up to the top of the on-demand schedule while also noting what is "on" right now on regular TV. Such suggested scheduling with rankings influenced by the networks and advertisers would help to ensure that shows and advertising are watched. A network could offer an on-demand slate of reruns: If you are going to miss the first run of your favorite shows, you could set the PVR to follow a network's suggested recording schedule, or you can subscribe to the network's on-demand rerun schedule which can be offered in much the same way that CD music collections are offered on TV today.

With all of the content that will be out there to be demanded, people will need to be guided on not only what to watch but also "when" (in the form of "schedule" offerings) to watch the content whenever they enter the on-demand time-shifted flexible-schedule world of PVR-harvested advertiser-supported content and subscriber-paid VOD content. Just as the sun rises in the morning followed by the moon at night, people do like to follow routines and schedules. And on-demand schedule rankings and on-demand pre-packaged schedules can help TV viewers with their TV schedules because they will know what they are getting.

And as always, Happy TV Watching from Ruel....