Interactive TV Lives Again, This Time On Mobile Phones

While interactive TV services have been available in other countries for several years, they're still largely stuck as the next big thing here in the US -- as they have been for a while. With a new twist on the old idea, now a company wants to offer the same types of services like games related to what's happening on screen over cell phones instead of the TV itself or the internet. It's unclear how using the phone will make these services any more attractive to users, but the company's CEO says it's because "Chances are, the cell phone is right next to them already." Okay, but isn't the remote control, too? Usability also seems like it could be a major problem, given the high latency of mobile networks. Interactive TV has failed to catch on not because of the medium over which it travels, but because people just don't seem to care. Until the underlying services are changed to incoporate something that strike's people fancy, the device they use to access them won't matter.