Isn’t it about time we moved away from the TV schedule? It’s old fashioned, so very 20th century.

With the advent of Sky+, TiVo, BBC iPlayer, 4oD, ITV Player and the +1 channels available on Freeview – it’s clear the technology is in place, so when can we expect a TV in our living room (yes just one box) which allows us to do all these things and more.

No doubt there are many hurdles that need to be overcome to achieve this vision of TV heaven – here are just a few…

1. The interface design
Large scale interface design has just got started, Apple have pushed forward (don’t they always) with their Front Row application (now part of Apple TV), and it’s a good example for how to tackle the design problem. The main challenge being, the viewing screen is across the room, and not at your finger tips. More consideration for affordance is required, catering for people with varying visual difficulties. The BBC have done a good job with the iPlayer interface – perhaps a happy medium between Front Row and the iPlayer can be found.

But what of the classic remote control? Maybe Apple’s iPhone is a good place to start? It’s got to be easy to use (a given), and touchscreen seems to be ultra fashionable at the moment. However, there’s definitely some value in a chunky analogue control. When you push a button on your TV remote, you know it’s been pressed – you can feel it. The iPhone currently lacks this feedback, although I understand Apple have submitted a number of patents to overcome this lack of physical feedback. Take the success of the Nintendo Wii – by combing a clean user interface with playful physical controls, they’ve changed the common perception of gaming, from an isolated ’single player’ event, to a ’social gathering’ for both friends and family to enjoy.

2. The hardware
BT need to commit – the UK is lagging behind Europe concerning our IT infrastructure and bandwidth capabilities. We need 50mbps+ in all the shires of the land, not just our major cities. The only way this can happen is by laying new fibre optic cable, which ultimately means digging up the road. Oh joy, more road works. Not cheap, BT obviously aren’t keen. However, I think the government will continue to put pressure on them and other IT/media companies to seriously invest in the near future.

What about the box itself? Who’s going to win the battle to supply the next generation of TV’s with built in computers/modems. Well no doubt Sony, Phillips and Panasonic will be involved. Again Apple will step up to the challenge, they started that journey with their Apple TV technology. Frankly it’s still too confusing and exclusive to be attractive to the mass market yet. However, something they launched called an iPod seems to have done ok, so I’m sure will seem something coming from the Cupertino design studios.

4. The platform/service provider
Virgin Media, Sky, BBC, iTV, Channel 4 and BT all need to work together on this one. Perhaps they will share the ownership of this platform – which grants us access to the next generation of TV content. Perhaps it’s an evolution of the successful Freeview service, which is now built-in (crucially important to the masses) to the majority of new TV’s.

5. Advertising
If conventional (linear) TV scheduling disappears how will advertisers find us? TV advertising is in panic mode, revenues are dropping and highly paid advertising executives are sweating. Technology is moving swiftly, the convergence of web and TV shown in successes such as the BBC iPlayer demonstrate this unstoppable trend. Perhaps controversial web services such as Phorm will lead the way – Phorm targets web users through tailored online advertising based on individual search results and web impressions. No doubt a balance will need to be found concerning the issues of relevance vs privacy.

I believe in five years time the TV schedule as we know it today will change radically – it won’t disappear altogether, but it will evolve into something more flexible and dynamic. Missing your favourite programme won’t be a issue, and you won’t have to squeeze around a laptop to watch it. One box with one interface giving the viewer easy access to any previously ‘released’ content.

I like the BBC iPlayer, I like it a lot – but I don’t want to watch it on my laptop. The recent addition of the BBC iPlayer to the Virgin Media cable TV platform has been very successful – no doubt and indication of changes to come.