Last week Tracy Swedlow’s  annual “TV of Tomorrow” Conference was held in San Francisco where the “who’s who” of Interactive television gathered to discuss the future of television from broadcast to broadband including tru2way and TV Anywhere.
In past years’ conferences, you would have found the the few, the proud, the clinically-depressed-die-hards of advanced television platforms, geekgirls like myself , who have been trying for years to advance the cause of TV with social features, commerce solutions and true targeting capabilities.  And in the past, the legacy systems of the US cable infrastructure, the limitations of satellite’s two-way capabilities and the lack of scale in broadband hindered advancement in the space.  But this year, the conference came into its own as the industry showed market growth in a number of ongoing initiatives.   There is movement happening, money being spent and real players involved in the marketplace.
To set the stage for what’s happening in the interactive video space, here are some relevant statistics:
57% of Americans use their TV and PC simultaneously at least 1x a month (Nielsen)
20% of all tv viewers are simultaneously on their pc or mobile device (MRG)
78% of Teens and Tweens are online while watching tv and 66% are sending text messages while watching tv (ypulse/Pangea)
Of all the solutions bubbling up, here are a few that marketers can immediately take advantage of to leverage the power of video to accomplish a number of marketing goals:Â Continue reading ““TV of Tomorrow” gains traction”
For those who know Lab Director Lori Schwartz, it’s not a shock that she’d bring her love of emerging media home with her. Lori’s been an evangelist of advanced TV and video, interactive content, and industry partnerships for as long as anyone would listen.
(Originally published in 
This year I sat in on the blue ribbon panel for judging the final winners of 2009 Emmy Awards for Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for Fiction and Non-Fiction. As a member of the executive committee for the Interactive Media Peer Group for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, it’s been a big year for interactive plays in all television content.
Yet another cute Twitter name for leveraging the micro-blogging solution has emerged this week with Fox’s “Tweet-peats” which refers to the behind the scenes tweets on about certain Fox  shows during repeat broadcasts.
The departure of Ben Silverman from NBC has stirred up a lot of news chatter that this hammers yet another nail in the coffin of the traditional production company. As co-chair of NBC Universal Entertainment, Silverman was responsible for bringing the same 
If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me What is hot right now? I’d be twittering off my yacht in the Côte d’Azur.