Generation V user-generated channel to face challenges in advertising, logistics, carriage, experts say

Remstar Broadcasting Inc.’s proposed user-generated content channel will face challenges in advertising support, logistics, and carriage in the competitive Category 2 specialty channel market, industry experts says. Called Generation V, the new French-language channel received a broadcasting licence to provide user-generated, short-form programming. According to its CRTC licence, Generation V must provide 95 per cent user-generated content. Remstar isn’t doing interviews. “This is a long-lead project,” said Tim Ringuette, the firm’s communications director, via e-mail. But market watchers say the programming—if the channels receives carriage—will likely be geared to youth. “It’s probably going to be for a younger demographic,” said Jeffrey Elliot, a partner in GlassBox Television Inc., the Toronto-based media company behind the BITE Television station, which also features user-generated content. Elliot said he has heard Generation V being described as a French version of BITE. “This is the kind of programming they go for.” On the air for four years, BITE features “comical, irreverent and edgy” films, videos and animations from “professional and semi-professional” productions, according the firm’s website. It’s carried by eight distributors in Canada, including Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Bell Aliant. Sean Embury, president and creative director of Fulscrn, a digital media and communications company in Vancouver, said Remstar might also attract older viewers engaged in creating video content online. He noted that although younger people tend to be the most involved in user-generated content, that doesn’t mean those 30 and up aren’t developing content for online platforms such as YouTube. Howard Bernstein, former producer at CBC, CTV and Global Television, and administrator of the blog Medium Close, said Remstar should stay away from citizen journalism. “I hate the idea of non-journalists doing journalism,” he said, explaining that while professional journalists tend to be as objective as possible, citizen journalists don’t always have that “filter.” “I question the authenticity of the material,” he said. Asked about the kind of content Remstar might feature, Bernstein said, “I suppose they could do community events and things like that. But that's one of the ways to turn off the interest of the public.” Viewers aren’t attracted to homey, good-news content, he said. Broadcasters continue to experiment with user-generated content. In December 2008, CBC unveiled the Hockey Night in Canada Mashup website, where users can “mash up” professional Hockey Night in Canada footage with their own. But the broadcaster ran into issues with users uploading footage and music to which it didn’t have the rights. In the United States, Verizon Communications Inc. carries a YouTube channel, enabling FiOS subscribers to access rolling YouTube videos on their TVs. Remstar could license user-generated content from major platforms like YouTube, but that may defeat the purpose of the channel, sources said. If the content is online already, viewers may not want to bother accessing it on TV. But Elliot pointed out that GlassBox often searches for potential programs on YouTube, and if the company finds a creator it wants to work with, the firm contacts the producer to discuss the material for use on BITE, or considers providing the producer with studio time to hone the material. Remstar could source enough content to fill the channel if it connects with the right people and schedules material smartly, observers said. “I think it is possible in this day and age,” Bernstein said. There is a wealth of cheap, creative content to be licensed from up-and-coming producers and storytellers graduating from college and university. “I think the best stuff they’ll get will be from people who want to make a name for themselves," he said. Gregory Taylor, an expert in broadcasting policy at McGill University in Montreal, said Category 2 TV channels usually offer six-to-seven hours of programming, which they repeat. “You can have a fairly inexpensive broadcast day,” he said. But observers say Remstar will face challenges. “A network dedicated to it is quite ambitious,” Embury said. Embury worked on the CBC’s Zed and Exposure, shows that incorporated user-generated content. Between those programs and other user-generated projects he learned that user-generated content requires significant editing to piece together a compelling program. "There’s nothing like somebody’s amateur short film—as great and wonderfully intentioned as it might be—to just sap the energy out of show," he said. “On Exposure, we would show entire pieces in the three-to-five-minute range, but then we did a lot of round-ups: here are the best zombie films on the Web this week; here are the best films about love. We got to show 10-to-20-second clips, and they were pretty entertaining little segments ... It made for a lot snappier programming on television." Embury said the industry is learning that user-generated content isn’t always easy to work with. “There was this mistaken notion a few years ago, and I’m sure it still exists in some forms, that you create this system, and people upload all this content, and there’s your free show,” he said. “But these shows often take more work to produce.” Taylor said the costs might not be as high as they were when Zed and Exposure were on the air three-to-five years ago. High-definition handheld cameras weren’t as cheap or prevalent, for instance. Still, Taylor pointed out that Generation V’s Category 2 status means the station doesn’t qualify for automatic carriage with a distributor. Many Category 2 channels fail to launch because they can’t convince distributors to carry them. “There’s a chance your station will never go to air,” he said. Trevor Doerksen, CEO and founder of MoboVivo Inc., a mobile video platform provider in Calgary, said there is a concern that user-generated content may not prove to be as popular as it was a few years ago. It may have attracted large audiences in the early days of YouTube because there wasn’t very much premium content available online. But now YouTube features premium content, which tends to attract more viewers than user-generated programming. That doesn’t bode well for a channel broadcasting planning to broadcast 95 per cent user-generated programming, Doerksen said. Generation V will have to be careful not to focus too much on television distribution, and offer an online interactive component that helps make user-generated content compelling. “I wouldn’t pitch it as a winner because it’s missing the communication aspect,” Doerksen said. Advertising is another issue. He said he doesn't think advertisers are going to like the show, but sponsorships may work well. “Send in your clips because Fabergé is having a bad-hair hour.” news@thewirereport.ca

Generation V user-generated channel to face challenges in advertising, logistics, carriage, experts say

Broadcast | May 14, 2010

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