Don’t Look for a TV in Television’s Future

Don’t Look for a TV in Television’s Future
By NICK BILTON

Illustration by Nick Bilton/The New York TimesI have seen the future of television, and it doesn’t involve a television.

Growing up in England, I remember intently following World Cup soccer; we called it football of course. Back then, my viewing and engagement options were few. I could watch games live on the TV and follow the scoring brackets in the newspaper the next morning.

The way I have followed the 2010 World Cup is totally different — not only from my experience in England watching the 1982 and 1986 Cups, but also from any way I have experienced any other live television to date.
During this year’s games I followed along on Twitter and Facebook; on Twitter, I wrote a post, Goooooooool!!, when teams scored, and I vented about bad referee calls.

I checked in to games on Foursquare, joined chats on HotPotato and commented in real time with friends, family and strangers from here to Timbuktu, literally. I watched real time stats, graphics and professional commentary on iPhone apps, and read live blogging on The Times Goal Blog.

I also watched the game everywhere but on standard cable television: on my iPhone at a park streaming through Mobi TV, in the corner of my computer screen at work from Univision (shh, don’t tell my boss) and on ESPN through a computer hooked up to my standard TV at home.

I even watched a portion of a game from work last week while video chatting on my mobile phone with friends who were watching at a bar.

Just four years ago, during the previous World Cup, practically none of these options existed. The iPhone was a figment of the nerdosphere’s imagination; Facebook was still largely a college network; the word “Twitter” probably evoked the thought of birds; and no one was streaming live sports over the Internet, even illegally.

But now this is the way many people follow the Oscars, political debates and long-running news stories.

In 2014, during the next World Cup, the fully augmented experience of the South Africa games will likely seem as dated as 2006 does to us today. By then, products like Google TV, Boxee or Apple TV will likely replace the cable box in many living rooms with a Web-enabled viewing experience. New iterations or versions of Twitter and Facebook will exist.

The 2010 World Cup, and the sphere of digital interactivity that has surrounded it, offers a glimpse into the future.