IBC2008 offers a glimpse of a new way for viewers and IPTV operators to get a grip — literally — on television viewing at the Orca Interactive stand.

The IPTV middleware provider is showing its new Compass content discovery tool changes the equation when it comes to choosing what to watch. A replacement for EPG and older ways of finding out what’s on the tube — oops, I mean panel — Compass blends a variety of content recommendation engines to build a customized menu of program selections based an individual user’s preferences.

One of those engines taps into the runaway popularity of social networking to bring to the television a very ordinary occurrence, namely friends recommending you watch a specific program or episode. In the Stone Age, I remember friends actually talking about “Dallas” and who shot JR. Did I see this or that episode that held a clue?

Fast forward to today and my kids are probably texting each other right now on their cell phones about coverage they’ve seen on Hurricane Ike. They’re likely recommending to each other this news report or that because they have relatives in the path of the hurricane.

That’s the sort of communications trend Orca Interactive seeks to tap into with its social networking engine. Compass gives users access on their TV screens to content recommendations of friends. In fact, if your friend really likes you, Compass allows them to buy a VOD movie or show and send it to you as a gift. And don’t forget to show your appreciation by sending a thank you to your friend’s TV screen via Compass.

Orca also rolled a novel way for viewers who share a TV to access their individual preferences. Imagine mom, dad and the kiddos each have their own viewing preferences and friends making recommendations. How does Compass know which particular family member is watching TV and what recommendations to make? Simple, use the thumbprint of the family member hold the remote control.

Orca Interactive showed for the first time a remote control from Ruwido with a fingerprint reader that allows an IPTV operator’s set top box running the Compass recommendation tool to know which family member’s preferences to display. Now that’s what I call getting a grip on TV.