Sky Digital brings SMS to TV sets

Sky Digital and UK telecoms firm Thus have launched an SMS service which will enable users to send and receive text messages via their television sets.

Sky customers can already send text messages from their digital set top boxes but the new service will enable mobile users to reply to the messages, and viewers to receive SMS via their TVs.

The service takes advantage of Sky Interactive's enhanced-WML micro-browser technology, connecting via the Sky Interactive online infrastructure to an interface managed by Thus.

Hinting at the La-Z-Boy-friendly benefits offered by the service, Phil Male, COO of Thus, said: "TV viewers who send text messages will no longer be having a one-way conversation - they can get a reply without getting out of their chair. The functionality we've added is designed to encourage increased use of the text messaging service."

And presumably increased lardyness among an increasingly sedentary population.