Jensen: Expect revolutionized television experience in 2013

Derek Jensen

2012 will be a year of seeing beginnings to a different and better television experience. Imagine turning on your TV and it either knowing what your typical patterns are in terms of entertainment, giving you educated recommendations to TV shows or movies you’d like to see or just having the ability to discover and explore various forms of entertainment, whether it be from CBS, NBC, a Web show or a YouTube channel.

The Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest events where companies can show off consumer tech innovation or any trends we might see in coming years, concluded in Las Vegas last week and made it clear that revolutionizing the television experience will start briefly in 2012, but mainly take place in 2013.

You might not think much of this now, but when you’re able to turn on an advanced TV set that just works to give you a dreamy and enjoyable experience for your entertainment needs, you will be pleased.

The only drawback is the process of figuring out how the experience will be revolutionized — more importantly, what works and doesn’t work for us will be available in a 12- to 18-month time frame. As Matt McRae, CTO of Vizio, said, “In 12 to 18 months, a full content provider will be coming in with an entire listing over the IP pipe.” McRae is saying that during this time, there will be someone that focuses their attention to the importance of delivery over the Internet rather than through traditional methods of cable or satellite.

I know I can’t wait to have that imagined experience I previously mentioned become a reality. So, how do we get from now to the projected time slot of 2013 where television becomes fully revolutionized?

Three things won’t come easily: traditional service providers such as Mediacom or DirectTV working with other tech companies, broadcasting and cable networks pressuring these providers, and cohesive experience changing how we interact with our televisions in a very enlightening and positive way.

Currently, there are also three things happening that will continue to be expanded upon and improved for a revolutionized television experience.

Google is making it easy for TV manufacturers such as Sony, Logitech, LG, Samsung and Vizio to integrate Google TV, which allows consumers to search and discover all sorts of entertainment on their TV sets. Even director Rishi Chandra said the company doesn’t intend “to stop iterating.” Chandra also said that the company wants to help users find the right content in an experience that brings recommendations and discovery together.

Second, companies like Boxee and Roku offer devices that make viewing content on the Web or through apps and services like Netflix easier through the TV. To continue the mission of replacing your cable box, Boxee announced its new product at this year’s conference called Boxee Live TV. As David Pierce of The Verge reported, this new device is “a dongle that plugs into the back of the Boxee Box, captures live over-the-air TV broadcasts, and plays them through the streamer. It comes with an antenna for picking up the signal, or can also use a coaxial cable to find channels.”

Finally, the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is in a position to ensure that transition from the traditional TV experience to a more modern experience is one that is easy and comfortable for consumers and businesses alike. Certainly, with SOPA, his stance on Net neutrality has been one we’ve all been focusing on, but his thoughts on television are promising. In an interview with Nilay Patel of The Verge, he stated that “trend in innovation around living rooms and TV is a very positive one,” and that “over the last couple of years, a willingness or drive to provide more to consumers on the video platform than anyone expected.” Genachowski agreed that we need to make it easy to get things like Netflix and Web programming on TV and tablet-like devices.

2012 is going to the year where the backbone of a revolutionized television is built and worked on to create a truly different experience in 2013.

Remember, a new television has been worked on since 2009, but with the news of Apple — a leader in the tech space — working on a television (confirmed by The Wall Street Journal) and the natural process of improvement and integration over time, things have begun to align over the years.

I’d like to have a revolutionized television experience, and we can all expect to see it coming in 2013 with many attempts along the way that works out what the experience will be.