CBC touts new Internet and television show as “open-source” programming

CBC Television executives are hailing a proposed new web/TV series as "open-source" programming for an audience of tech-savvy Canadians that will not only watch, but shape, the show. Executives for the as-yet unnamed program say they’ll pilot a new series this winter that airs digital content solicited from the creative community in preparation for a fall launch. Details are still being hammered out in the development phase, but network executives and the show’s producers tell Canadian NEW MEDIA that they are currently in discussions with Canada’s creative community to put together an archive of material in preparation for a rare two-month pilot period starting this winter. On Nov. 19, CBC issued a call for submissions for "smart convergence-oriented pilots for a new late-night Web/TV programming strand." Rae Hull, senior director of network programming and regional director of CBC Television in British Columbia, says the public broadcaster is looking for emerging talent for the show, which will act, in some ways, as an incubator. To that end, it is seeking documentary and dramatic shorts, music, poetry, dance, comedy and other artistic genres to air both on the show and on the Internet. She hopes the show will encourage its audience from across Canada to contribute content in a fashion that fulfils the CBC’s role to showcase Canadian works. "This is an opportunity to take the public broadcaster where it has not yet gone. CBC.ca – all of the various web sites CBC Television has, I think, have been very forward thinking. But there hasn’t been a place that says this will be a broadcast portal for a larger and deeper web experience 24 hours a day… I’m stating the obvious, here, but television is a powerful, but passive, medium. I have always looked for ways to better involve, or more completely involve, the audience. Essentially, this will give Canadians their space on CBC Television," Hull says. "CBC Television needs to be a place that is nurturing the next prime time talent," she adds. While Hull won’t discuss budgets for the production, citing the early stage of development, it’s clear the show has enthusiastic backing from the network. Beginning after the Winter Olympics, CBC will air the show in pilot form for one hour every night for two months immediately following its flagship National newscast. The web component of the show, featuring both the content aired in the broadcast, as well as interactive features that allow viewers to provide feedback to the show and upload their own content, will continue when the pilot broadcast stops showing. A season launch is planned for October 2002. Based in Vancouver, the show will be produced by McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves and Jennifer Ouano, both of whom have extensive experience in creating web and television properties. Mashingaidze-Greaves tells CNM that the development team isn’t working from any particular model in crafting the show, and that he considers it a new model for content. He says there is a new generation of Canadians used to working with tools such as digital video who haven’t been targeted by television that reflects their input. Program to reflect creative interests of audience"We’re going to have standards, without question," says Mashingaidze-Greaves of the type of content the show will accept and air. "But I would say that as part of this democratization of television, the standards will have to be open-minded. We’re calling it ‘open-source’ television because, even though it’s not open-source in the software development sense, it’ll be television that will basically reflect the creative interests of the audience." He says the show will provide an opportunity not currently enjoyed by the independent creator community. Material, he says, will likely come from " who are developing content that doesn’t necessarily have a spot right now on television – content that would be experimental; different varying lengths instead of the usual formats for television. People who are part of that DIY generation, who have access to desktop video, Flash animation. There’s a whole generation of people out there who have grown up with the notion of being able to burn their own CDs and do their own albums and create their own videos. That’s a lot of content; there’s a lot of people there. What we’re doing is facilitating the democracy of television." Radical undertaking for CBC As Hull notes, the show will also represent a radical undertaking for the public broadcaster, which has faced serious financial constraints in the past several years. While using content contributed by the audience should result in significant cost savings over in-house production, Hull says that the show will have to work within certain budgets. "It would be to misrepresent this to say that we don’t have to pay attention to a bottom line. Anybody who’s been observing CBC and CBC Television over the past number of years knows that we had to very aggressively deal with the bottom line. But, that’s not our foremost imperative in this regard. Our foremost imperative is to creatively use the tools of technology to find new ways to connect with Canadians. That’s what this is all about." While not yet announced, Hull says the network has already begun discussions with various artistic communities and outlets to begin soliciting content.

CBC touts new Internet and television show as “open-source” programming

Broadcast | November 29, 2001

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