Recently, Cherry Hill, a New Jersey-based IcueTV company, has announced a partnership with Groupon, the fruit of which will be the development of a new form of interactive TV. This new type of TV will do nothing less than enable viewers to find out more about a particular advertiser. Sounds suspicious? Are we not all tired of ads?

What These Companies Are Up To

It seems that there is some sense behind this new interactive TV concept, else the two companies would obviously not bother with it, not to mention actively promote it. After all, both companies are rather well-established, with daily deals provider Groupon having a rather good reputation.

People who attended the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s Cable Show had the chance to witness firsthand how this new concept works. Cherry Hill and Groupon put on a demonstration there. A click-to-text feature was presented, which basically took an already established commercial and offered the subscriber the chance to get more information about it.

Where It’s All Going

As an IcueTV company, Cherry Hill is known for creating technology that makes TV content more interactive. The company has been busy up to this point in bringing advertisement and programming-based interactivity to TVs. The fact that the technology is incorporated into cable TV set-top boxes makes it especially easy to promote, for after all, subscribers are not forced to buy any special equipment.

Groupon already offers some similar services. Whenever you see an ad from Groupon on your TV you can access via your remote a special menu that features a number of relevant options. One of the options can lead to you subscribing to the daily deals website. To sign up for Groupon, you have to use your remote’s keypad to input your phone number, after which you get an SMS reply with a link to enter a valid email address. IcueTV technology, in addition, will allow you to buy a voucher through a TV set, as well as request menus, vote, and easily purchase things.

People are already used to call 1-800 numbers, through which they can make all sorts of purchases. IcueTV, however, is a little different in that it eliminates the need for a phone. With IcueTV things become much simpler, and this is likely to lead to more and more people trying it out. Despite the fact that right now most cable companies are rather cautious when it comes to such features, it seems unlikely that in the long run they can ignore them.

Cherry Hill has been talking to advertisers already, and the new concept may well be available with a number of select cable companies by the end of the year.

TVs simply don’t offer enough personalized content to compete with the web. But things are quickly changing. TV is set to become more and more interactive, and it’s only a matter of time until significant changes will be introduced. But let’s hope that in the near future, instead of advertising-based interactive TV options, we’ll get more useful features – whatever those will be.

This article has been contributed by Calvin Scott. Calvin is a self-confessed gadget junkie and a big-time gaming enthusiast.

Visit his site for gsm aanbiedingen and abonnement mobiel.