Credenza?
Here in Blighty, we used to call these sideboards or, if mum was trying to be posh, glass or china cabinets. Credenza is, I believe, wholly American. Correct me if I'm wrong though - I can take it. :-)
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom's latest research shows living-room TV watching is on the rise: picture families gathering round in front of the goggle box even if half their eyes are elsewhere. The living room is regaining its dominant position as the nerve-centre of TV viewing for families - as fondleable tablets and phones …
... does exactly that; plays Candy Crush/ other Andriod or Facebook game while the TV is on. It's fine for most of the crap as I'm not watching it, but when there's something half decent on (like the recent Hannibal we've been watching on catch up), she asks 'what just happened?' every 5 minutes. Fun for me, as you can imagine.
This part:
"77 per cent of those who've shelled out for intelligence managed to get their sets plugged into the internet."
So 23% of smart TV owners have shelled out the extra premium for Smart TV, but have never connected it to the net? What's the point, exactly? You can still buy decent HD TVs without the extras.
One of the things a smart telly nets you, is the ability to plug in a USB wifi or ethernet server carrying loads of MPEGS and have a video library., That is most of what you want is down to it being networked, rather than being internetworked.
(A certain aquaintance of mine rents videos, rips them and puts them on a big server...)
In fact the one I got is SO impossible to use with its remote to surf the net, I have simply given up.
TBH its reserved for HD only since both our PCS have DTB dongles plugged in,and we listen/watch telly in a corner if the screen whilst doing other things..
(written with the DTB dongle providing a perfect 'test match special' feed over the putaspikas.)
I'm pleased to see a hard number - I've maintained for a long time that this is so.
It's simple, really - there are so many things more worth doing than watching the idiot box that actually selecting something to watch on demand is too much like hard work for most people. If there's something worth it on the box, watch it. If not, don't bother...
If there's something worth it on the box, watch it. If not, don't bother...because it will be on tommorow, next week, next month, and every year on drama, yesterday, dave, channel X+Y or whatever.
The number of channels now comfortably exceeds the content worth watching.
But what if there's something worth watching, and I want to do something else right now...
AND I suspect that tomorrow when I have no plans, there may be nothing worth watching (as is often the case).
Maybe it's that 90% of people don't care if it's worth watching (hence playing angry birds instead of actually watching) or they are incapable of planning ahead...
Re: the multi tasking though - my OH will sit and play some game whilst we are supposedly watching a new episode from a series that we both like, but which she has just chosen to put on. Personally, if I want to watch it then I will actually watch, and if I don't then I'll go and do something else.