New TV apps will drive broadband adoption, FCC says

“If you look at broadband, it’s produced millions of applications–150,000 mobile applications alone,” Genachowski said. “If you look at the living room and the TV, that’s much lower. There’s clearly a tremendous desire–you see it here on the floor–to make sure the TV and and the set-top boxes attached to it are really open to innovation.”

When taking a tour of the floor, Genachowski was impressed that he could access Skype for video chats and phone calls directly from an LG flat-screen TV.

Sharp was showing off multiple online video options on their newest plasma and LCD screens. Vudu, for example, has an application that lets consumers stream high-definition movies over the Internet.
 
TV-watchers can also access Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter and online music site Pandora via their Web-connected TVs. Many of the TVs on display connect to the Web wirelessly.

“In a year or so, every TV will be wireless,” said Megan Pollock of the Consumer Electronics Association.

 Genachowski did see something he wasn’t pleased with. Some companies are making “walled-garden” systems that don’t accept applications from third-parties. He said he was “pretty concerned” about the “closed systems” as he toured the floor.

He asked exhibitors detailed questions about how set-top boxes can easily connect to consumers’ own content as well as the Internet.

“Yes, this is the type of thing we’re exploring,” he said when I asked him about the Web-enabled TVs. “I’m asking questions because they have to be easy to use for everyone.”