Is the ITV Era Finally Upon Us?

Signs are all around we should be At least half of all US television households now operate a smart or connected set or devices like Roku Chromecast Apple TV Shield and Amazon Fire TV or both Recent studies indicate viewership of Webtransmitted services through these devices is rising Many participating Digital Content NewFront companies acknowledged in public including for the first time YouTube that a growing segment of their audience watches via smart TV sets and devicesEvery smart TV and most smart devices allow users to play games order merchandise and transact in numerous ways amp160Apple TV has more than 6000 applications to work with since the current version was introduced last October including such services as AirBnB Zillow and Gilt Group and virtual reality showcase Littlstar Shield from NVidia has more than 100 Androidformatted games in its catalogue Amazon Fire customers can book trips via Orbitz and read ebooks on the set with help from AlexaInterlude a company with investments from Sony and venture capitalists is developing TV series in which the viewer can direct the storyline or characters at various points with a flick of a remote smartphone tablet or touchscreen One Interlude effort is a revival of quotThe Twilight Zonequot coproduced with CBSWith increased capacity and capabilities the ITV adoption outlook should look bright amp160Why then are the key companies in position to drive this marketplace playing possum Why are organizations able to showcase this marketplace ignoring itIt is time to get answers and shift gears fast amp160If this keeps up this marketplace runs the risk of ending up the way predecessors did before in a graveyard of failed enterprisesApple CEO Tim Cook declared last fall that apps are quotthe future of TVquot urging his company39s development community to go beyond videotransmitting apps as in AirBnB games and commerce offerings Yet at Apple39s latest worldwide developer conference last month in Silicon Valley what was highlighted during their worldwidetransmitted keynote A new video app or two Nothing on innovative envelopepushing apps What39s more Apple has yet to hold an event anywhere which brings press and developers together to show off new apps And last week Eddy Cue Apple TV39s overseer blew an opportunity to update developments in a Hollywood Reporter interviewAmazon Fire TV and Google also keep a low profile on their ITV activity Amazon issues very few press releases on Fire TV and when they do they ask reporters to call a media hotline rather than attach a name and phone number on the release In this journalist39s experience hotline calls are never returned and like Apple Amazon has yet to do a major press showcase on Fire TV As for Google news continues to be filtered through blog posts rather than press releases available to anyoneAs for technologycentric events where reporters learn the latest developments and pass the news on to readers smart TVdevices are nowhere to be found For the second straight year CE Week39s conference program held last month at Metropolitan Pavilion here in New York failed to present a single panel on the smart TVdevice movement andor its interactive side Just four years ago CE Week devoted more than half a day to the topic There is one word for this inexcusableSeparately Pepcom39s latest New York exhibition did not feature a single smart TV or smart device exhibitor However there were several app providers including Capital One and Mastercard who acknowledged they were working on smart TVdevice versions of their smartphonetablet apps Mastercard in fact demonstrated a grocery commerce service using a Samsung refrigerator Why isn39t Samsung creating a similar smart TV appAre we in the Interactive TV era at last We can be given that the American public may be in the best mindset ever to go ahead and interact However we won39t be if the public doesn39t see or hear for themselves what39s happening Itamp8217s time for Apple and fellow technology players to come out of their shells and tout what they39re doing Itamp8217s time for organizations like Pepcom and CE Week to raise the attention level by having smart TVdevice exhibitions panel discussions and cuttingedge app demonstrations And it is time for all journalists be they general assignment entertainment or techcentric to cover what39s current and ahead for this marketplace more thoroughly than beforeUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Is the ITV Era Finally Upon Us?

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Simon Applebaum

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Is the ITV Era Finally Upon Us?

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