:00:26. > :00:31.San Francisco, gateway to the Met in every region on earth. Silicon
:00:31. > :00:40.Valley stretches of From Here To San Jose, this is where you'll find
:00:40. > :00:45.technology companies, new and old, big and small. They have
:00:45. > :00:48.transformed how we have it in the past 40 years. There has been one
:00:48. > :00:52.industry that has not been changed and that is television. There has
:00:52. > :00:58.been heavy talk of a marriage between the weather and TV but it
:00:58. > :01:01.has been slow to happen. Silicon Valley software giants are on a
:01:01. > :01:11.journey they believed would transform the way we view TV. We
:01:11. > :01:15.will follow that journey all the way from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
:01:15. > :01:19.Television has boundless possibilities. It has been the
:01:19. > :01:22.revelation that failed. This could be the air it finally happens. Our
:01:22. > :01:28.journey will take us to the software giants who believe they
:01:28. > :01:31.can usher in a brave new world of choice and changed the way we
:01:31. > :01:37.interact with television. We will meet the TV manufacturers who
:01:37. > :01:42.believe change is in their hands. Let's start in San Francisco and
:01:42. > :01:49.job in in one of the tiny media firms which proliferate the city.
:01:49. > :01:54.We found a man who was involved in working with the future of TV for
:01:54. > :01:59.us many years. I press this button and it tells my satellite receiver
:01:59. > :02:07.to switched to the right channel and turn on whatever is bearing.
:02:07. > :02:12.His letters firm believes in what is called a second screen solution.
:02:12. > :02:20.It shares the social experience of what you are watching with friends.
:02:20. > :02:25.He admits that TV and the wet have not been natural soulmates. It is a
:02:25. > :02:29.we'd love and hate relationship. The internet is the very definition
:02:29. > :02:35.of staff you want to do and television is the definition of
:02:35. > :02:40.kicking back. We are trying to find the blend of making it easy,
:02:40. > :02:45.entertaining and farm. Do we need this? We have a lot of television
:02:45. > :02:52.and plenty of choice. Why do we need the internet and television to
:02:52. > :02:58.come together? I think TV is great today. We are reaching a new point
:02:58. > :03:04.where we are going to enable the consumer. We have seen the tidal
:03:04. > :03:08.wave of the internet as it crashes over businesses. It generally
:03:09. > :03:18.improves the day-to-day lives. As the internet was over television,
:03:19. > :03:31.
:03:31. > :03:35.the consumer will have more choice. Let's head off down the freeway to
:03:35. > :03:43.Mountain View, the epicentre of Silicon Valley. First there was
:03:43. > :03:47.stop briefly at a company whose headquarters is in Seattle.
:03:47. > :03:56.Microsoft is not yet much of a player in terms of what we watch on
:03:56. > :04:02.television but they had to change how we watch it. The Xbox Connect
:04:02. > :04:09.system for video games turns the but it also response to voice
:04:09. > :04:15.command. Microsoft is offering television services delivered over
:04:15. > :04:23.the internet to the Xbox. You will be able to shout at the television
:04:23. > :04:33.and it will respond. Will this catch on? May be but only if it is
:04:33. > :04:36.
:04:36. > :04:40.A couple of miles away is the headquarters of the most successful
:04:40. > :04:45.company to emerge from the Silicon Valley over the last 15 years. It
:04:45. > :04:52.was at Google which we found the most ambitious attempt to reshape
:04:52. > :05:00.TV. It is a warm sunny January lunchtime for Silicon Valley's most
:05:00. > :05:07.powerful business. They are harder work shined to make a serious
:05:07. > :05:17.impression on the way we watch television. GoogleTV has launched
:05:17. > :05:18.
:05:18. > :05:25.over a year ago. When I sat down in the company's viewing theatre, my
:05:25. > :05:30.first need was to understand it. is about bringing more
:05:30. > :05:35.entertainment choices. But doing it in a smart way. We have a lot of
:05:35. > :05:40.things to watch but we need to know what is the best thing to watch at
:05:40. > :05:50.any given time off. You have a key wards. Is that what gives us
:05:50. > :05:58.
:05:58. > :06:01.access? Yes fours -- yes. We want to make it so that the -- add to
:06:01. > :06:08.the current television system to make it more engaging. I am
:06:08. > :06:12.watching television as I would normally watch it. I have something
:06:12. > :06:20.now where I can access a whole other set of content I could not
:06:20. > :06:23.access before. Whether it be movies, television shows on Netflix Ora
:06:23. > :06:30.whether it be specialised channels building themselves or platforms
:06:30. > :06:38.like GoogleTV. If I click on the New York Times, I had just switched
:06:38. > :06:43.what is happening on the traditional TV to a channel of
:06:43. > :06:51.concept that the New York Times has created. So that is not a website,
:06:51. > :06:59.that is a channel? That is correct. They created content that viewers
:06:59. > :07:04.can watch on their television. Just like you would as a TV channel.
:07:04. > :07:09.was say it TV is a lean back experience and the internet is a
:07:09. > :07:14.lean forward experience. What do you know about television? Google
:07:14. > :07:18.is very good at helping users find what they want. That is what we
:07:18. > :07:23.believe in. We can help this technology to help you find exactly
:07:23. > :07:33.what you want when you want it. People are just not interested and
:07:33. > :07:33.
:07:33. > :07:38.GoogleTV. We are in early days of this revolution we see happening in
:07:38. > :07:48.TV. More concern is coming on lines. We are just beginning to build
:07:48. > :07:58.vittles. -- tools. The real question is, how do we make it so
:07:58. > :08:06.
:08:07. > :08:12.simple for a user? That is what we Back in the car and off to a
:08:12. > :08:21.company which is an even hotter property den Google. It is the
:08:21. > :08:25.social network which is well on the way to more than 1 billion members.
:08:25. > :08:31.Facebook's idea is to inject a social element in the way we choose
:08:31. > :08:38.what we view. Online and on TV, that experience is disconnected.
:08:38. > :08:41.Most people discover TV shows in an impenetrable grid of 200 channels
:08:41. > :08:47.and Times. It is hard to find a needle in a haystack of what you
:08:48. > :08:51.want to watch. You can imagine a much more compelling TV discovery
:08:51. > :08:58.experience which has enabled by what your friends are watching and
:08:58. > :09:05.what you are interested in. We really see that as one great
:09:05. > :09:15.example of how social information can make discovery better. U-turn
:09:15. > :09:18.
:09:18. > :09:24.on your TV and you saw a new show your mum or a best friend
:09:24. > :09:29.recommended, you can discover it. That is an idea of TV in form by
:09:29. > :09:38.your friends and injures. It seems more compelling. We are leaning in
:09:38. > :09:47.that direction. -- friends and interests. There is company which
:09:47. > :09:50.had -- whose headquarters we would have loved to visit. Apple has made
:09:50. > :09:56.a sweet for TV with its set-top box but there are rumours they are
:09:56. > :10:03.making a bigger push. Steve Jobs says he wants -- wanted to create
:10:03. > :10:13.an integrated television with the simplest interface. I finally
:10:13. > :10:22.
:10:22. > :10:31.Where no-one available to talk to us, we went to see a man who knows
:10:31. > :10:35.apple better than most. This technology blogger has immense
:10:35. > :10:40.himself in Apple kit and has followed their every move four
:10:40. > :10:45.years. He thinks the iPad and iPhone will be followed by a
:10:45. > :10:52.television. They have all the pieces to do something pretty
:10:52. > :10:57.interesting. Apple is a luxury brand. They have proven that people
:10:57. > :11:05.will pay it a bit of a premium for the best quality of everything.
:11:05. > :11:12.There is real changes in TV that has just come out. You get
:11:12. > :11:21.dramatically better picture. If Apple can get back into their CV,
:11:21. > :11:27.you see that TV is way better than the one you have. -- met TV.
:11:27. > :11:33.are seeing it as a two screen experience? Or three. I do not
:11:33. > :11:38.believe you will be watching TV from ten feet away. You could use
:11:38. > :11:42.your hands. I do not believe you will interact with a screen that is
:11:42. > :11:52.ten feet away. I think you want to interact with when that is here.
:11:52. > :12:02.And watch TV like these. -- like this. This is what Apple Mac wants
:12:02. > :12:05.
:12:05. > :12:13.Before we leave Silicon Valley, time to ponder what is as the
:12:13. > :12:17.confidence it believes can change the industry. Tell us about the
:12:17. > :12:26.history that has been made here by the technology investment point of
:12:26. > :12:31.view. In 20 years we have seen a lot of firms staff here. His own
:12:31. > :12:41.again meet the tour of a restaurant where entrepreneurs try out their
:12:41. > :12:42.
:12:42. > :12:49.ideas to venture capitalists who I was here to meet a Silicon Valley
:12:49. > :12:59.veteran. He arrived here in the 1960s as a student. He was an early
:12:59. > :13:02.supper where piney and has worked Apple, Xerox, a lot of Silicon
:13:02. > :13:09.Valley companies. What is it about this valley that gives birth to
:13:09. > :13:18.such innovative companies? There has been a very well defined
:13:18. > :13:22.culture of capital-raising for start-ups. It is almost a rite of
:13:22. > :13:29.passage after you have a successful company and you have made some
:13:29. > :13:33.money, you do not just retire or move to the Caribbean. You are not
:13:33. > :13:41.allowed to move to the beach when you have made it big. You spend
:13:41. > :13:51.most of your time here funding other people. How would you sum up
:13:51. > :13:51.
:13:51. > :13:59.the self-confidence of Silicon Valley? At a time of the global
:13:59. > :14:07.crisis. They have a willingness to enter new markets. Silicon Valley
:14:07. > :14:14.seems to be ignoring the slowdown this time around. Instead of
:14:14. > :14:18.waiting until sales are better. The times when the economy is slow and
:14:18. > :14:23.other companies are slowing down is exactly the right time to invest if
:14:23. > :14:27.you have got the money, and they do have the money. Investing so that
:14:27. > :14:31.when things pick up again... If you think things are growing fast now,
:14:32. > :14:36.they will grow faster in the Valley when the economy recovers.
:14:36. > :14:44.It is time to get back in the car and do some serious driving to Las
:14:44. > :14:49.Vegas. It is 600 miles to the Nevada desert. Let's look at some
:14:49. > :14:53.numbers about the state of television in the UK. There are now
:14:53. > :15:03.more than 10 million television sets sold per year with one million
:15:03. > :15:10.
:15:10. > :15:16.While nearly half of all households have a digital video recorder, 86%
:15:16. > :15:26.of our viewing is live television. Things are changing more gradually
:15:26. > :15:30.
:15:30. > :15:40.It is January in Las Vegas and that means it is time for CES, the
:15:40. > :15:51.
:15:51. > :15:59.For years, Silicone Valley has been convinced that television and the
:15:59. > :16:09.web are natural partners. In Las Vegas, it looks as though they are
:16:09. > :16:18.
:16:18. > :16:21.Let's see how that marriage is going. We visit hardware players on
:16:21. > :16:28.their stools at press conferences and in the Convention Centre, the
:16:28. > :16:37.words, Smart TV, were everywhere. New ways about getting access to
:16:37. > :16:40.television and the internet were being put through their paces. And
:16:41. > :16:48.lot of products shown at places like these turn out to be duds and
:16:48. > :16:51.leave consumers cold. But the man who runs it says it is still the
:16:51. > :16:59.place to see the future. 20,000 products are introduced at almost
:16:59. > :17:03.every CES. Many of them will not see the light of day. The visitors
:17:03. > :17:09.are the ones who decide what succeeds and what fails. That is
:17:09. > :17:15.the entrepreneurial beauty. It happened with remote controls,
:17:15. > :17:23.microwave ovens, personal video recorders. We do not need any of
:17:23. > :17:27.these products but we have come to rely on them. There will be
:17:27. > :17:32.products introduced and people will say, why didn't I think of that and
:17:32. > :17:42.how can I live without it? walked around the show and wondered
:17:42. > :17:43.
:17:43. > :17:45.what made this year different in terms of connected television.
:17:45. > :17:49.year the biggest innovation has been to bring these technologies
:17:49. > :17:57.together and create smart television. It can act as the web,
:17:57. > :18:00.you can watch YouTube videos, video conference, Skype with people.
:18:00. > :18:10.These things have not been possible for consumer television before.
:18:10. > :18:14.
:18:14. > :18:21.Hardcore enthusiasts have been able But who is going to win the smart
:18:21. > :18:28.At Samsung's press conference, hundreds were locked out from an
:18:28. > :18:38.overcrowded ballroom and the mood was triumphant. They were going to
:18:38. > :18:43.
:18:43. > :18:53.lead the industry forward when they Smart evolution. This represents a
:18:53. > :18:54.
:18:54. > :19:04.significant change across all out devices. It is the future of smart
:19:04. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:14.Other manufacturers think they are smoking with a shot as well.
:19:14. > :19:19.The big TV manufacturers battle to show that they can produce the
:19:20. > :19:23.biggest, slimmest, most beautiful new televisions. This year's winner
:19:23. > :19:32.appears to be LG, with this 55-inch television - beautiful picture, but
:19:32. > :19:42.very expensive. Will attention switch from the technology to the
:19:42. > :19:52.content and how we access it? Samsung was making losses and is
:19:52. > :19:59.
:19:59. > :20:09.We were treated to an A-list Hollywood star, a Sony pictures
:20:09. > :20:13.
:20:13. > :20:18.movie and a best-selling artist Proof, the company believes, of
:20:19. > :20:22.what makes its offering different. I think the most important thing,
:20:22. > :20:25.over and above making sure we present a great TV set in terms of
:20:25. > :20:31.features and functionalities, is the content which is available for
:20:31. > :20:38.the customer to enjoy. We have a lot of third party content, but we
:20:38. > :20:44.have in house video unlimited and music unlimited. We are starting a
:20:44. > :20:50.service for managing digital photos and videos online as well. More
:20:50. > :20:54.value to the customers. The company paints a picture of a connected
:20:54. > :21:04.home where your Sony tablet talks to your Sony movies and your Sony
:21:04. > :21:23.
:21:23. > :21:26.These are not just used for viewing your television shows. It is
:21:26. > :21:30.accessing content from the internet. But, like every other company we
:21:30. > :21:33.have met on our travels, it still needs to fill in the missing link -
:21:33. > :21:37.tempting customers to care about connecting their televisions to the
:21:37. > :21:40.internet. One of the most important things we have to focus on as an
:21:40. > :21:47.industry is getting consumers to understand the breadth of the
:21:47. > :21:57.content available. You should connect your TV right to the
:21:57. > :22:02.
:22:02. > :22:06.internet because of the services we On our journey we've met software
:22:06. > :22:08.firms big and small which believe they can be the force that
:22:09. > :22:15.transforms television, and hardware businesses who believe that it is
:22:15. > :22:25.still in their hands to reshape the future of the living room. Two
:22:25. > :22:26.
:22:26. > :22:32.different views of whether this is These televisions will cost �1,000-
:22:32. > :22:42.1,500 pounds. That is a lot of money when people are tightening
:22:42. > :22:43.
:22:43. > :22:48.their belts. 2014 is likely to be The computer has migrated into the
:22:48. > :22:56.TV set. Before buying this, they want to be connected to the
:22:56. > :23:02.internet. They want to click on an icon and learn about the stars, get
:23:02. > :23:11.the background, see what you have been missing. Why not? It is a
:23:11. > :23:15.matter of convenience, ease, simplicity and new options.