06.25.2008 — Watching TV, as most people know, is about to change, says ActiveVideo Networks — and it’s not referring to the upcoming government-mandated analog-to-digital conversion.

Much like Internet users and Web designers are increasingly focused on social networking and user-generated content categorized as Web 2.0, TV viewers will also move in that direction, according to Ed Forman, chief strategy officer of the San Jose, Calif.-based company.

Picture TV 2.0

ActiveVideo is looking to facilitate TV’s transition. This week at the Connections Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., it unveils what it calls “the first platform that enables consumers to experience Web-infused television — including user-generated content, social media, Web-based channels, games and other programming and applications — through virtually any network connected device.”

Those devices can include Web-connected TVs, DivX-connected devices, Blu-ray players, video game consoles and more, adds the company.

The company had already been providing technology found in cable boxes, for instance, with the ability to leverage Web content.

The enhanced version of the technology makes it more user friendly. Web-based media can easily be included and shared in their TV viewing for social networking about that content, it claims.

“We are really on the precipice of a different kind of TV,” Forman says. “Most TV today separates navigation from viewing. You look for something and watch it.

"On the Web, watching videos through a browser, you’re watching, navigating and chatting [all at once].”

Forman says ActiveVideo can bring that sort of Web-multitasking to TV watching and through TV remotes.

“We really are talking about a lean-back remote control-oriented process. We’re talking about a potential link between your TV and your ID on the PC Web. Things you do in other areas like updating your Facebook profile are reflected in an appropriate way in your TV experience.”

There is already rich content available to make TV viewing a more complete experience. It’s just a matter of accessing it, Forman says. That's where ActiveVideo intends to play a role.

ActiveVideo has announced partnerships with CNN, HSN and Fox Reality. CNN, for instance, already produces a variety of content through its various TV programming and Web content.

The great thing for content providers, Forman contends, is that users who want to chat with peers about a breaking story on CNN don’t have to turn off CNN to do so.

The technology is largely already in place also, Forman says. “We deliver [content] to the edge device on an MPEG string. Every modern TV device is capable of it,” he says.

“This is an exploding segment. Every flat-panel TV at CES 2009 will be Internet connected. There’s a broad range of devices coming along that can decode MPEG, etc. They’re quite heterogeneous.

"The reason heterogeneity matters is that for those that create viewer experiences, scale is what really matters. Create it once and have it go everywhere.”

Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo, elaborates: “Our platform simply utilizes the strength of the network and the MPEG-2, DivX or H.264 decoders on every Web-connected device and set-top box, enabling even the simplest CE products to deliver Web media in an extraordinary, compelling viewing environment.”

While the ActiveVideo technology is intended to be essentially plug-and-play, Forman acknowledges that not all TV viewers will immediately understand how to optimize their experiences — particularly those that don’t have Facebook profiles, for instance.

He thinks custom integrators could play a role in easing consumers into more multi-dimensional TV watching.

“The impact that I see for them is, in addition to setting up all the equipment and the remote controls for the preferred set of linear channels, they’ll also find themselves helping customers find the devices that enable the best interactive programming, actually helping them select services, personalizing and making TV everything it should be for these individuals,” Forman says.

“Opportunities for dealers are going to be moving beyond the helping to select and configure equipment and organizing the programming to potentially helping their clients design how they’re going to interact with TV.”