The hot startup at SXSW this year was plain old television

There was no breakout mobile app, no hot new startup, no celebrity founder holding court over the conference. But everywhere one turned at South By Southwest Interactive, people were talking about television.

Time Warner’s HBO had a much larger presence than previous years, including the most acclaimed and widely discussed exhibit at the conference. Media executives on one panel grumbled about web authentication systems for TV subscribers.

Jimmy Kimmel sniffed, “The fact of the matter is, the amount of money we make from selling commercials on television, is 100 times as much from what we make from people watching our YouTube videos. And until those things even out somewhat, we’re going to be focused on television.”