Interactive TV — The Screen Talks Back
An open cue format that lets broadcasters pop real, tappable buttons on screen — controls on cue, in real time. Commercials can carry clickable links and Buy buttons. Live TV shows can add voting, games, and more. Event-driven, so content providers can draw controls the instant they need them.
First:
READYWARE isn't an interactive-TV app. It's a control-everything app — remotes, room macros, live-camera wallpapers, your whole house on any screen you own. Interactive TV isn't a feature we set out to build. It's what falls out of a control layer that can already lay a real, tappable button over anything on screen.
We didn't sit down and say "let's build an interactive-TV platform." We built a remote that renders real controls over any content — a stream, a page, a commercial. The moment that content could ask for one of those controls, the screen could talk back. It came along, because the buttons were already real.
Build the thing that controls everything, and the rest shows up on its own.
That's the whole idea behind READYWARE. Interactive TV is real — but it isn't the point. It's what a universal control layer looks like when the content finally gets to reach back.
The screen has always talked at you. Now it talks back.
READYWARE already lays real, tappable controls over your content. Interactive TV lets the content itself — a stream, a commercial, a web page — pop those controls on cue. Vote, tap-to-buy, play along, open a link that actually works. Right on the screen, over what you're watching.
Why Interactive TV Is Different
The screen has been trying to reach back for twenty years — red buttons, QR codes, second-screen apps, walled-garden "shoppable TV" SDKs. Each one made the same mistake: it built its own little UI, in its own silo, that couldn't touch anything real in your room. Interactive TV doesn't ship a widget. It hands a cue to READYWARE's control layer, and the content pops a real, tappable button right on the show — vote in real time, play along with trivia and game shows, click a commercial and follow a link that actually works, or tap a Buy button that opens the checkout (you always finish the purchase yourself). And when you allow it, that same button can even fire your own IR/RF and room macros. But at its heart it's simple and fun: interactive movies, live shows, sports and games — the content displays the buttons, you tap, your answer goes back. Clickable links, polls, and play-along, right on the screen. Try the demo →
Nobody else turns a stream cue into a real, tappable control right on your screen.
A READYWARE button isn't a plain pop-up — it can be transparent, any size or shape, and the content can pop it exactly when it matters: a vote, a play-along, a shoppable hotspot, a link that opens. Same clean, real controls you already build remotes with, laid over the show. (And if you ever want it to, that same button can also run one of your own saved room macros — but only a source you've allowed, and only for that action. Off by default.) That's the gap Interactive TV fills.
No firing anything — just tap and watch. The Demo lets you send each cue by hand — a toast, a poll, a shoppable hotspot, a link. The Live Test auto-pops those controls on a loop. Drop either one in as a website wallpaper in READYWARE to see real, tappable buttons appear right over your screen.
Two Clean Layers — One Cue
Interactive TV keeps the message and the action completely separate, exactly like the .irc standard. The content only ever sends a small, open cue. What that cue turns into on screen is READYWARE's job — the same canvas and rendering you already build remotes with.
- do: the verb — vote, open, buy…
- arg: the payload for that verb
- ttl: how long it stays live
- id: dedupe / update key
- sig: optional signature
- A real, tappable button on the canvas
- Transparent, any size, shape, color
- Fires IR / RF / macro / web / app
- Renders on phone, tablet, or TV
- Laid over the content, in sync
Event-Driven. Zero Speed Cost.
The app only listens. It never polls.
A cue arrives, READYWARE renders it, and the app goes quiet again. There's no background loop, no constant checking, no battery drain — and, critically, nothing added to the hot path that fires your IR and RF. Interactive TV rides the pipes that already exist and stays out of the way until the exact moment a cue lands.
Because cues ride existing transports, they can fire in sync with the moment on screen — the poll opens the instant the host asks the question, the buy button appears exactly when the product is shown.
What Creators Can Do
The Cue Object
Every cue is one small, versioned, human-readable JSON envelope. A page or a stream sends it; READYWARE reads it. That's the whole wire format.
"cue": { "oic": 1, // format version "do": "vote", // verb: toast | open | vote | show | fire | launch | buy "arg": { "a": "Keep it", "b": "Cut it" }, // payload for the verb "ttl": 8000, // ms this cue stays live on screen "id": "poll-42", // dedupe / update key "sig": "…" // optional signature — required for gated verbs }
Versioned On Purpose
The oic field is the version. New verbs and fields can be added over time and older apps simply ignore what they don't understand — the same forward-compatible rule that keeps the .irc format alive. A cue that a viewer's app can't act on safely does nothing at all.
Cue Verbs
Everyday content interactions are open — showing a button, a poll, or a link just works. Anything that could reach your own saved device macros, launch another app, or touch payment is gated and never silent.
| Verb | What it does | Gated? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| toast | Show a banner / message over the content | Open | "Now airing: Episode 4" |
| open | Open a link in the wallpaper or browser | Open | "See this site" |
| vote | Pop a poll button-set, collect one tap | Open | "Vote A / Vote B" |
| show | Render a tappable READYWARE button on cue | Open | A shoppable hotspot |
| buy | Open a checkout page — never charges anything | Open* | "Buy now" → your checkout |
| fire | Run one of your saved IR/RF/device macros | Gated | "Movie mode" lights |
| launch | Open another app on the device | Gated | Open the store app |
* buy only ever opens a checkout page — it can never complete a purchase or spend your money on its own. You always finish the purchase yourself.
How Cues Travel
Cues ride the pipes that already exist — nothing proprietary to install on the pipe. READYWARE just listens on whichever one the creator already uses.
You're Always in Control
Default-deny for anything that touches your world.
The everyday interactions a creator adds — a button, a poll, opening a website — just work. But a cue can only reach your saved device macros, launch an app, or open a checkout if you allowed that source and that verb. It's per-source and per-verb, never a blanket "trust everything," and a "buy" button opens the checkout — it never spends your money for you.
Turning Interactive TV on changes nothing you already built. Every existing button, macro, transmitter, overlay, and timeout works exactly as before — Interactive TV is additive and opt-in.
Interactive TV vs. The Alternatives
| Approach | Status | Open | Real controls | Fires your devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HbbTV / Red Button | ⚠️ Regional | Partly | ❌ own UI | ❌ |
| QR codes on screen | ✅ Common | n/a | ❌ phone browser | ❌ |
| Second-screen apps | ⚠️ Fragmented | ❌ per-app | ❌ separate app | ❌ |
| Shoppable-TV SDKs | ☠️ Walled | ❌ | ⚠️ vendor widget | ❌ |
| READYWARE Interactive TV | ✅ 2026 | ✅ CC0 | ✅ real buttons | ✅ IR / RF / macros |
License — CC0 Public Domain
The Interactive TV cue format is published under CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain) — the same open footing as the .irc standard.
No attribution required. No restrictions. No company can revoke it. No license to comply with. Any site, stream, or app can send or receive cues, free forever — broadcasters, streamers, creators, and viewers alike.
For Broadcasters, Streamers & Site Creators
Interactive TV is an open, published format — a few lines to add, nothing proprietary, no lock-in. Build against the cue format and your cues land in every READYWARE canvas — on phone, tablet, and TV. Want the drop-in script and reference examples, or a hand wiring your first cues? We'll get you going.
Building on Interactive TV?
Tell us what your stream or page wants to send — a poll, a shoppable hotspot, a play-along — and we'll wire it up with you. See the Help guide and FAQ for how controls render on each screen.
"The screen talks back. Now it has a standard."
— READYWARE, 2026