Digital Television : British Government’s preferred route to e-Governance?

Everybody, but everybody is aware of the marketers' obsession to get into every household! But few have realized that this applies equally for Governments! Except the British Government, that is.

Look at it this way: historically, individuals accessed Government interfaces (or windows) to update records, receive social welfare benefits and pay taxes. Very soon, Government machinery will need to access individuals to realize the same objectives (& more), much more efficiently.

The TV set is already the hub of the average household. Each set-top box is a small dedicated computer with a live internet connection, which uses the TV set as it's display unit! As set-top boxes give each TV set (read household) a unique address, digital TV (DTV) will blur the distinction between television & the internet. So what better way to access the household than through the television route?

Which government cannot imagine the benefits of addressing each household individually at little or no cost?

Just think of disseminating health-related information to each individual. And collecting taxes without a large, inefficient (& often corrupt) revenue department. And running state-sponsored lotteries via television. And conducting polls via television.
And ... the list goes on.

Back to the strategy of the British Govt. The past few years has seen U.K. steadily implementing digital television. Today, U.K. is the undisputed world leader in DTV implementation. The penetration of DTV enabled households in U.K. is the highest in the world.

So, to the next step - a few months ago, UK’s Department of Health (DoH) successfully conducted a set of 4 pilot trials of their national healthcare information service on DTV. Now the National Healthcare Information Service is preparing to roll out across the country via DTV. The DoH is preparing to float tenders for commercial partners to implement NHIS on DTV. The service will initially allow patients to book appointments with their doctor & consult with nurses, via the TV set. Later, the offerings will include repeat prescriptions & networking features.

On a parallel level, U.K. lotteries are also going live via DTV. And in a few years, the average British citizen can expect tax payments, land records, and (who knows?) even elections via television.

By the way, if you are one of those who thought that the British govt. was promoting DTV for the entertainment of its citizens, you are in good company! Most other developed countries think so too, as they are still conducting “trials” of DTV technology.

Read: Conditional Access System For The Indian Television Industry
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