Sympatico commitment helps shape new OMDC Pl@tform program

The Ontario Media Development Corp.’s (OMDC) new Pl@tform program for small companies sees the extensive participation of Bell Sympatico, a partnership that may surprise some new media producers. Sympatico, believed for years to be a difficult entity with which to deal, and one that had little interest in third-party original content, seems to be more open to gambling on unproven initiatives. The company has jumped into the Pl@tform project with both feet, offering winning projects immediate distribution on its national portal, as well as the potential for a long-term relationship. Ian Kelso, president of the New Media Business Alliance (NMBA), which is heading the Pl@tform initiative for the OMDC, says Sympatico’s new approach to original content, the trail for which has been blazed by several new partnerships in the entertainment and music market, has whetted the company’s appetite for further gambles. "They got very excited about (Pl@tform)," he says. "Here’s a chance that’s pretty risk-free for them. There’s certainly a human cost to manage this on their end, but here’s a chance to throw some spaghetti on the wall, to get a number of different projects and throw them out to their audience and say, ‘hey, what do you think of this?’ If one or two stick, that’s an incredible success." To that end, applicants to the Pl@tform program are being told that their bids stand a better chance of success if they include a focus on any of travel, health and wellness, or personal finance. The involvement of Sympatico was also a contributing factor in NMBA’s decision that only products that are mainly Internet/web focused will be considered for funding. "This is about distribution," Kelso explains. "The sponsor that we procured for this is mainly a web portal and, certainly, in terms of getting products to audiences, the web is the oldest and most dependable format. If we were just sticking it up on any old web site, maybe it wouldn’t make a difference. But, since we have a partner in Sympatico, to really utilize this partnership effectively we have to make sure that we’re delivering content to them that’s going to be effective. Yeah, there’s a lot of interesting platforms out there, but here’s one that’s the most market ready and here’s a method for getting the product not just to a few eyeballs, but potentially to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of eyeballs." The Pl@tform fund is offering $30,000 grants and mentorship to five projects that are primarily web-based, with applications due on January 26. Neither the jury - with the exception of a Sympatico representative - nor mentors have yet been decided on. Kelso says the winning companies themselves will have the opportunity to choose their own mentor from the industry. "We’re going to consult with the successful applicants and ask who they want to be their advisor, their mentor," he says. "Then we’ll go out and try to facilitate that relationship. Because we’re expecting to have a wide variety of different platforms, as well as the compulsory web component, it’s difficult to pre-select a mentor who would be in the same stream as where the company is heading." Too many fingers in small pie?While Sympatico’s whole-hearted participation may raise eyebrows in the industry, no one, according to Kelso, has batted an eye at the fund’s requirement that money go only to small companies that have not yet received funding from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund or the Canada New Media Fund - a requirement that eliminates most of the companies already creating original content and that are, themselves, struggling to find funding dollars. "It’s a legitimate question in times like these, when everybody’s facing difficulties," Kelso says. "Why invite more people to the table? But, I think at the same point, there’s a need to get more voices into the industry. You can’t simply ignore the next generation of companies coming up just because there’s a crisis going on at the moment. From our point of view, the more companies you get involved creating digital content, the more demand there will be for getting funding, but also the more great product that we’ll be able to develop and be able to prove to Canadians why it’s important to have our own indigenous production."

Sympatico commitment helps shape new OMDC Pl@tform program

Broadcast | November 21, 2003

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