Now you can do more than just yell at the TV. You can send text messages to it. Mobui today introduced a new service called "Audience Chat," which allows TV broadcasters to select and display certain viewer-submitted text messages at the bottom of the screen. It also allows viewers to ask questions of a celebrity or TV host.

You may have seen a similar service on CNN, which has been posting Twitter messages from viewers on some programs. Redmond-based Mobui is rolling out its service in partnership with VH1, which will select some viewer's messages to appear on the show "I Love Money 2."

Before its ugly demise, Seattle's Blue Frog Media was toying around with a similar idea with its txtv service. 

Mobui's technology goes a step further, allowing broadcasters and cell phone users to set up their own personal chat rooms on devices.

I asked Mobui's Anne Baker about the similarities between the two offerings.

"Blue Frog was just using standard SMS text messaging to send messages to the broadcaster where Mobui has created a brandable mobile chat room application that can be downloaded onto 100s of different phone models," she said. "This keeps the brand/broadcasters logo and chat room always on the consumers device, just one-click away. It also makes the chatting experience much more interactive and collaborative - a true group, social-viewing experience with friends, fans or celebrities as opposed to just sending text messages up to a TV screen."