Decent article by this title in Electronic Retailer caught my interest, since a big part of what I do is try to be right about what year is “the year” of <Whatever>.

The author looks at iTV as a consequence of 1) video-on-demand increasing and morphing into “appointment viewing” (meaning TV anywhere, anyscreen, anywhen) and 2) direct response technologies like AdWidgets (“bound” and “unbound”: see the article) and, the Holy Grail, a “universal TV buy button”.

She cites a source to the effect that 51% of digital TV households today have “iTV technology available”, which is a somewhat squishy phrase although an impressive percentage.

There’s still something broadcast-ey about this.  You get to pick what you watch and when, but all the interaction is you picking what brands will sell you or pitch to you.  Kind of a corporate picture of “interaction”.

My picture of interaction is more like the Web: you get to “surf”, you get to yak with others, you get to do goofy time-wasthing stuff that doesn’t transact or present you with a brand “message”.  When will iTV get to that milestone?