Montreal company commercially launches fan companion TV service in Canada

Just a day after the CRTC issued an exemption order permitting it to do so, a Montreal-based company offered spectators at the Molson Indy in Toronto an on-site broadcast service via wireless devices. A new exemption order for low-powered broadcasts of special events issued July 10 means that World Audio-Visual Entertainment Systems Inc. (W.A.V.E.S.) now only has to send a form to Industry Canada’s spectrum management section to get a frequency before each event for which it wishes to offer its wireless TV service. "We almost sold out for the event, and we brought over 1,000 units there," Alain Charette, VP of corporate development at W.A.V.E.S., tells Canadian Communications Reports of the Molson Indy race. The wireless devices offer four video channels and 20 audio channels, including broadcast of communications between drivers and crews, over a low-powered frequency in the UHF band 470-806 MHz within about a three-kilometre radius of the event. The devices, marketed under the brand name Kangaroo and also referred to as fan companions, were rented for $35 a day or $69 for the duration of the July 11-13 Molson Indy event. The devices are aimed at enhancing the experience of fans by allowing them to better follow the event through instant replays, footage of other parts of the race and other related programming, as well as giving them access to race statistics via the devices. W.A.V.E.S. had initially applied for a general low-powered broadcasting licence to offer the service at various sporting events (CCR, May 23/02). The CRTC denied the request (Broadcasting Decision 2002-467), and instead initiated a proceeding on exemption orders (CCR Update, Jan. 8/03). One of four exemptions proposed in December 2002 and issued this month is for low-power encrypted television: limited duration special event facilitating programming undertakings (Broadcasting Public Notice 2003-35). W.A.V.E.S. did not sit back and wait for the regulatory process to unwind. Instead, it received special CRTC permission to test the devices at an event in Montreal last August. On April 7, W.A.V.E.S. announced that it had inked a deal with Champ Car to bring its Kangaroo devices to all 2003 Champ Car races. Before commercially launching the devices in Canada this month, it had offered the product at five other Champ Car races in the United States where W.A.V.E.S. had already cleared regulatory hurdles. W.A.V.E.S. will also rent the devices at the Molson Indy Champ Car race running July 25-27 in Vancouver, and the Aug. 22-24 race in Montreal. Charette says W.A.V.E.S. has a "little north of 1,000 Kangaroo units already manufactured, with another 1,000 in production right now." He adds, "We want to finish the season this year with between 2,500 and 3,000 units, and we’ll start 2004 with at least 5,000 units." He notes that there are also two other generations of the product in development that will offer greater functionality. In particular, he says, W.A.V.E.S. is hoping to be able to increase the amount of data and video that can be put into the single UHF channel that it is allocated during each event to provide its service. When W.A.V.E.S. applied for a broadcast licence, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters wanted advertising on the devices to be limited to "sponsor identification" or "promotion with sponsor mention" (CCR, July 4/02). Charette says that under the exemption, the service can contain advertising. But he says that franchising the devices out and gaining royalties is how the company anticipates making money. "We don’t want to put too much advertising on the device right now. We don’t want the fan to say this is too commercial," he says. "But there are many occasions where there are low track activity or right before or after the event when you can inject a few commercials. There’s a good response from the advertisers themselves. But our business model in the long run is selling our inventory to franchisees and then collecting royalties. This is how we want to grow. We’re a technology provider and would like to have partnerships in different parts of the world with different sporting and other events to help grow the business." Charette says W.A.V.E.S. is hoping to do the Canadian Open Golf tournament as a trial, and is continuing negotiations with Formula One racing. "We have been talking with them for a year now," he says. "We came very close to doing a test in Indianapolis (on Sept. 29, 2002). It didn’t happen for all kinds of reasons, but it was more due to timing. We’re still looking forward to having a deal with Formula One. We’ve been approached by different promoters in other sporting events, such as NASCAR, and baseball, tennis and also rock concerts and festivals and, of course, the Olympics. It all takes time to negotiate these deals because we’re dealing with TV rights, promoters, owners and so on."

Montreal company commercially launches fan companion TV service in Canada

News | 07/17/2003 4:00 am EDT

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