Interactive Television Production

Book excerpt: Interactive Television Production is essential reading for all broadcasting and new media professionals - whether in production, marketing, technology, business or management. It will also be of interest to media students and anyone looking to get an insight into the future of television production. It provides a practical, step-by-step guide to the processes and issues involved in taking an interactive television idea through to being an operational service - based on the knowledge and experience of leading interactive television producers. This book can be used as a quick-and-easy reference guide, with each chapter containing a 'Chapter in 30 seconds' summary for easy reference, or read from cover to cover. Using accessible language, the author provides detailed descriptions of iTV software technologies (OpenTV, MHEG-5, TV Navigator), delivery technologies (cable, satellite and terrestrial) and production tools. There are also entire chapters devoted to key issues like the commercial side of iTV and the latest work on usability and design. The accompanying web site www.InteractiveTelevisionProduction.com contains useful links designed to help with common iTV questions and issues. There are also entertaining quizzes for each chapter that let you test your knowledge of the concepts introduced in the book.