Glamorgan University professor of digital media and former Workhouse chairman Michael Blakstad has lamented the 'standards mess' and 'consumer confusion' surrounding interactive television (iTV), writes Barbara Marshall
Glamorgan University professor of digital media and former Workhouse chairman Michael Blakstad has lamented the 'standards mess' and 'consumer confusion' surrounding interactive television (iTV), writes Barbara Marshall

Speaking at the Taming Technology - what caught my eye session at IBC on Saturday (14 September), Blakstad added that much of today's iTV technology was still not pitched at the content creator and that it was unclear what these products were trying to offer.

Despite this, he picked out a few items that had caught his eye. Among them were Microsoft's recently launched Windows Media 9 series, an end-to-end media streaming platform that he said gave 'fantastic quality'. 'When Microsoft moves into this arena you have to pay attention,' he said.

Another firm he singled out was Universal Electronics (UEI) which has developed a way of cramming all the functions of the web, SMS and Wap onto a very small ROM board. 'This is what I want for Christmas,' said Blakstad.

Other firms that Blakstad mentioned were BT Broadcast Services, Canal + Technologies, Kreatel Communications, Open TV, SysMedia, Vbox Communications and Visionik, part of NDS.

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