From interactive television to internet applications

Early in 1993 Viacom and a major telephony carrier formed a joint venture to trial interactive television (ITV) in Castro Valley, California. During the fall of 1994, it was decided not to complete this trial. Both companies decided, given what had already been learned planning for the ITV trial and the emerging strength of the Internet and the World Wide Web, that it would be more effective to focus on CD-ROMs, proprietary on-line services, and the Internet, including the World Wide Web, where many of the interactive applications that had been planned for ITV could be actually implemented and made available to large numbers of users. This paper discusses the interactive systems, and economic environments along with major issues, intellectual property rights, and Viacom's current direction.