India Joining in on Television/Social Media Convergence

India is finally catching up to what we already do in the United States: converging television and Twitter.  Airtel Digital TV, a division of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel, announced the integration of Twitter with its current digital TV platform.  Powering this service is Bangalore-based Brizz TV, a company centered around television technology.  This new teaming will give the already 8.5 million subscribers an opportunity to utilize second-screen viewing while watching their favorite television programs.

Second-screen viewing allows viewers of a specific program to watch the program and utilize social media to share the experience with others at the same time.  Users and viewers can interact with each other, tweet about the show, and follow other tweets related to the show.  The service being brought by Airtel will take it one step further, giving access to Twitter through your TV and with the click of your remote.  This will add to the already existing 373 channels, which include 17 HD channels and 5 other interactive ones.  The best part is there will be no extra charge for viewers!

The company could plan to off-shoot the cost by streamlining Twitter ads and marketing promotions with their television service.  It was also suggested that Airtel could use this to promote other internet services that the company provides, with the decline of voice and SMS (short message service) business in India, forcing telecommunication companies to seek new forms of income.