It’s been said that everybody talks about the weather and nobody does anything about it. That’s not exactly true. The weather, as you might have noticed, is the hottest topic on your nightly local news.
Perhaps that’s because it’s the last unpredictable event in a world where there is no longer any history, just history being made. More likely it’s because the weather is the guaranteed spiffiest part of every newscast. There’s no assurance of a five-alarm warehouse fire, earthquake, flood, major traffic pile-up or other film-satisfying story. There is a guarantee that somewhere in the viewing area there were will be green or yellow or—hold on tight—red splotches dribbled across the weather map.
It’s more exciting than looking out the window at clouds or rain or stars or moon. And it’s more exciting than the old weatherman with a pointer and some cute little icons representing good and bad weather fronts and wind.
The generic TV programming grid should take a lesson from the weather. No, it doesn’t need to be unpredictable; when it says Sons of Anarchy is on a specific channel at a specific time, it better be there. A guide doesn’t have the freedom to be unpredictable; it can’t fail one percent of the time, unlike weathercasters who often spectacularly miss their marks.
On the other hand, current TV grids are utilitarian. They look like some engineer’s PowerPoint presentation to a disinterested marketing group meeting. There are splotches of color and little else. The grid tells you what’s on when and let’s you turn to that channel. If you have a DVR you can finagle it to set a program recording. And, of course, if you push yet another button you can get a little more detail in writing.
Excuse me while I yawn.
Just as Doppler has moved the weather from a public service to a top story, a guide can give the service provider the ability to whisk the viewer into a whole different navigational experience. Using content streamed from the network “cloud,” the guide can offer program previews, 3D graphics and improved search and discovery and recommendations from friends. Cloud-based interactivity can take the guide from a tool to an attraction, adding beauty, power and value for the viewer – and generating new revenue for the media ecosystem.
Enhanced TV isn’t just about what’s beneath the programming you watch just as the weather isn’t just about clouds and cold fronts. It’s about improving the way you get to that content and, en route, enlivening the experience. It’s about making the guide the top of the experience rather than the bottom.
Enhanced TV can make the guide intuitive. It can give it the power to recommend what’s there; to fill in the gaps of what’s available and, importantly, to bring to life a static grid.
Unlike the weather, not everybody is talking about the guide. But maybe they should be. Enhanced TV is one way to make it happen.
