Interactive Television Demystified

What interactive TV is and how it works...

What services are possible and probable...

How interactivity will affect the TV, cable, and computing industries...

Where the money is...

The Complete Guide to Interactive TV

Interactive TV is what's possible when digital television, computing, and Internet technologies converge. It's as varied as point-and-click ordering of the clothes worn by a favorite star...a stock ticker across the bottom of a movie-on-demand...messaging friends while your watch a show...and a stunning array of other applications. The projected profits are staggering--as is the fear that the computing industry will get there first.

Now is the time to learn about interactive TV--what is can do, how it does it, and who will use it. Jerry Whitaker, a well-known DTV expert, paints the full interactive television picture in this friendly, not-too-big, not-too-technical introduction. You MUST read it if...

*you're in the television or cable industries
*you're a technology professional or IT consultant
*you're developing interactive TV software or business models
*you're interested in datacasting, access, or subscription solutions
*you produce or sell entertainment, news, or access, or are thinking of doing so
*you cover the TV, Internet, or cable beat as a reporter or financial analyst
*you want to know which companies lead in interactive TV
*you read DTV and ATSC manuals but didn't understand them
*you can't afford $80,000 for an MBA in media
*you're a technovideophile
*you simply want to be up to speed on this fascinating new technology of key importance to consumers, and thebroadcasting, entertainment, news, communications, and computing industries

The first-ever, fact-filled introduction to the new world of interactive TV

Interactive Television Demystified helps you understand why the advent of Interactive Television will alter the broadcast industry more dramatically than even the introduction of color did decades ago. This guide by broadcasting insider Jerry Whitaker is the book to go to for the straight facts on interactive TV: what it actually is, what services are possible, and how it is affecting and will affect the television, cable, and computer industries. Packing plenty of case histories, this look at the hype-and reality of media convergence uses a proven, topic-clarifying format to bring you up to speed on PC-based receivers and other smart appliances, and provides you with:
Coverage of the ATSC and DVB standards
Interactive TV business models
Clear treatment of TV datacasting
More