Television will no longer be a passive medium for audiences, but rather an interactive channel brought about by its convergence with other media. Television services will broaden, as audiences are able to access a wider array of information from their couches. The connectivity between televisions, telecommunication and information technology industries provide a blurring of boundaries from which convergence will flourish.
Capturing the essence of television convergence is the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting. Digital television, as described in Cunningham and Turner’s media book (eds. 2002: 183), allows “more TV channels, interactive services, data casting and higher definition audio and video�. The hope to convert information content across all media to digital form allows for the merging of channels. At the forefront of this merge is the connection between televisions and PC’s, more importantly the Internet. Digitising television content allows it to be compatible with the Internet. Malcolm Long (in Cunningham and Turner, 2002: 183) believes that television is becoming a host for Internet-type services which consequently commands the text based Internet that we know today, to alter its content to comply with television viewing. This convergence allows audiences to view content in their own time without having to succumb to scheduling as well as the inconvenience of watching advertisements.
Internet Television, the book, (Noam, Groebel and Gerbarg, eds. 2004: 1) discusses the increasing influence of Internet and computer processing on television technology. Internet television gives audiences the ability to watch images in real time accessed over the Internet rather then arriving “over the air or through cables� (Noam, Groebel and Gerbarg, eds. 2004: 4). As described in the Debate: Will Web and Television Converge? (Available: http://graphics.stanford.edu/~bjohanso/cs448/) television sets and computers will no longer be separate devices with different technological roles, but rather one device that encompasses all roles. The debate draws attention to the true calling of television and computer convergence. This merge does not merely produce the ability to watch television on a computer screen but further, the content from both media can be received and interchanged between the two.
However, with television and convergence streams a bump in regulatory policy. What was once a system separated by individual media channels, is now one attempting to produce new rules to govern one mass fluid industry. Regulation surrounding privacy, ownership, and children’s viewing will become increasingly difficult with Internet television, as more content and access is available to users. With the convergence of television and other media, audiences are able to interact with one another as well as the devices. This interaction will further complicate regulatory issues because industry policy bodies cannot regulate what is said between users.
Alison Costello 10:09, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
