Do you yell out Jeopardy! answers at your TV faster than the contestants? Do you go insane watching Wheel of Fortune contestants buy all the wrong vowels when you worked out the puzzle three consonants ago? Soon you'll be able to duke it out with other TV contestants from the comfort of your couch.
WebTV Networks is planning interactive versions of the game shows as part of a push this fall to prove that the much-maligned interactive television isn't dead after all.
In addition to playing along with the two game shows, WebTV subscribers will also be able to check out sports statistics, buy show-related products, and chat with other fans while watching shows on NBC, HBO, Discover Channel, Home & Garden Television, MSNBC, PBS, and E! Entertainment Television.
The interactive rollout for the 1999-2000 television season includes three top syndicated shows: Jeopardy! , Wheel of Fortune, and Judge Judy. It also includes The Today Show, The Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Dateline NBC, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Special programming on The Learning Channel and the Discovery Channel will be enhanced with interactive polls, trivia games, simulations, and infographics.
"With 350 hours of interactive programming available each week, the top three syndicated television programs, and shows on nine broadcast and cable networks, interactive TV is now a reality," said Bruce Leak, president of WebTV Networks.
The rollout is a dramatic shift in emphasis for Microsoft-owned WebTV, whose early emphasis was largely on providing computer functionality such as surfing the Web and email through televisions. Now the Mountain View, California-based company has increasingly focused on ways to enhance the television-viewing experience.
The rollout is "potentially a very compelling use of new technologies," said Peter Clemente, vice president of Internet marketing researcher Cyber Dialogue.
In Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, fans will be able to chalk up their scores and compare them with the actual contestants, In some cases, they may also be eligible to win prizes.
NBC Sports added interactive elements to Notre Dame football broadcasts this year, and E! Entertainment Television is enhancing its entertainment news shows with interactive features. The interactive version of the syndicated series Judge Judy, will air five days a week this season.
Other shows to go interactive later in the season over WebTV include HBO's World Championship Boxing; Home & Garden Television's Restore America; and the Weather Channel.
WebTV's service runs on the TV on either its own proprietary set-top box or EchoStar's DISHPlayer unit.
To promote what the company called "the arrival of the interactive television age, WebTV and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation sponsored a glitzy party Wednesday night at Beverly Hills' exclusive Chasen's restaurant after the Digital Hollywood show.
