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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By JOANNE WEINTRAUB

Pasadena, Calif. Teri Hatcher on your cell phone, Charlie Sheen on your laptop, Brett Favre on your 103-inch, high-definition plasma screen: New "content delivery systems," as they're called, are multiplying almost as fast as reality TV shows.

At the television industry's two-week preview marathon for critics, which concludes in Pasadena tonight, tech wizards have shared the spotlight with stars and producers. It would be an exaggeration to say that David Katz of Yahoo was as popular an interviewee as Kiefer Sutherland of "24," but when the Internet executive talked about the future of television, people listened.

Just a month ago, CBS teamed up for the first time with Yahoo to offer complete episodes of two comedies, "How I Met Your Mother" and Sheen's "Two and a Half Men," on the Web, without commercials, for a week after their network broadcast. CBS credits the experiment with a significant ratings boost for both shows, particularly in the sought-after 18-to-34-year-old audience.

Faced with steadily eroding viewership for the last decade or longer, network programmers "need to be where the eyeballs are," Katz, head of sports and entertainment for Yahoo Inc., said Friday in a panel discussion devoted to new TV distribution technology.

"Clearly, there is a shift of usage and time spent moving to the Internet, and if you're trying to market your programs, you absolutely need to be on these other devices and platforms in order to get your message in front of folks," he said.

Drawing in viewers

Katz has good reason to talk up the Internet, but executives from CBS and ABC, also represented on the panel, said he wasn't exaggerating the importance of the Web and related forms of technology to the new TV landscape.

Rather than diverting viewers from conventional broadcasts, said Albert Cheng, ABC's executive vice president for digital media, "we believe that (new technology) actually drives more traffic to our network shows."

Both ABC and NBC recently signed deals with Apple's iTunes that allow viewers to download such hit shows as "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and "Saturday Night Live." For about $2 a pop, they can watch when they want, wherever they want, on their iPods.

Also on the mini-screen front, Sprint, Verizon and Cingular have made dozens of shows available on cell phones.

While the idea of watching Hatcher and the other "Housewives" stars on a screen the size of a matchbook won't appeal to every viewer, some fans appear willing to compromise on size in exchange for portability and viewing on their own schedule. And, said Cheng, the network's main source of revenue its regularly scheduled, advertiser-supported broadcasts gains rather than loses.

Download an episode of a favorite show from iTunes, he noted, "and there's always (a promotional note) that says Go back to ABC to watch "Lost" Wednesday at 9 o'clock (8 p.m. Central).' "

Mobile phones, too, are expected to deliver increasing numbers of viewers.

Cyriac Roeding, CBS' vice president for wireless and digital media, noted that last year, when the network's "Big Brother" reality show gave fans a chance to vote a player off the show, 500,000 viewers weighed in via mobile phone text-messaging in one night, paying 49 cents each for the privilege.

Have cell, will watch

So why not use that same handy little device to deliver the show itself?

"Research we recently did showed us that more than 50 percent of the audience between 25 and 34 years of age have their cell phones with them always or almost always," Roeding said.

"In other words, if you're thinking about interactive television, (it's) here today. You just use this (cell phone), because it's got a keyboard built in, and it's got a wallet built in you can actually charge consumers for downloads through (their) cell phone bill. So there is a huge opportunity to combine the television screen with the cell phone."

Last week, CBS even announced its first experiment in mini- programming for mini-screens.

"The Courier," a "micro-series" to be broadcast in seven prime- time installments of 40 to 60 seconds each, will premiere Tuesday during the first commercial break of "CSI: Miami," a few minutes after 8 p.m. Central Time.

After each broadcast segment, streaming video on www.cbs.com and Verizon Wireless "will flesh out The Courier's' cryptic narrative via rich video and text components," CBS publicity promises, "and offer a second, interactive storyline with its own set of clues, which offers viewers the opportunity to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a Pontiac Torrent," the mini-show's sponsor.

Interactive experience

While Roeding and others make much of the technology's potential for interactive viewing, it's worth noting that some confident predictions of the recent past on that score have not panned out.

Five or six years ago, for instance, TV executives and Internet innovators talked about viewers tuning in to their favorite shows on their computers and buying, say, the same shoes Oprah was wearing by simply pointing, clicking, selecting a size and entering a credit card number.

No one talks much about that anymore.

What sounded like a relatively simple concept, explained ABC's Cheng, turned out to be extraordinarily complicated.

"The second piece is, it's not clear to me whether people want to interact with their shows," he added.

"You know, when someone comes to me and says, We can do all these cool things with "Lost," ' I'm not sure if I want to have (distracting graphics) all over my screen while someone's watching the show."

What does seem clear is that devices of widely different dimensions and descriptions will continue to change the viewing experience.

Cell phone junkies, especially the young, will find content tailored to their needs, while viewers of all ages may steal a look at their video iPods while waiting in a doctor's office or a supermarket checkout line.

And those ever-larger high-definition screens? Sports fans won't be trading those in for 2.5-inch iPod screens anytime soon.

NBC, for example, is airing high-definition coverage of next month's Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, on two separate high- definition channels: Its regular high-definition channel, which will carry the same 200 hours showing on NBC's regular channel, and Universal HD, which is expected to carry about 100 additional hours of events at the Games. (In the Milwaukee area, both channels will be carried by Time Warner Cable and satellite provider DirecTV.)

As even Roeding acknowledged: "There is a time to lean back in the living room and watch something together and enjoy that together."

WHAT THEY'RE DOING

-- CBS plans to air "micro-series" of 7-minute-or-shorter shows; episodes also available online and by cell phone.

-- Fox will make some shows available for download to DirecTV subscribers before they air.

-- Amazon.com is planning an online-only half-hour talk show with Bill Maher.

-- ABC and NBC already offer episodes of hit shows "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and "The Office" for download on Apple's iTunes.

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E-mail: jweintraub@journalsentinel.com

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