The U.S. cable and satellite television business has a big case of iPhone envy.

Apple has been able to distinguish and popularize its cell phone in a crowded field by giving away or selling specialized applications that produce the phone more useful. So far, independent developers have written more than 65,000 applications.

DirecTV and the FiOS service of Verizon have recently opened stores modeled directly on the Apple App Store. Just a few applications have shown up so far, but already the ones that are there — Bible verses, Facebook updates and fantasy sports team updates — propose that folks may not be composition to sit back while watching TV, but rather want to lean forward and interact and customize their viewing.

Most of the other cable, satellite and phone companies are additionally developing technology that will let their set-top boxes run more complex applications, including those written by outside developers. But the companies are still wrestling with how open they want their systems to be, what business arrangement to manufacture with developers and what sorts of things humans really want to do while watching their TVs.

TV systems, after all, have expanded been tightly controlled by their operators, who deploy squadrons of lawyers to negotiate deals with even the most obscure channel. To them, the prospect of emulating Apple’s sprawling marketplace is frightening, yet appealing.

“The beauty of the iPhone is that there are a lot of applications that Apple would not have imagined public want,” said Sree Kotay, the chief software architect for Comcast. “We want humans engaged with television in ways we haven’t thought of yet.”

The applications view goes beyond interactive television. For years, many cable and satellite customers have been able to get news stories, weather forecasts and sports scores through their set-top boxes. Some boxes additionally insert on-screen messages during…

[Source] dhiram