Rogers Cable introduces 1st generation interactive TV to Ontario market

Despite a lukewarm reception by U.S. customers, Rogers Cable Inc is hoping to carve out a niche audience for its "interactive television." David Ellis, an analyst with Omnia Communications in Toronto, has dubbed Rogers’ product "WebTV in a beavercoat." A major difference with the Rogers’ offering is that it requires only a cable line. When Microsoft’s WebTV was unveiled in the U.S. to little fanfare, the return path was via the phone line. Navigation is via a wireless keyboard or a television remote. Due to limitations in the digital set top box, the speed at which the Internet can be viewed on the TV screen with Rogers Cable is equivalent to a dial-up 56 kbps modem. Web sites have to be reformatted to fit a wider TV screen, and there’s no server within the digital box. That translates into viewing the Internet at its most basic. Carol Ring, VP and general manager at Rogers Ottawa, says their interactive service isn’t aimed at the computer-savvy. The target market is families who don’t have computers but who may want to send email, or people uncomfortable with computers but who are comfortable with their television, and households verging on buying a second computer. Since Rogers Interactive was introduced in the Toronto market late last year, close to 3,000 customers have subscribed to the service, according to David Bennett, Rogers director of marketing for interactive television. The service was subsequently launched in Kitchener, Ottawa, the Durham region, and Guelph at a monthly cost of $19.95. The starter kit, which includes the wireless keyboard, costs $79.95. Ring sees Internet viewing via the television as being different from the solitary surfing of someone on the computer. "It’s more of a family experience. You can sit around the television as a family, log onto a site and plan a vacation together," she says. It’s the first deployment of the product, says Bennett, who adds that Rogers is working with manufacturers to produce a more powerful set-top box that will enable its interactive television to bring "enhanced and increasing interactive entertainment to the television screen." Ring figures the next step will be adding a printer port to the digital box.

Rogers Cable introduces 1st generation interactive TV to Ontario market

Broadcast | February 28, 2001

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