If you’ve spent the holiday season squabbling over who has control of the TV remote, I’ve got some terrible news... a new trend could make your life much, much more complicated...
You see, while you may have settled into your favourite armchair to watch Pirates of the Caribbean or Little Britain this Christmas, the citizens of Finland were having a much more interactive experience...
Instead of your ‘boring’ TV show, the fine people of Finland were tuning into something much more advanced... a programme called ”Accidental Lovers”. This show played like your average romantic comedy but with one big twist...
How Finns got interactive over the holidays
Instead of the plots being decided by a panel of scriptwriters, the viewers got to decide in real time whether characters would fall in love or break up. All the audience had to do was send in a text message to choose which events would occur in the relationship of the main characters Roope and Juulia...
Viewers will also get to see their text messages displayed on screen and hear the characters of “Accidental Lovers” respond to what they have to say. It’s been dubbed ‘Shapeshifting TV’.
And just in case any member of the Finnish public isn’t happy with the outcome of Roope and Juulia’s relationship, they will have another bite of the cherry. In fact, they’ll have another 11 opportunities to influence the outcome – the show will be shown 12 times in total... each time should be completely different.
I’ve got a feeling this type of programme could be huge – just think what the two most popular types of TV show are... soaps and reality TV shows. This new breed of programme could bring the two together where viewers can influence the outcome (as they do by voting on Big Brother or X Factor) of the new Eastenders or Corrie.
Are you about to run your own TV station?
The difference between straightforward voting and this new form of interactive TV is that the software behind it can recognise words or phrases in your text messages... and you may be surprised to hear who developed it... our very own British Telecom.
BT is aiming to create a completely personalised television service through their BT Vision. Their idea is to create internet based broadcasting that will allow you to dictate what happens in the TV shows you’re watching. It’s like you’re the Director General of your own TV station.
The options for this kind of TV are huge. You could have quiz shows where the audience picks who will answer the question. Comedy improvisation could enjoy a come back as the audience makes suggestions. Whatever it is, this has the feel of a big new trend... with lots of room for expansion. To read more about it, click here:
http://www.btplc.com/Innovation/News/ShapeShifted.html
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