iCraveTV founder back from Bermuda and planning next venture

Nearly a decade since his short-lived web company iCraveTV.com set the broadcast establishment on its ear, William Craig is back, and he’s preparing a new business venture. “It relates to technology, and it’s a brilliant idea,” he says. “It will take me into the States, as well as Canada.” He isn’t giving many details – “I’d have to shoot you if I told you about it” – but in a wide-ranging interview with Tech Media Reports he did explore his past, the impact iCraveTV had on the industry, and what he’d have done differently to avoid his company’s disastrous end. You might remember Craig as the Canadian businessman who started the whole Internet TV business rolling with iCraveTV, founded circa 1999. Dubbed an “Internet-cable” company, the firm took the same broadcasts that traditional cable and satellite companies sent to their customers, but offered the programming online for free. It was a novel concept leveraging the relatively untried web to support a tried-and-true entertainment stream. But iCraveTV soon came to be known for something other than its unique business model: legal problems. U.S. broadcasters and content providers were particularly vexed because iCraveTV couldn’t keep U.S. viewers from accessing the online feed. The companies said the web watching would eat away at their business models. Organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) threatened legal action if iCrave didn’t figure out how to block U.S. viewers. Meanwhile, Canadian companies including Epitome Pictures Inc., creators of Degrassi Junior High and Riverdale, sued the Canadian website for illegally transmitting the shows online. Lacking technology to block U.S. viewers and without enough funds to fight everyone, iCraveTV shut down in 2000. “It was perfectly legal under Canadian law,” Craig points out. “The real problem was that the signal leaked into the United States.” The website came back briefly as iCraveTV.biz under new ownership, but it didn’t last. Soon after, another Canadian-made Internet TV company unveiled its plans. JumpTV Inc. sought a clear copyright for its programming, and began with foreign content to avoid legal issues. It also collected permission from content providers before beginning its subscription service. The company continues to operate today. “Jump’s model was subscription,” Craig says. “Our idea was to put banner ads under the TV screen as people watched it. At the time, you’d have been hung out dry by the Internet community if you proposed charging anything.” Craig went on to acquire the gas and lesbian channel, PrideVision TV, which he later sold in 2006. He also worked with Waterloo, Ont.-based Descartes Systems Group Inc. and helped develop the company’s online shipping system. Later, Craig would go to World on Wireless, a digital TV service provider in Bermuda. He also headed up the Bermuda Broadcasting Company, in charge of U.S. broadcast affiliate stations. Asked what he would have done differently with iCraveTV, Craig says it’s all about the money. “I would have made sure to have bigger pockets for taking on the legal guys.” The company’s backers were particularly concerned about the copyright firestorm. “It just spooked them.” A new network structure would have helped the company. “One thing you’d do is go out to various ISPs and create a network to broadcast on the Internet. One problem we had is, the Internet is point-to-point communication. The data can’t be shared. If the CRTC had any guts, it would issue licences for people to broadcast on the Internet, such that ISPs would have to pick you up.” But Craig says the system wouldn’t necessarily support new players for long. “What I’m afraid is the ‘Family Compacts’ would take over and run it all,” he says, referring to established cable and satellite companies. “That’s the conundrum for Canada.... Because we want to make sure everything is Canadian controlled, it’s become inbred.... If an entrepreneur comes up with an idea, the game is constructed so the entrepreneur loses.” He figures the current economic issues that most media outlets face are temporary. “When you look at newspapers and broadcasters, they’re still making good operating cash flow. The problem is they got in too much debt. People still want to hear stories. People still want news.... TV has to adapt. Radio and newspapers have to adapt. But people aren’t changing that much.” Broadcasters should band together and form a cartel to purchase U.S. programs, he says. It’s the best way to battle skyrocketing content costs. “We’ve licensed too many programming services and they’re competing for content.” If a single buyer representing all Canadian broadcasters took over the show-shopping duties, the competition would end, and prices would stabilize. “There would have to be some sort of paper allocation for the product, without driving the price up.” Stefan Dubowski is a freelance writer in Ottawa. You can reach him via sdubowski@rogers.com.

iCraveTV founder back from Bermuda and planning next venture

News | 05/19/2009 1:23 pm EDT

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