Wisconsin Public Television
The project experimented with ways to use Interactive Television (ITV) to enhance election coverage. ITV combines television viewing and Internet browsing on a standard TV screen through the use of a set-top WebTV unit and remote. Though the technology was still very new and not widely used, Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) believed it was a growing trend that would soon be an industry standard.
Using the technology in the 2000 election helped the network develop several successful strategies for adding content to its coverage without unduly distracting from the television broadcast. A toolbar superimposed on broadcasts allowed WebTV viewers, using their remotes, to link to candidate bios, descriptions of various election races and issues being discussed. They could even email the show’s producers directly, take a poll or view poll results. WPT used focus group sessions after broadcasts to get user input into how to make the interactive tools better and easier to use.
By the night of the general election in November, WPT was able to coordinate its own ITV links with the nationally broadcast NewsHour’s ITV links, to give Wisconsin WebTV users access to continuously updated national results from the NewsHour and continuously updated statewide results from WPT. This type of local/national interactive TV partnership was unprecedented.
Contact:
Kathy Bissen
Exec. Prod, News & Public Affairs
Wisconsin Public Television
821 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 263-8496
Email: bissen@wpt.org