LAB TO STUDY EFFECTS OF NEW TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY
By Adnews Staff
Televisual research firm ASI Entertainment, ratings tracker Nielsen Media Research and electronics company TiVo have jointly created an organization called the National In-Home TV Lab to study the impact on viewers' habits of new television technology. The intent is chiefly to help the television industry and advertisers prepare for the coming of Personal Television Services. As represented by TiVo's eponymous set-top box, personal television services is one name for a new class of devices which digitally record TV shows semi-automatically according to the customized preferences of the viewer. Among other tricks, the viewer can fast forward, pause and rewind shows as they are being recorded, automatically capture all programs matching certain criteria for future playback, and skip commercials instantly. The TV Lab will install TiVo machines in 1500 United States households in order to track and analyse their effects on the sample viewers. "Clearly, the industry will be greatly impacted by this new world of personal television," said ASI president and CEO William Taylor. "It's imperative that we gain insight, based on concrete research, into consumer viewing habits in order to deliver compelling programming and advertising in this new order."