The Future of Television is Reminded that Nifty Technologies are All Well and Good, But…

Joel Hyatt, co-founder (with Al Gore) of Current TV and current.com, committed an act of heresy Tuesday morning before the missing-the-forest-for-the-trees sorts attending this Future Of Television conference that we’ve been writing about so much that it’s become all the rage with the kids: He took a polite but firm dump on the conference’s obsession with technology.

“I think we can get bogged down on the technological changes which enable people to watch TV on more platforms – it’s interesting, but it’s not a big idea,” Hyatt told his interrogator, Fast Company’s Ellen McGirt.

“People say to me, ‘Isn’t it exciting that you can watch ‘Desperate Housewives’ on your laptop? No, that’s not very exciting. I’d rather watch it on a 60-inch screen. … Why is that exciting? It’s convenient if you have no bigger screen, but it’s still a diminished viewing experience.” Snap.

He continued, “I have no idea why anyone would want to watch a movie on a cell phone unless you’re stuck in an elevator. Now, there a lot of things you might watch on cell phone – including, sorry for the ad, a lot of our programming – but not a movie.” You mobile geeks just got pwned.

Now, Hyatt’s anything but a Luddite. Current has integrated TV, the Internet and viewer interactivity far beyond anyone else. (Current viewers contribute about a third of its on-air content and even more at its website. They also create commercials for the network’s advertisers; viewers, Hyatt said, prefer the homegrown spots 9-1 over slicker Madison Avenue ads.) The new technologies are “tools, but they’re just tools,” he told Your Mayor after his session. “What’s important is how you use them.”

And to that point, Hyatt told the crowd, “The exciting thing to us is the exact opposite of where all the attention has been. Interactivity is the magic of the Internet, and if you can bring that to TV, that’s a big idea, and that’s what we’re working on. We’re trying to give Internet users the 60-inch experience, and have great content, and have a great viewing experience. Content still is king.

“People keep asking, ‘Is the era of television over?’ I don’t think so at all,” he concluded. “The new technology enables users to access content, and that’s good. … But it’s still a content-driven business, and it’s still important to ask, ‘Do you have content that people want to watch?’”

Next panel after Hyatt’s appearance? You guessed it: “New Television Technologies You Need to Know.”