Social TV functions don’t change broadcast signal: Mainville-Neeson

The CRTC should back off its demand that broadcast distributors apply for the commission’s approval to run social media functions on top of traditional TV programming, Ann Mainville-Neeson, Telus Corp.’s director of broadcast regulations, said in an interview. In a July 20 decision on the carriage dispute between BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media and a consortium of independent broadcast distributors, the CRTC said sections of each party’s arbitration offers were “inconsistent” with section 7 of the federal broadcasting distribution regulations, which bars distributors from altering “the content or format of a programming service.” Mainville-Neeson told The Wire Report on Wednesday that this section of the commission’s decision was in reference to Telus’ request to offer “customized viewing experiences” for users, such as social media functions that run on users’ TVs alongside, or on top of, television programming. She said those features, some of which Telus has offered for more than a year, are user-controlled and should not be seen as conflicting with the broadcast distribution regulations. She added that the features do not interfere with the programming signal, but instead run simultaneously alongside the unaltered signal. “We’re already in market with these features, we already have Facebook TV, we already have Twitter TV,” Mainville-Neeson said. “We’re actually displaying different things on the screen, but not hiding any of the signal and we’re certainly not altering any of the signal.” At the time of its decision, the CRTC ordered the distributors—which include Telus, Bragg Communications Inc., the more than 100 members of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), Cogeco Cable Inc., and MTS Inc.—to apply for new licence conditions that would bring them “into compliance” with the regulations. Mainville-Neeson said Telus will file documents with the commission this week to object to this demand. She said broadcast distributors should be permitted to offer the features without having to obtain special regulatory approval, as they have been doing “for years” with program guides that can also run alongside broadcast signals. “The commission has never raised any issue with respect to electronic programming guides all these years,” she said. “So I think there’s some confusion that we hope to clarify in the submission that we’re going to file this week.” In a July 20 interview, Kevin Crull, president of Bell Media, said he applauded the commission’s decision to take a closer look at the type of “screen pull-back” features Telus was offering. He said Bell would like to see the commission hold a hearing to establish new rules for broadcast distributors who want to use these types of features. “As technology is enabling, especially IPTV providers, to do some more innovative things on the screen, I think the commission has recognized that as an industry we need to have a discussion about what’s going to be appropriate,” he said. “We think that technology is advancing rapidly and that we should have a discussion as an industry as to how to innovate, but also how to preserve the integrity of the broadcast signal.” Mainville-Neeson said the ability to offer social media functions is “absolutely crucial” to broadcast distributors and to the “entire broadcasting system” in order to keep subscribers satisfied. “This is what consumers want,” she said. “They’ve gotten used to the browsing experience on computers, and that’s what they want to reflect in all of the platforms on which they watch content, whether it’s their tablet or their big screen TV.” She said many of the features Telus offers through its Optik TV service are similar to those available through Internet-ready television sets, but offer a greater ease of use and accessibility. “A lot of the stuff that we’ve been offering, are no different than what is already available in consumer electronics,” she said. Laurent Maisonnave, founder of the Montreal-based social TV monitoring service, Seevibes, said consumers are increasingly turning to second devices to access social media while watching TV. “The way to engage the TV audience is to use a second screen, and not the first screen, the TV set,” he said in an interview Wednesday. Maisonnave said many users are hesitant to access their private social networking accounts on television screens due to the lack of privacy. He said this concern is heightened since many people watch TV with their family or friends, and are hesitant to open their Facebook or Twitter account on a large screen where everyone can see their account and private messages. “I don’t want to share my personal messages on the TV set with my wife or my daughter,” he said. Maisonnave said tablets, in particular, were quickly gaining in popularity as a second-screen option for accessing social networking sites while watching TV. He said Seevibes has calculated that as much as 3 per cent of all social networking posts about Canadian TV programs were posted using a tablet device in June, up from just 1.5 per cent in December. He said he expects this phenomenon to accelerate in the years to come. “The tablet is really booming,” he said. “In the future, if you are going to provide a richer experience for TV viewers, tablets will be the main screen to do it.” nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Social TV functions don’t change broadcast signal: Mainville-Neeson

Broadcast | August 15, 2012

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Social TV functions don’t change broadcast signal: Mainville-Neeson

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