Infrastructure advances, coupled with growing consumer demand, are fostering a revolution in the emerging interactive television market

Infrastructure advances, coupled with growing consumer demand, are fostering a revolution in the emerging interactive television market, with more than 81 million Internet-capable TVs expected to be installed worldwide by 2004, according to a new report from market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). In the U.S., which is expected to make up more than half of the worldwide market for interactive TVs, or NetTVs, as IDC has dubbed them, the unit deployment rate is expected to increase tenfold, from 1 million in 1999 to more than 10 million by 2004, IDC said in a statement summarizing the report, titled "NetTV Market Forecast and Analysis, 1999-2004." IDC is owned by International Data Group, the parent company of IDG News Service.Worldwide activations of NetTVs are expected to increase from 6.1 million units in 1999 to 19.5 million in 2004, according to IDC's predictions. The NetTV revolution is fueled by what IDC said are "massive improvements" to the infrastructure, as well as lower costs for deploying TV-centric information appliances. Other factors driving the market include consumer demand for shared "new media" entertainment and information services, as well as the popularity of TV, IDC said. On Wednesday, Hong Kong-based Satellite Television Asian Region (STAR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News, teamed with Taiwanese broadband Internet service provider GigaMedia to form a joint venture that will focus on developing interactive TV services in Taiwan. Nokia, meanwhile, announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with Fujian Radio and Film Information Network Center to participate in the rollout of interactive cable TV services in China's Fujian province.