Sociable cable industry hopes to cozy up to subscribers with interactivity

A more interactive and personalized approach to cable TV will, the industry hopes, keep viewers connected to their coaxial cables. At least that's the message the Chicago Tribune took from the recent Cable Show in the Windy City.

First cable pushed for and adopted TV Everywhere. "Now, the industry is challenged by the next step: growing by adding social networking features and other content that takes cues from the Web experience, while keeping consumers hooked on cable TV," the newspaper reported.

Of course even the consumer press could see the schism between programmers and service providers when it came to how best--and how profitably--to move content across multiple screens. This is especially true as measurement systems lag in determining how many eyeballs are glued to programs outside the normal television.

"Measurement isn't keeping up," Coleman Breland, COO of Turner Network Sales admitted. "But when it does, a screen is just a screen."

For more:
- the Chicago Tribune has this story

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