Fast Forward

When News Corp. finalized a deal to buy controlling interest in DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics at the end of 2003, the industry speculated how chairman Rupert Murdoch would radically change the platform. All observers had to do was look at his accomplishments with enhanced television on Britain’s Sky Broadcasting—which had already empowered consumers to use their remotes to bet on the ponies, shop for cars and pay $1.80 to play along with a game show—to see what was possible.

Now, the future is here.

DirecTV is set to roll out its new interactive digital video recorder in the second half of this year, promising to make it easier for viewers to watch everything they want to watch—and to aid advertisers in reaching them.