Saskatoon: Nobody really knows what the ‘information highway’ is or how exactly it will affect television, but people in the business ignore it at their peril.

That was the warning to delegates at CanPro ’94 from David Ellis of Toronto’s Omnia Communications. And while he couldn’t provide a detailed road map for them, he did give some idea of the tolls, potholes and signposts awaiting them.

There are changes taking place that radically alter how viewers use a television set,’ he said. That, in turn, means programmers will have to shift gears as to how they offer the product.

One of the first things, he told delegates, is to stop thinking of an audience as being made up of ‘viewers’ and instead think of them as media consumers who are spending their time and money on many things, including watching television.

‘Free television in Canada is dead. Eighty percent (of households) pay to watch tv, in the form of cable.’

That trend will only continue, as free over-air networks begin charging, Ellis said.

The television industry must also face the 500-channel future. Scheduling and channels will disappear. Providing people with choices and control will be what pays, according to Ellis. Viewers will also need ‘navigation tools’ to find their way in the channel maze. Instead of searching by channel, they will select by subject – westerns, sci-fi, or shows featuring a particular star.

While the television industry has that to contend with, there’s another, bigger threat – ‘standalone products’ like cd-rom, video games and vcrs, said Ellis. Consumers will be able to choose what they want to watch when they want to watch it or they may choose to use one of the standalone products.

These options concern the television industry, but they’re also worrying the lifeblood of the industry, the advertisers.

‘The advertising community is very nervous, but there’s no way advertising will disappear. What’s going to happen is the industry will go through wrenching changes. Companies won’t stop advertising but they’ll do it in a different way,’ Ellis said.

Viewers might pay more for a service without commercials, or advertisers might reward or pay consumers to watch their commercials.

Where this leaves local market television isn’t clear, but there will be a place for it, Ellis said.

‘You’ll be a very big part of television in the future, but you may get to people in a different way.

While some stations are trying to decipher just what that way may be and what the information highway means, others are speeding onto it.

One of them is city-tv Edmonton. It offers an interactive news service which allows viewers who want longer versions of news stories to call them up using their remote control. There are also interactive game shows and sporting events.

‘I think there are a lot of opportunities for people, but you have to be willing to change,’ said Nic Wry, city vice-president of business affairs. ‘If you’re unwilling to change, you’re in serious trouble.’