For an industry that is often told it leads the world in interactive TV, there was a lot of soul-searching on display at this NMK and BAFTA event. Having been asked to consider whether iTV was a 'Slow Burn' or a 'Damp Squib', the speakers often seemed to be trying to convince themselves as much as the audience of the medium's continuing vitality.

When David Docherty, the evening's chair, remarked that it was encouraging to see a theatre full of people who evidently still cared about interactive TV, he joked that they were probably the only 200 people left in Britain who did.

So what is the explanation for what the BBC's Emma Somerville described as iTV's "mid-life crisis"? In his keynote presentation, Flextech's Jonathan Webb argued that it's largely a matter of iTV content being unchallenging, underwhelming and predictable. While our understanding of iTV may have moved on since the day's of BSKYB's attempt to create virtual banks and shopping malls on its Open channel, we still have a long way to go before interactive TV represents a genuinely immersive and exciting experience that the majority of viewers will continue to find interesting after the initial novelty has worn off.

Like every other form of interactive media, the industry is also still nursing a post-dotcom hangover, in this case blearily regretting its over-indulgence in visions of mass popularity, vast revenues, and technology that wouldn't be hampered by huge costs, technical limitations, inflexibility and cross-platform incompatibilities.

Nowadays, interactive TV can be found in a variety of guises, but these can broadly be divided into two main forms: always-on information and services (such as BBC Digital Text) that are related to, but independent of, the shows broadcast on digital channels; and fully realised interactive programmes, in which the interactivity is an integral part of the programme concept (and is often available only while the show is on air). Jonathan Webb was dismissive of the former and firmly in favour of the latter, arguing that the games, horoscopes and information services that (he said) typify the 24/7 variety are no more than snacks before a main meal that has yet to be served up - and the nation's digital TV viewers are getting hungry.

Not everybody agreed with Webb's assessment about 24/7 services, including (unsurprisingly) the BBC's Head of Interactive 24/7, Emma Somerville, who pointed out that 22 million people access the weather reports on Digital Text every week - far more than use interactive gaming channels. When Channel 4 developed interactive formats for shows such as Fifteen-to-One, they found that they couldn't justify the cost of development for the sake of a few half-hour slots a week. Interactive TV is expensive and time-consuming to make, with a plethora of set-top boxes to test on, and several platforms, each with different capabilities. As Peter Good, the channel's Head of Interactive TV, explained, running interactive versions of Big Brother or Banzai makes a lot more commercial sense if they are available round the clock, and beyond the lifespan of the broadcast programme.

What are the ingredients required to concoct a good interactive TV experience? Jonathan Webb believes we can learn a lot by watching how viewers engage with current offerings. To take an example, researchers monitoring one family's use of the BBC's Fame Academy found that teenage viewers were reluctant to explore any interactive features while the programme was on air for fear of being taken away from the show to unrelated content, such as news or weather. Only afterwards did they press the red button on their handsets to access the interactive extras. According to Webb, this shows that viewers don't yet trust the red button to give them what they want, and during the evening there was some debate around the issue of different channels' and platforms' inconsistent use of the button causing confusion among viewers.

For interactivity to work, the red button must provide something that the audience genuinely desires - 'I wish I could see what was happening on Court 2' during Wimbledon coverage, or 'I wish I knew all the words' when Beyonce is belting out her latest hit on Top of the Pops (two successful BBC applications). Viewers also have to be emotionally engaged with the linear show before they will consider pressing the red button instead of the one that changes the channel. Enhancements for their own sake are generally ignored, and interactivity can never rescue a mediocre show. You've got to get your timing right, as Peter Good pointed out. On Big Brother, interactivity peaked on Tuesday evenings when the week's nominations were announced, and was increased by judicious use of the 'red dot trigger' as voting deadlines loomed.

Webb's aim is to develop completely immersive iTV shows, in which the interactivity lies at the heart of the programme concept, constantly evolves and makes the viewer part of the show. As examples of what he is talking about, he demonstrated a pilot for an enhanced TV casino game, in which the viewer's details are displayed on-screen as they actually play against the filmed contestants, and an interactive version of the game show Fort Boyard, in which the gameplay is integral to the show, changes with every episode, and doesn't take viewers away from the on-screen action (33% of viewers regularly join in, apparently).

The appeal of this kind of programming for broadcasters is its potential to increase audiences and stop viewers switching to other channels. The growth in multi-channel broadcasting has fragmented audiences, so competition for viewing figures is fierce and anything that can be used to convince advertisers that channels are attracting the right kinds of viewers in sufficient numbers is extremely valuable. Flextech's Challenge channel has enjoyed significant ratings growth over the past year, and some of that growth is undoubtedly down to interactivity. Just how much is impossible to say on the basis of available statistics, as these measure iTV payments rather than participation or viewing levels. Measurement processes therefore need to improve before the value of iTV can be demonstrated accurately.

Webb is critical of most of the UK's current iTV output, but he remains optimistic about the future. Britain can still lead the world in this field, he says, as soon as broadcasters and producers recognise that interactivity is not separate to the core business of programme making but an integral part of the same process. (The gulf in culture and understanding that continues to exist between programme makers and interactive developers was illustrated by the veteran BAFTA member who stood up during the Q&A to complain that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts appeared to have been taken over by those interested only in film and television technicalities.) Only once we learn how to combine the two elements seamlessly will we start to see genuinely innovative, creative and exciting iTV applications on our screens.

But is this really viable? Jeff Zie, Development Director at Open TV, isn't so sure, arguing that the need to make money will continue to take precedence over creativity and innovation for another two or three years yet. For Zie it comes down to simple economics: the cost of production and bandwidth is still too expensive for iTV, especially while alternatives such as DVDs and broadband internet can provide similar (and in many ways more sophisticated) experiences to the viewer, but cost less to produce. In this climate, games, horoscopes and other standalone iTV services continue to make sense, as these are the most effective way of separating viewers from the odd 50 pence.

It's possible that many viewers will be satisfied with these services. For reasons of both cost and audience demand, both Channel 4 and the BBC seem to have adopted a two-pronged approach to iTV, providing both standalone 24/7 content and the occasional high-profile, big-budget, fully realised interactive programme of the type advocated by Jonathan Webb (such as Big Brother or Walking with Beasts). As Peter Good explained, Channel 4's audience for interactive programming appears to be splitting into two, with some wanting to immerse themselves in interactive content, but others looking for nothing more than a ten-minute diversion while they wait for ER to start.

With it's teacher's mortar board on, and Reithian principles in place, the BBC is also interested in educating license payers about the benefits of interactive television. Apart from teenagers and early adopters, many viewers don't really understand iTV yet, and this partly explains the BBC's decisions to standardise and simplify the digital text service across all its digital channels, and to introduce reusable formats that viewers can learn how to use as they become familiar with the functionality (in effect, learning to walk before they can run). Of course, generic formats have the additional benefit of being cheaper and quicker to produce, as Channel 4 has also realised.

While the other panellists understood Jonathan Webb's frustration with the limitations of the UK's current iTV output, the general consensus seemed to be that we're going to have to be patient and wait for the broadcasters, platform owners, set-top box manufacturers and viewers to catch up with our expectations. In the meantime, there was general enthusiasm about encouraging viewers to interact with their televisions via other means, including email, the web and (especially) mobile phones.

So iTV may appear to be suffering from a mid-life crisis, but it hasn't quite packed in its job, bought a sports car and started questioning the point of its existence just yet. Rather, it has just stopped making as many wild claims as it did in its youth, and takes a little longer to get things done nowadays.

This event was produced by Stephen Jeffery-Poulter, and presented in association with:

This event was supported by Business Link for London (www.bl4london.com )

Speaker Profiles

Jonathan Webb, Director of Interactive Programming & Controller of Challenge & Trouble, Flextech
Jonathan is director of Interactive Programming, responsible for Flextech?s channels Trouble, Bravo, LivingTV and Challenge. The role covers the development of the channels? websites as well as Flextech?s interactive strategy across TV, broadband PC and mobile telephony. He was recently responsible for the relaunch of Challenge? As the world?s first fully interactive games network, including enhanced play-along TV and stand-alone arcade games. Jonathan started his career with Unilever, but joined The Family Channel in 1994. Following Flextech?s acquisition of the channel in 1996, Jonathan relaunched it as Challenge TV, and later the same year also assumed responsibility for UK Living, which he re-branded as Living. In 1997, Jonathan was promoted to head of marketing for Flextech TV and in 1999 became the company's director of brand development. Awards include Promax UK and Europe Gold Awards for Best PR Campaign (Endurance UK on Challenge TV) and Best Mixed Media Campaign for Living. Jonathan?s other passion is jazz.

Peter Good, Head of Interactive TV, Channel 4
Peter Good started his career on shoots for music videos with Phonogram Records, before moving to MTV Networks, where he was in charge of music policy. In 1998 Good devised and launched MTV's first digital TV channel M2 (now MTV2), one of the first TV and web convergent concepts, and winner of a Promax award and interactive BAFTA. Good launched a further 3 channels for MTV, including MTV Base, and was also responsible for new media projects for MTV UK. In 2000 Good joined Channel 4 as Head of Interactive Television, with a remit for developing interactive and enhanced TV services across Channel 4, FilmFour and E4. His team launched Channel 4's first iTV show, Banzai, in January 2001. This was followed by the interactive TV version of Big Brother, widely regarded as the most successful interactive TV project ever in the UK, and used by more TV viewers than any previous interactive format. In November 2002 Good's team launched 4 Active, a permanent iTV presence behind Channel 4 and E4 providing access to iTV games, quizzes and votes.

Emma Somerville, Head of Interactive 24/7, BBC Interactive TV
Emma Somerville started in New Media by setting up the first Teletext web site in 1993, later winning Yell award for Best Online publication. She then moved to BiB (later Open Interactive), where she worked on content services for the first Interactive DSAT service launched in 1999. When the company was taken over by Sky her role expanded to looking after ETV services and content for Sky Active platforms. Emma joined the BBC in September 2002. BBCi's Interactive TV 24/7 group is responsible for permanent 'stand-alone' iTV services like news, sport, weather, travel and user-generated content across all DTV platforms. Originally text only, 24/7 services now provide rich graphics, games, quizzes and video services. A total redesign throughout the summer of 2003 will radically change navigation and expand the content strategy.

Jeff Zie, Development Director, Open TV
Jeff Zie combines creative and commercial acumen in the drive to improve the user experience delivered through iTV. Having driven PlayJam into launch and beyond with a successful channel team, Zie is now involved with the planning and implementation of Static's activities. Zie joined Static from BSkyB New Media where he was Director of Operations and Product Development, responsible for enhanced TV and online activities. Zie was previously with Microsoft and has held strategic, creative director and design positions with leading advertising agencies and media companies in Europe and Asia. He was responsible for the concept development of BSkyB's enhanced TV offerings and has developed numerous successful online brands including MSNUK, Sky.com, FHM and EmpireOnline.

David Docherty, Chief Executive, YooPublica
David was formerly the BBC's first Director of New Media responsible for launching most of its digital services, as well as Deputy Director of Television. He was subsequently Chairman of Living Health Channel and then Managing Director of Broadband Content at cable company, Telewest. David is a novelist and Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Universtiy of Luton.
YooPublica, a new wholly owned subsidiary of the interactive TV company YooMedia PLC ( www.yoomedia.com), has been set up to deliver interactive TV and mobile content and applications to all public bodies - including Local Authorities, national Government and the NHS. YooPublica will not only bring together media, marketing and technology expertise to deliver technically secure and robust applications and will develop content that will build large audiences for the next generation of public service channels. The company will also act in consortium with others to bid for government services that use iTV and mobile as part of a wider project.

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