How would Henry Yuen fix the interactive program guide?

After my mother called me last week to ask for help finding out what channel Investigation Discovery occupied on her cable system, I started thinking of the whereabouts of Henry Yuen, the Gemstar-TV Guide International founder who has been on the run from authorities since he was found liable for securities fraud in 2006.

After inventing VCR Plus in 1988, which allowed TV viewers to use codes to record programs on their VCRs, he developed the first interactive program guides at Gemstar, which he later merged with TV Guide. As digital cable began to take off in the late 1990s, Gemstar made a huge business out of selling IPG technology to cable and satellite providers, and suing any company that attempted to do anything similar. His patents are now owned by Rovi (Nasdaq: ROVI).

The IPGs deployed by most cable and satellite providers today, including my mother's Service Electric cable system in New Jersey, contain technology originally patented by Yuen. And while IPGs have improved significantly in the last 10 years, they are still difficult to navigate at times, making harder than it should be to find a TV show or movie.

My mother called after she couldn't find the listing for a documentary that a friend said would be playing that night on Investigation Discovery. Mom had never heard of Investigation Discovery, which I explained used to be called Discovery Civilization Channel and Discovery Times Channel. I was able to find the channel by running a Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) search for Investigation Discovery. Once I found the channel's website, I entered mom's zipcode into a database containing local affiliates, and found that Service Electric carries it on channel 197.

When cable subscribers have to run a Google search to find out what channel a program is on, there is a problem. There are other ways to search TV listings. Most providers allow subscribers to use their remote controls to run searches by spelling out the first few characters in a program title--a process that is painfully slow.

Several major pay TV distributors have developed apps for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad and other mobile devices that allow subscribers to search for TV listings. But those apps aren't the best solution for the vast majority of subscribers. They require the subscriber to buy a mobile device that costs several hundred dollars, install the apps, and have the mobile phone or tablet with them while they are channel surfing.

There have also been some recent advances in using voice recognition and motion controls to navigate pay TV programming. Viewers who shell out more than $300 for a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 with Kinect can use voice controls and hand gestures. But again, that's not a viable solution for the vast majority of viewers.

For years, cable operators have focused on expanding their channel lineups, and adding new HDTV networks and thousands of hours of video-on-demand content to their libraries. The problem is that most viewers aren't aware of the content that is available to them, and grow frustrated when they attempt to use their IPGs to search for content.

Efforts to offer subscribers personalized TV recommendations that are being pursued by Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and other providers may help viewers discover TV shows and movies that they are interested in. But it could take years to perfect a personalized TV system that would be effective and easy to use for the majority of pay TV subscribers.

I suspect that Henry Yuen, the inventor of the IPG, has a few ideas on how to fix the problem, wherever he is hiding. Maybe Investigation Discovery could help us track him down.--Steve