ITV veteran, John P. Roberts, SVP of Digital Content & Cross-platform Entertainment at The Hub,contacted us to tell us his good news. John and his wife, Christie, have had their first child called Jason Patrick recently on February 28th at 1:53 AM! He weighed weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz.

We're very happy for you!!

-- Tracy Swedlow, [itvt]

   In Consumer Electronics vis a vis the General Public all the 'Tech Specialists' of the world assume that everyone understands technology the way they do.  The world is naturally more sophisticated, people are more tech savvy and there is definitely a trend towards a better understanding of a very complex TV world but fundamentally we must not believe all the hype.   Most people do not understand television technology (80%)!  Even High Definition is confusing to people.   In fact a recent report in the Telegraph regarding real transmission quality amongst the UK HD broadcasters only highlighted that the average consumer is being duped…by the very industry that is selling the new technology dream.   

The "television" in interactive television these days too often seems to be secondary to "interactive". We're all about interacting with Facebook and Twitter and advertisers and second screens. Watchitoo, a NYC based start-up, brings "television" back front and center with it's multistreaming collaboration platform.

I recently met with the Watchitoo team in NYC to talk in depth about their strategy and to get a first-hand look at Watchitoo's features.

One of the most exciting elements of working in emerging technologies and new media is in trend prediction. (or sometimes predication) Deciphering consumer trends and behavioral directions to ascertain a variety of patterns that deeply affect business initiatives provides both challenges and opportunities.

FROM WEB VIDEO TO DUAL SCREEN

I caught up recently with David Kaiser, CEO of Coincident, and John Gilles, EVP of Sales and Marketing to learn more about what Coincident has accomplished over the past several years and to see a demo of their just launched ScreenSync TV.

You may be familiar with Coincident, a start-up based in San Francisco, because of their Glee Superfan Experience from 2010, which enabled viewers to watch repeat episodes on the web while accessing bonus video and musical numbers with lyrics displayed on screen.

Just enjoying this great documentary by Lewis Lapham.

Reactive posts are typically not my cup of tea, but sometimes a necessity to convey specific and necessary points of view. This one is going to be brief and I am going to keep it simple, but it needs to be stated and understood in it‘s larger implications.

Talk about engaged fans, the Super Bowl serves them up like melted Velveeta on a corn chip (it was good). Typically one of the year's most watched programs and set of commercials, you'd think that the Super Bowl is perfect for engaging fans in interactive television.

Industry players certainly moved the ball forward, first and foremost the folks from Shazam, who enabled one in three ads. Meanwhile, Chevy promoted its Game Time app with thousands of prizes, including 20 trucks, NBC trumped it's Sports Talk app and you could fantasize about being at Detroit's Lucas Oil Stadium via the Super Bowl XLVI Guide.

Four Reasons Why iTV Didn't Score a TD

Let me just say this: The Super Bowl isn’t just a “big screen” experience; it’s a BIG SCREEN experience. “Biggest Game, Smallest Screen” just doesn’t seem like a grabber for Best Buy ads.

While many of you were watching the big game, our Couch Consultants were hard at work...Ok, this isn’t exactly true, but armed with some CTV Advertising sponsored buffalo Wings and pizza ,we did give our couch consultants the task to provide insight into the second screen, social TV and at some further point, connected TV advertising from their respective watching locales.

Following the announcement this morning (Tuesday January 31st) that BSkyB are soon to launch a standalone OTT non satellite or subscription based service to target the 13m homes in UK without a Sky subscription and rival both Netflix (UK) and Lovefilm, I wonder if this means that Sky will shortly buy the FetchTV assets of London based IP Vision Ltd. who recently entered administration? The two companies were already working closely together, and FetchTV offers all the functionality and capabilities Sky were describing this morning. Not that Sky necessarily need to buy them, but the technology used by the FetchTV platform is leading edge.

As always, the demos were the talk of the show. How DO I get my wife to let me spring for that quarter-inch thick, 55-inch OLED display? Definitely NOT by buying the robotic window cleaner as an anniversary gift. It seemed like the only thing missing was a Hawaii Chair demo.

So I promised a CES wrap-up and my thoughts on the Connected TV landscape including its numerous changes, innovations, evolution and yes, even challenges.  Like any year though and like any event, there is no such thing as a true “wrap-up”. CES and all of the numerous events that impact converging media and converging industries are always in a state of constant evolution and so a wrap-up would be a misnomer. Rather, it’s an evolution that takes years to take shape. That said, a growing image of the Connected TV market is taking place and it’s nothing short of exciting. Here is the latest in the spectrum from CES and the weeks before and after.