Television and the web began converging before distribution became digital. Broadcasters already supplement programmes with chats, communities and information pages, synchronising interaction between users and providers. This creates options such as downloading soundtracks or retrieving information about actors while a film is playing.
New interactive formats are also technically possible. Viewers might search for clues in crime programmes, select ingredients for a television chef by remote control or influence individual storylines in soap operas.
Interactive television can also connect programming directly to transactions: booking a cruise during a travel programme, ordering food during a documentary or placing a wager during a live football broadcast. Such functions could replace conventional advertising breaks during films. Hard-disk recorders make it easier to remove or skip advertising, encouraging broadcasters to explore other revenue models. A viewer might add a soap character’s jumper to a shopping basket with the remote control, or a purchase offer might interrupt the programme like a pop-up in an online game.
Commercial free-to-air television depends on advertising revenue. If conventional spots disappear, alternative revenue models will have to take their place.
