TV Guide wants to leverage its products for mobile TV...but how?

TV Guide is trying to figure out how to leverage its products for mobile television, including how to improve the user experience, says Bob Shallow, the vice president and general manager of Gemstar-TV Guide International's mobile entertainment group, in an “E-Commerce Times” article.

Shallow says in the article:

“We provide a robust metadata infrastructure.  We've amassed a library of program titles -- basically, every program that's aired on television dating back to the advent of TV, and film dating back to 1910.

“We have a tremendous database, and we've really learned how to optimize that for the delivery of this information into a guidance experience on various platforms.

“We also have developed a range of TV Guide services.  So, when you think of an on-screen guide, it is actually made up of a variety of parts, and those parts are your basic listings, your program information, plus enhanced features like the ability to set reminders, set recordings, parental controls, user profiles.

“We've created all of these guidance services, and we've really continued to innovate a lot around those services.  That's really important these days when you think about the emerging paradigm in terms of how people are consuming media.”

More information, please

I wish the reporter would have asked Shallow more in-depth questions so the information wouldn’t be so, uh, shallow.  So what is TV Guide going to do with all this information, from a mobile TV standpoint?

He says, “We're trying to figure out how to provide the best user experience so a consumer could go out to various platforms and pull media into a common user experience and -- very simply, with very few clicks -- get from one piece of content that might be housed over here to another piece of content over here.

“Or, once they set up a profile once, have it reflected on various platforms so it's easy to move within their various content environments and still have the best experience.”

What content?  What platforms?  What exactly is he talking about?

The interview, unfortunately, doesn’t say.