A survey of American viewers suggests that interactive television could be a driver for digital cable services. A third of basic cable subscribers reported an interest in switching to digital cable if one or more interactive features described to them were available. Local services were seen as most important, with 42 percent of those surveyed saying that they would be very or somewhat interested in such services, rising to 50 percent of those already have digital cable and 59 percent for those that had a cable modem, while 80 percent of those that expressed an interest in switching to digital. On-screen caller identification to display the name and number of the person calling was of interest to 38 percent of respondents. Playing games was of interest to 35 percent of those questioned, while 33 percent were interested in choosing camera angles, and just 29 percent expressed an interest in voting or getting background information on characters in a program. The telephone survey of 1,000 adults across the United States was commissioned by CTAM, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing.
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...