Cable Operators See Profits In Games

Comcast, my local cable TV operator, offers an interactive trivia game on one of its many channels. On occasion, I will wander over to play for a few minutes, but I'm always surprised at the paucity of people who are participating. The game is set up to allow you to play other Comcast viewers. However, it's rare that more than two or three people are playing online at the same time.

Of course, the poor performance of one trivia feature on one cable service is not sufficient to write off the category of Interactive TV games. Video games are enormously successful in this country and it's open to reason that cable (or satellite) could capitalize on the phenomenon by offering some compelling gaming features.

But, thus far, I haven't seen any evidence that cable knows how to reach the gaming audience. Or, for that matter, how to get Americans to interrupt their viewing hours to play games.

However, cable operators haven't given up. In fact, at this week's cable TV convention in Atlanta, cable executives say they believe that ITV games could generate big profits in the future.

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