Gemstar was a market-leading provider of television programming information which was licensed out to broadcasters right across the world. This information was distributed in a number of ways including in print via the world famous TV Guide magazine, automatic methods for VCR programming and through electronic means in the form of on-screen electronic programme guides. Almost every TV manufacturer and digital TV broadcaster in the world today uses on-screen EPGs like this.
TV Guide magazine, published by Gemstar, remains one of the best-loved television publications in the world, and has been used by generations of Americans to keep up-to-date on their favourite stars and shows. First launched in 1953, TV Guide has published a weekly print edition ever since which is still read by more than two million people.
TV has moved on a lot since then, with first video recorders and then digital TV recorders, also known as PVRs, becoming a permanent fixture in homes across the world. When traditional videocassette recorders were the dominant technology for TV recording a version of Gemstar’s technology was used to let users automatically record their favourite programmes. Numerical codes, called Video Plus codes, were printed in TV listing magazines. To schedule a recording a user just had to enter the code into their VCR remote control. This system was a real blessing, as programming a video recorder was notoriously confusing and time-consuming at the time.
For customers of today’s cable TV providers the process is even more simple thanks to the industry wide usage of EPGs. Now the process of finding a TV programme and scheduling it to record is quick and easy, and it’s unlikely that a paper-based TV guide would be used at all.