The promises of iDTV: Between push marketing and consumer needs

In this article, we discuss the push and pull dynamics of the introduction of interactive digital television and the discrepancy between promised and actual practices as experienced by the audience. Our analysis is based on a case study of iDTV in Flanders in which we analysed both the promises found in the political economical rhetoric about iDTV and the lived appropriation practices of viewers with their motives to switch or not to switch to interactive digital television. For viewers that have made the switch, we found there are different arguments that led them to choose for iDTV. Furthermore, it is not only the question “Will I switch”, but also the selection for a specific platform provider that is sometimes an issue. Next to these considerations of users, we find it equally important to look at the non-users and their hesitations or motivations not to switch. The findings show how the place and signification of a media technology like iDTV in economy and society is the result of an interplay between political and economic push factors and the lived practices and pull dynamics by users.