What is Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

There is no doubt that interactive TV (iTV), which may be defined as a TV system that allows the viewer to interact with an application that is delivered simultaneously, via a digital network, in addition to the traditional TV signal (Perera, 2002), will replace traditional passive TV viewing habits. In fact, this technology enables a wide range of new interactive services, applications, and features that are becoming increasingly successful. In regard to interactive services, we have the traditional iTV service (which implies interacting with an application that is simultaneously broadcasted along with the TV program), the electronic program guide (EPG) which allows the management of the enormous amount of available channels/programs and the easy selection of them based on different criteria (title, author, date, time, genre, etc.), and Internet services which include e-mail, chat, WWW, shopping, banking, and so forth. As far as iTV applications are concerned, and following Livaditi, Vassilopoulou, Lougos, and Chorianopoulos (2003), it is possible to identify four basic categories of content: entertainment (content associated with films, series, and quizzes); information (content associated with news of all kind); transactions (content used to order/purchase goods), and communication (content that involve or require the exchange of messages). The success of iTV has mostly been due to the possibility of using different kinds of services, applications, and features through a unique and trustable device such as TV. Considering that European Internet penetration rates of around 40-60% and TV penetration rates of around 95-99% (Bates, 2003), we may anticipate a bright future for this new technology. However, as happens with any recent and emergent area, in spite all the advantages, there are many difficulties to overcome and research to be carried out. The main goal of this article is to bring together in one single source the most important research opportunities associated with iTV and, in some cases, present specific suggestions for future developments. For the purpose of this article, it is assumed that the person who interacts with an iTV system may be considered as a viewer (when viewing a traditional TV program and from a mass communication perspective) but also a User (when using the iTV application and from a Human Computer Interface - HCI - perspective). Thus, henceforth those who interact with iTV will be designated as Viewers/Users (V/Us).