Scene I: Upwardly Mobile Urban Home - circa September 2002 Television set is positioned to teletext channel. And the screen flashes messages like 'Hello, here I am'    'Where are you?' 'Who wants to make love?'    'Why are you there?' 'Do you want to meet?'     'Alright, I'm off now' 'Hey, are you there?' . . ..... (Each cell-phone owner will be billed by his cellular operator for SMS fees, who in turn will share a substantial part of this fee with the TV Channel.)

Scene II: Service Center - circa 2003 A large television screen is playing the favourite channel. But a specially installed "box", displays incoming SMS messages (complaint calls) on the television screen.

Scene III: Upwardly Mobile Urban Home - circa 2004 A large family television screen displays selected incoming SMS messages addressed to the various family members, each with his/her personal SIM card. Options available - display messages at bottom of screen (with the remaining screen dedicated to the current favorite soap) or let the messages occupy the entire screen. With a further option of having your messages read out on television! (Each cell-phone owner will be billed by his cellular operator for SMS fees, who in turn will share a part of this fee with the television channel.)

Scene IV: Average Urban Home - circa 2005 A television screen displays the previous episode of favorite soap - downloaded earlier via SMS or MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service) on viewer’s request. Welcome to digital, interactive television without cable operators? (The cellular operator will bill for SMS/MMS charges. A good part of this is will be paid to the TV channel, towards cost of content. And of course, sophisticated technology will ensure that you can view the content only a fixed number of times.)

Scene V: Upwardly Mobile Urban Citizen - circa 2007 You have received content which has been "narrow-casted" to you. You decide to view the content by 'playing' the content. You connect your cell phone instrument to an external display unit. You 'view' the content - it's a special product promotion commercial with a viewer response framework! And an option to buy by paying through mobile payment gateway. All this via SMS/ MMS. Interactive television? Or interactive cell-phone? (You may not be billed for the SMS/MMS message - the TV channel will bear the cost.)

SMS is an Internet enabled service
Which is the most widely-used application based on the internet? Email.
Email, along with related applications like chat, netmeeting, etc. is the most popular means of communicating today.

Which is the second most widely-used application based on the internet? SMS.
After email, SMS (Short Message Service) offered by cellular networks is the second-most popular way of communicating. SMS like email is an internet based service which uses cellular phone network instead of the traditional telephone / cable networks associated with email.

TV Channels are already using SMS for interactive programming
Do you know that a (growing) number of television channels already allow viewers to send messages to the channel via SMS? While many TV channels receive SMS messages via predefined 'SMS gateways' and upload these (with or without sorting & censoring) to their broadcast system, it is possible today, to automate the entire process from receiving an SMS right upto including it in a playlist or even broadcasting it immediately.
In many cases, the television channel plays the role of a Message Board via a teletext page or just scrolls chat messages at the bottom of the television screen. In some cases, the major part of the screen is dedicated to the message board with a live VJ 'moderating the exchange' from a corner of the screen.

If you watch Netherland-based SBS Channel's teletext page, the scores of messages displayed per minute are sometimes almost too fast to read! U.K. based SkyDigital runs a dating channel with participation via SMS.
Germany's RTL II has SMS Chatting on its teletext services - which generates 2,00,000 SMS messages each day!
Flemish Channel VTM receives an average 15,000 messages per day on its teletext chat.
In India, Channel V displays jokes received from viewers via SMS in the form of a 'ticker tape' scroller at the bottom of the screen. And MTV India used SMS messages for their "VJ Hunt". While Music Channel ETC displays viewers' greetings to the film star of the week via SMS.

SMS & Television - the Revenue Model Today
In all the above examples, the TV Channel drives SMS traffic - and hence shares SMS revenue with the cellular operators.
Here is how sending an SMS message to a broadcasting station works today:
A fee is charged to the sender by the cellular operator. But the mobile phone operator shares this fee with the TV channel because the channel is the significant driver of SMS traffic. And as much as 50% to 65% of the income may be parted by the cellular operator to the combination of TV channel - program producer - licensor/marketer. (Game show promoter/licensors of shows like "Who wants to be a millionaire?" actually design formats which generate large volume of SMS, leading to revenue from cellular operators.)
In most cases, agreements are 'inked' with all the mobile operators in the country to manage their SMS traffic. This is done to ease the bandwidth bottleneck, which may result in many hours delay in receiving SMS messages.
That TV channels have realized the revenue potential of this model is clear from the following examples- Finnish viewers of ice-hockey matches telecast on TV can vote for the "Man of the Match" via SMS. With approximately 5% of the million+viewers voting, the revenue translates to an interesting $ 25,000/- per game.
Another example is the show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" - television viewers who register to participate have to answer 5 SMS questions, again generating a lot of SMS revenue per episode!

The Future

Here are some indications of the (un!)predictable future:
*U.S. based multinational Kodak is experimenting with a service that will allow us to send digital photos from your television set to friends.
*A British company is finalizing a "box" that will display all SMS messages received on television screen.
*The next generation chat software is expected to display messages from "friends only" on the TV screen.
*Belgium's cellular operator Belgacom has just announced Voice SMS at the same cost as regular SMS. (Text messages will be translated into voice messages by Belgacom & delivered to mobile user's Voice Mail box at no extra cost.)
*IBM & Opera are working on an internet browser which will have multiple modes of input & output, including voice. (These are expected to be of particular use in cell phones where key strokes are a problem due to size constraints.)
*In one direction, cellular bandwidth is expected to take quantum leaps competing with and even exceeding landline/cable bandwidths.
*In another direction, cell phone instruments are already available with superior features like full colour display with audio, internet browsers & built-in digital cameras. The next logically extensions are built-in web cameras, multi-media display units, superlative processing power and superior net-browsing.
*In a parallel direction, cellular services are being enhanced with voice SMS, Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS).
*And the fourth direction is the development of "Mcommerce" (mobile payment gateways, et al).

Clubbing these fast-paced developments together, it is difficult not to come up with some more futuristic scenarios!

Within the next 5 years don't be surprised if your office
      - ties up with a TV channel for a dedicated frequency/page with SMS gateway
      - hooks up your SIM cards to your office TV screen
      - view & monitor all incoming messages to your Group on the TV screen and
generally uses television as a business communication channel

Or if you
      - are targeted as a prime prospect for a service
      - receive a TV commercial on your mobile handset via SMS (or MMS)
      - wait till you are free from your current task
      - play the commercial (use your cell phone's advanced display or 'hook up' to the nearest TV set)
      - agree to a trial offer by sending an SMS response
      - release payment via a mobile gateway and
become a client within a few minutes