Content: laying it on the line

Talk about forcing the issue. On Thursday, Feb. 24, presenters and panelists at a forthright Banff/natpe seminar were debating who’s putting content online effectively, who isn’t, and whether Canadian broadcasters should be spending more time and money to do so. On Thursday, it seemed like even the Web-friendly broadcasters weren’t sure how to give it a real hug, while others expressed doubts about whether online content is, or will be, top of mind on viewers’ entertainment agenda.

Tech-talk featured prominently on the Banff/natpe agenda Thursday, too, with presenters painting rainbow-like scenarios on how to let computer users see high-quality, full-motion video online. Worthy phrases like ‘broadband technology,’ ‘MPEG-4’ and ‘content versus connectivity’ were in heavy rotation. But, again, that was Thursday. By Friday, a gale-force wind blowing in from the bitstream blasted that rainbow right on outta there: dark and early on Friday, Feb. 25, telco giant bce offered to pay $2.3 billion for ctv.

Later that morning, bce chief Jean Monty gave a tour de force presentation of the particulars in a news conference/teleconference/webcast, a minimalist metaphor for the multi-platform world ctv would enter via bce. Monty practically wore out the phrase ‘Sympatico-Lycos.’ As all and sundry have said, the AOL-Time-Warner deal made convergence reality.

No wonder the hottest commodity at the Thursday seminar was a questioner from the audience who wanted all the broadcasters on the panel to take the current wisdom and turn it on its head. Rather than letting them describe how best to move tv fare online, she wanted to know if they have any funds set aside to develop content for the Web – before it goes on tv. Her name is Roma Khanna, and what she could have asked was, ‘When are you all going to claim your piece of the fragmenting tv audience, before it’s too late? When will you see that some people want to find their entertainment on the Internet, first?’

At press time, ctv wasn’t saying whether it would say ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ to bce, but no matter what its response, the old world will no longer do. Remember the Beacon Initiative, a plan that envisaged the telcos pooling resources to create a cross-country interactive multimedia network? Released in 1994, the Beacon report predicted this network would be in place in 10 years. In 2000, we’re poised to see where the beacon shines.

But enough of this earnestness. Let’s take all of this futuristic soothsaying on online content, effective execution of content, proper controls on content and throw in a gothic little twist known as the human element. Let’s remind bce that while access to information is an enlightened concept, content in the wrong hands can be a little more libidinous than liberating. Note that wrestling fans, including some kids, were happily watching pay-per-view wrestling recently on the big screen in several Canadian cinemas when, oopsydaisy, look, ma, it’s porn. Seems someone handling the controls for the wrestling feed at satellite service Bell ExpressVu accidentally patched its adult entertainment channel, Venus, in place of the wrestling feed. Not for too long, or anything, but long enough so that horrified parents were scrambling madly to cover junior’s eyes lest he be exposed to an unsolicited lesson in, well, you get the picture.

And every liberating image came complete with digital surround sound, so to speak.