Digital hopefuls scramble to satisfy CRTC’s request for innovative and interactive TV

As applicants for new pay and specialty television services prepare for the licensing hearing in August, many are wrestling to satisfy the CRTC's desire for enhanced television services that make the most of new digital technologies. The CRTC made it clear in its call for new digital pay and specialty applications (PN 2000-6) that one of the criteria for winning a much-coveted Category 1 licence would be "innovation in the use of the digital medium". But the federal regulator neglected to define what exactly is meant by innovation or even interactivity. CRTC releases schedule for digital specialty TV hearings The CRTC has released the schedule for August's category 1 digital specialty channel hearings. They begin Aug. 14 with Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc's applications for Independent Film and Documentary Channel; Health Network Canada; Book Channel; Food Network Canada and Signature Television. Rogers Broadcasting Ltd follows with ZDTV Canada; Today's Parent TV; Biography Channel, and Documentary Channel. The second day will feature CTV Inc and BCE Media. Appearing Aug. 16 will be CHUM limited and Levfam Holdings.For the complete schedule visit the CRTC's web site Martine Vallee, the CRTC's director of discretionary services and social policy, says the omission was deliberate. "We're opened-minded," she told CCR. "We don't have a specific idea of what we are looking for. We invited the industry to come up with creative and do-able ideas." According to Vallee, interactivity could include a viewer giving feedback to a station through a traditional website by email or in a chatroom, using the set-top box to provide split-screens, e-commerce applications, or viewer participation in game shows or other programming. How much weight the commission will place on interactive and digital features remains to be seen. "It's hard to say," says Vallee. "It will depend on the specific application." It will also depend on other components within each application. Interactivity is one consideration, but Category 1 applicants must also make a strong contribution to the development, and diversity of Canadian programming, with specific guidelines for Canadian content and ownership structure. "If an application is strong on diversity, attractiveness and the exhibition of Canadian programming, those factors may outweigh the interactivity component," Vallee notes. Interactivity a priority with kids Incorporating digital bells and whistles isn't a condition for securing a Category 2 licence, but with so much competition for these licences, it could help commissioners in choosing winners and losers. Of course, winning a Category 2 licence doesn't guarantee carriage by cablecos or other distributors, although services that offer unique and innovative digital features may have better luck in convincing distributors to carry them. Salter Street Films Limited has filed 30 applications: six in Category 1, and 18 in Category 2, with all of Category 1 applications also filed under Category 2. Catherine Tait, president and COO of Salter Street Films, says their corporate philosophy was to start with a converged television and computer, and then develop the programming. "With those channels geared towards a younger audience such as Comedy for Kids, Girls TV, and ZTV, the interactive component takes priority," she says. Some programs on Comedy for Kids will invite viewers to submit digital video images, while Girls TV, may involve the audience in the creation of a soap opera. Another Salter Street application, Play TV (for kids ages 8 to 88), will include games and games shows for the converged computer and television set. The company's proposed ZTV deals with the whole gamut of lifestyle issues surrounding the Internet, and is aimed at the 20-something generation. Salter Street's proposals for an Independent Film Channel Canada and Nature TV, that are educational and information-based, will use more traditional companion websites. The Halifax-based production company has applied under Category 2 for Corporate TV, a video spin-off of two of its Internet properties Q1234.com and InvestorCanada.com. These sites currently operate at a break-even point and mark Salter Street's transition away from producing original dramatic content for the web, which proved too costly. Q1234.com webcasts annual general meetings, and Corporate TV will provide the broadcast video component. "If a company is going public and doing a road show, they'll be able to run it on Corporate TV," without the Internet's bandwidth limitations, says Tait. Alliance Atlantis bids targeting ecom, streaming video & chat Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc's recent appointment of Jeffrey Elliot as senior VP (formerly the managing director of Netstar Interactive) responsible for the company's online and Internet strategies, signals the company's shift in its new media strategy. Sam Punnett, VP of research and development of Multimediator Strategy Group (MMSG), says Elliot is a real fireball who hopefully will move Alliance Atlantis in the right direction. Rita Cugini, Alliance Atlantis' VP of business development, says the strength of their applications lie in the strategic partnerships they've formed with international players such as The Fox Group, the National Geographic Channel, and Healtheon/Web MD, all of which have strong Internet presences. While reluctant to reveal too many details, Cugini says the new channels would include e-commerce, e-trade, streaming video, and chat sites. "Alliance Atlantis is first and foremost a distributor and producer of content," she says, adding that if a program lends itself to an accompanying website or interactivity then it will be developed. Viewers watching a travel channel, for example, would be able to click on an icon and purchase a ticket. "Information-based services lend themselves more easily to enhanced services coupled with a website than perhaps drama," she says. One of Alliance Atlantis' applications that will include an interactive component is Do-It-Yourself (DIY), a partnership with The E.W. Scripps Company and Corus Entertainment. D.I.Y.'s website will invite viewers to select instructional videos on various topics. Offering web links directly from the television (i.e. WebTV) isn't possible with the current generation of digital set-top boxes, although both companies say they are preparing for that evolution. MMSG's Punnett describes the next generation of television sets as "a box that will be a non-time dependent collector, a delivery mechanism for interactive programming that will be part game-console and a web-accessible computer." Responding to market demands As broadcasters struggle with creating business models that work for the new digital universe and grapple with their vision for interactive digital services, new media strategists like MMSG are urging the industry to question why certain bells and whistles are being added to their programming plans. Punnett says interactivity needs to be defined beyond the number of mouse clicks from a user or viewer. "It ought to be defined as the level of audience satisfaction achieved through the use of the computer moderating the user or viewer's experience." Vallee expects this summer's hearing will include much discussion about interactivity, the capabilities of current set-top boxes and the rollout of the next generation digital boxes. She also emphasizes that proposed new services should be realistic, given the current state, and the limitations, of available technology.

Digital hopefuls scramble to satisfy CRTC’s request for innovative and interactive TV

Broadcast | June 22, 2000

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