ITV to gain popular acceptance when Internet links established: Fortner

Interactive television (ITV) won’t become mainstream until the various links in the chain open the technology up to the broader Internet world, says Ryerson University’s Brad Fortner, a long-time practitioner in the field. At an ITV-themed lunch and learn in Toronto on December 12 organized by the New Media Business Alliance, Fortner broke with fellow panelists Glenn Purkis of satellite TV provider Bell ExpressVu LP and producer Barbara Jones, owner of Sailor Moon Productions, to argue that the true promise of ITV lies in a broadcaster path to multiple-networked devices in the home - a different vision from the gated model set out by Bell ExpressVu’s representative. In his presentation, Fortner, program director of the interactive broadcast learning lab at the university’s Rogers Communications Centre, set out his vision for new broadcast technology that allows broadcasters to send large amounts of data to homes deploying unused capacity in high-definition ATSC broadcasts. Unlike the Internet, which can only handle sending so much data-on-demand before servers begin to crash, the point-to-multipoint broadcast model can send data to millions of users at a time, cached on multiple devices in the home. Fortner said broader Internet content - not just program enhancements guarded by broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) such as cable and satellite TV companies - will be key to content development for ITV. Digital set-top boxes, he noted, don’t currently open up to the Internet and broadcasters are unable to take advantage of sending data to devices other than the television in the form of shows and other content. Conditional access issues have also hampered BDUs, he said. Compelling content, he argued, isn’t being developed for set-top boxes because they are faced with technical hurdles. Fortner’s comments to the 30 people or so who attended the ITV lunch stood in contrast to the rosier picture painted by Purkis, Bell ExpressVu’s ITV product manager. In his short opening remarks, Purkis outlined the ExpressVu strategy, which is currently to provide information, gaming and customer care applications via the company’s set-top box to paying subscribers. The "ExpressVu channel", as he described it, is a virtual channel with content from partners such as Ludi and the trivia giant NTN Communications Inc. Those services are offered without the participation of a broadcaster but there are some ExpressVu services such as TSN Extra where broadcasters can play a role. Purkis told luncheon attendees that the TSN Extra service comprises over 1,000 pages of content available through the set-top box. Enhanced TV, where viewers can interact with the broadcast itself, is still an offering for the future, he said. From a producer’s point of view, Jones also noted that further interactivity with television broadcasts is likely well down the road in terms of technical development."There’s a lot of new ground being covered. A lot of what’s being done elsewhere in the world is pretty impressive, some new business models are being hacked out in a variety of ways," she noted. "People’s perception that consumers should be able to choose that perfect ending for a program is pretty unrealistic. You’ve got to be able to produce all those different endings and you’ve got to be able to deliver them. So what’s being done can be pretty disappointing for the consumer because the expectation of a DVD type of experience or a web type of experience - you can’t necessarily do that because the pipeline isn’t necessarily ready for it." While Jones agreed with the other panelists that enhanced television interactivity is slow in coming, other hurdles exist for content producers hoping to create for the ITV platform. Unlike on the web, several parties will seek ownership of ITV content since broadcasters and BDUs each control part of the path to the home. Further, content broadcast via satellites or cable is subject to the myriad of content rules enforced by the CRTC. "It’s not clean by any means," she told the audience.

ITV to gain popular acceptance when Internet links established: Fortner

Broadcast | December 19, 2003

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