People who watch CBC Newsworld on certain Bell Expressvu satellite receivers have a new option: The ability to scroll through headlines on-demand. The service, CBC News Plus, lets viewers get more detail on specific news and sports stories from a list of the latest headlines while watching the regular broadcast at the same time.
I’ve got it and tried it. It works, but it’s not quite the “fully interactive experience” that a breathlessly excited Bell news release suggests. I mean yes, you can scroll through headlines and ‘click’ to read an abstract of the story. But that’s about it.
It’s a nice enhancement but not Earth-shattering.
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| CBC Newsworld, Interactive TV |
Agreed, sort of fun, but much easier to walk across the room to the computer for something truly “interactive.”
Very interesting addition.
I don’t live in Canada anymore, so I can’t tune in - how is this different from the CBC News Plus that has been on ExpressVu since 2004?
As long as you only have one-way satellite service, which is what Expressvu and Starchoice offer, you’ll never have a truly interactive service. Same reason you’ll never see a full “on-demand” service like the ones available from cable. Even those services are in their infancy, with rather clumsy interfaces.
Scott, as ExpressVu moves more away from “satellite” and more towards delivery through the “phone line” that situation will likely change though.