Challenging The Status Quo

Hmm, it seems that people are waking up and smelling the coffee (thanks to Rob in Ontario for pointing out this NYTimes article). A sudden realisation is dawning that we live in a multi-screen world and just because us older folk don't consume from multiple screens at the same time, it doesn't mean that the next generation of TV consumers won't. Even Google are moving away from their obsession with point and click as they launch Leanback.

I take a radical view of the way TV will be consumed in the future, but some of that radicalism is based on how little will change. We will watch full screen scheduled TV, but the schedule might have been created by a friend or an intelligent agent. But we will be watching the Twitter feed as we watch more an more. Indeed, it's only a matter of time before someone comes up with a live graphing application that tracks along with TV shows indicating their popularity; this is turn will enable a new level of participation.

But the most radical step will come as mobile and tablet devices become remote controls and sync the second screen with the first, providing the kind of interactivity that seemed so clunky on the red button in a seamless way.

As the NYTimes correspondent points out, it's all possible now, and it's already changing the way viewers react to telly, but this is scary behaviour to those enjoying the half a century status quo that is commercial television.