What's It Gonna Be - A PC, TV
or Both? 
Ray Van Eng (07/04/96)
Why would a computer chip maker like Intel have TV ads? Sure, they want
consumers like you to buy Pentium equipped PCs. But beyond that, they are
in the process of building mind-share for a brand new concept that makes
use of both computer and television technologies.
With wide-spread support among computer and TV companies, the center-piece for home entertainment in the not too distant future could very well be a hybrid PC-TV device that can run live TV pictures in one window of your screen while showing Internet web pages in another section, all displayed with the clarity of a high resolution computer monitor.
Later this summer, with the help of Intel's newly introduced Intercast technology, NBC (National Broadcasting Company) will combine live pictures from their Olympic Games coverage with material that you can get from their Olympic web site. For example, you could watch a live TV clip of a track and field competition and be able to interactively seek out information about the individual athletes from their web site.
As an NBC executive puts it, "This is the true introduction of interactive television into the home...The convergence of the PC, TV, and the Internet is here, now."
Here is how the Intel's Intercast technology works. By employing a portion of the broadcast signal known as the vertical blanking interval (VBI) currently used for close-captioning, Intel has come up with a way to force the VBI to carry digital data information such as those found at a web site.
This new type of television signal is broadcast in the conventional manner using through the air transmission, cable or satellite TV. A special Intercast card in the TV or PC will separate the analog (TV) and digital (data) signal and display them accordingly. The HTML content that comes with the TV signal is being stored in the hard disk for retrieval at any time during or after the broadcast. With an Internet connection, the consumer could also download information directly from a web site to compliment whatever is being shown on their Intercast TV/PC screen.
While NBC has to rely on computer manufacturers to supply the necessary hardware and software, the network itself has been busy making alliances, conducting extensive pilot projects and producing world wide web specific content such as those found in the upcoming MSNBC channel with Microsoft and the "Digital Bob" comic strip series at the NBC web site.
NBC is certainly no stranger when it comes to using innovative technologies to cultivate new markets. For example, they are the first U.S. network to broadcast in color and stereo. Also, it has been two years now that they have introduced live financial news to desktop PC and currently owns about 90% of the market at Wall Street brokerage houses.
While TV is a passive sensory medium that relies heavily on high impact graphic pictures to achieve its effectiveness, the web is a more intellectual medium that demands a high degree of interactivity from the user. This PC & TV scenario put forth by Intel and others do makes sense and can create many new entertainment and commercial opportunities.
The challenge remains for the broadcasters to come up with compelling Intercast programming. Ultimately, it is the consumer who will decide whether this new exciting medium will sustain itself and at what price that they will have to pay for the service.
However, it is not surprising to see many television companies staking a claim in this hot new market that is about to emerge. The fact of the matter is they don't want to be surprised again like they did 20 years ago when upstarts like CNN and Fox snatched viewers away from the big three TV networks: ABC, NBC and CBS.
Mike Wheeler, president of NBC Desktop Video stated "We want to make sure that however end users get their information and entertainment, we want to be a part of that process...NBC didn't want to make the same mistake twice."
Wheller estimated that the 18 million PCs that will be sold in the next 12 months will come equipped with the Intel Intercast card. By Christmas this year, he added that it will be hard to buy a TV without the Intercast capabilities built in. For existing Pentium PC owners, companies such as Hauppage Computer is offering a $149 Intercast PCI plug-in card that can retrofit your system.
