IBDG quiet on plans for new Category 2 digital specialty TV licence

New media and digital broadcast incubator IBDG Inc. has applied for a Category 2 digital specialty television licence as it prepares to spin out of Ryerson University this winter. On December 31, funding for the organization through Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology runs out, and president/CEO Beverly Milligan says the digital TV licence will play a key role in a new business model – though she’s being mum for the time being on full details of that plan. The date also marks the end of Milligan’s employment with the university as head of its Interactive Business Development Group since the organization will no longer be run by the school. The news may be a surprise to some observers following Milligan’s comments this summer that the company was not interested in pursuing a Category 2 licence as it spins out of the school. At the Convergence: iTV and Beyond conference last August in Toronto, Milligan told CNM that a national licence didn’t fit with IBDG’s plans to use local content. Since then, however, she and her colleagues have had a change of heart. "I was so convinced of it…I’ve had the luxury for the past two years to study the business models surrounding digital broadband and digital content, what works and what doesn’t internationally," Milligan says. "So, I’ve changed my mind 50 times and I hold the right to change my mind right up until the 31st of December – because I’m an academic up until then. There’s no business model, as we all know. There’s not a lot of things. But, more importantly, what we do know is that there’s the need for continued research." Milligan is keeping quiet, though, about how IBDG intends to use the licence, should it be granted one by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). "I know every single detail about it, but I can’t talk about it at this point," she tells CNM. "I’d rather talk about it when I have the licence in hand. But, it’s part of a transitioning plan that we’re pretty convinced is going to help out, if not stimulate, additional activity." IBDG’s licence application will become public when the CRTC gazettes it. There’s little reason to believe IBDG would be denied permission to operate a Category 2 digital network since the CRTC has opened this class of licence to almost all comers, but won’t mandate carriage by cablecos and satellite TV operators. Milligan says the licence would be a key asset demonstrating that the academic initiative would continue past the end of MEST financing. Licence next step in IBDG evolution "As part of the funding…that we received, there’s contractually a need for something to continue on," she says. "What was given to me was, ‘Ok, Bev, this is your responsibility. Take it. There will be no money coming from the university. There will be no nothing. Just do it, meet it, make it work and have a good life.’ This is part of that plan. It’s something that I, personally, will leave Ryerson with, and that’s all I can really talk about right now. It’s going to IBDG Inc., and I’m going to be playing the leadership role, the pioneering role, at IBDG Inc." The only hints Milligan will drop about the venture is that its character as a "neutral playground" won’t change. The organization has always tried to provide an open-door technology platform for new media producers and broadcasters to experiment with new content forms and business models, something that’s unlikely to change. "Certainly not in the new media industry," she says. "And, it should provide value for BDUs (broadcast distribution undertakings). It should provide necessary information for broadcasters. It really is a win-win model, we think, that we have to test before we’re sure. So, we’re just going to spend the next couple of years making sure of that."

IBDG quiet on plans for new Category 2 digital specialty TV licence

News | 11/15/2001 5:00 am EST

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