They came. They saw. They converged.

‘They’ refers to about 270 new media, independent tv and commercial producers as well as broadcasters, government reps, and ad agency executives. The scene was the Convergencetv.com conference, August 9-10 at Toronto’s Hilton Hotel.

Convergence is all about how different content delivery systems are changing the face of broadcasting around the world. The conference, presented by Playback, featured nine interactive panel discussions led by industry leaders, with panel members focusing on issues surrounding content, copyright, technology and funding and revenue models.

Malcolm Stanley, director of interactive television at Rogers Cable, spelled out the ‘Five C’s’ of interactive programming: carriage + content + commerce + customers = convergence. The crossover between the tv set and the home computer is being closely measured by Rogers, which has feet in both ponds.

Stanley spoke to the future of interactive tv, and what the company believes its customers want. This list includes e-mail, chat and Internet access as well as customized content and video-on-demand via digital set-top boxes. Technology and licensing are currently the two major setbacks, Stanley told attendees. All the new features can’t be implemented at once, and Rogers is hesitating somewhat until it can install more capable equipment in people’s homes.

Chris Gray, general manager of Ottawa-based Artech Studios, an interactive entertainment developer, provided a visual demonstration of software that creates one look across multiple distribution platforms, including traditional TV broadcast, Internet, and gaming.

The borders separating these once disparate terrains are fast becoming invisible, exemplified by Artech’s reformatting of Scrabble, the popular board game. Artech’s interactive version incorporates video footage of contestants on a Scrabble game show with a digitally created host and graphics. Consumers can purchase these types of games on cd-roms and then go online to play and win prizes. This type of model has broadcasters seeing dollar signs, as it facilitates brand maximization across various media in one production cycle.

Meanwhile, traditional broadcasters are apprehensive that easy access to webcasting will loosen their industry stranglehold and level the playing field. Not all share that opinion: panel-member William Craig, president and ceo of beleaguered iCravetv.com, said the Internet is actually reinforcing the status quo of traditional media.

Nathon Gunn, president of Toronto-based Bitcasters, illustrated how his company is among those contributing to broadcasters’ fears. While the company has helped major entertainment players such as Disney and Miramax plan their interactive and Internet strategies, Gunn stressed how its systems will allow any start-up to become a global webcaster with the ‘My-caster’ plug-in, which works with Media 100, Apple, and Adobe technologies.

The plug-in organizes the broadcaster’s online multimedia offerings in one window. The content is locked and thus open for subscriber business as well as advertising. The ‘station builder’ option provides clients with templates for their broadcast design or the ability to create their own.

In a panel entitled ‘The Financial Models,’ Snap Media president Roma Khanna summed it up by saying, ‘Everyone’s searching for the financial model, but wait no longer – no-one has a bloody clue where financial models are today.’

But Khanna also emphasized the value of online ‘relationship marketing.’ One-on-one interaction with an audience, which simply doesn’t exist in the passive tv experience, allows the webcaster to determine exactly who its demographic is, and what it wants.

‘If you can serve them, they will buy,’ Khanna said. ‘They will watch your ads because they’re targeted to them.’

Chantal Payette, president of Whatever Media, agreed, adding, ‘The best way to look at the Internet is as an opportunity, not a threat. Take advantage of targeting.’

However, staying true to your company identity is imperative, according to Maria Hale, managing director of ChumCity Interactive. ‘Stay focused on why people have come to you in the first place.’

She pointed to the Discovery Channel as a broadcaster that is successfully maximizing Internet potential. After airing a program on sharks, for example, the broadcaster will offer the entire shark video compilation online, creating what Hale describes as, ‘a better environment where products can be sold.’ But for now, creating new brands online – as opposed to extending the core business – is perilous.

‘tv shows can sell product, but to actually be a store online, you have to be a store, which is a full-time job,’ said Khanna. ‘As a producer, I must think contextually. Where am I going to add value to my audience?’

For example, for the July Molson Indy in Toronto, Global developed a site with Molson to provide enhanced coverage, with lead-up material including maps of the race track, weather updates and beer tent information. The partners then approached the same companies advertising at the event to be included on the web platform as well.

Likewise, Globaltv.com, which has launched five new websites in the past six months, is basically another outlet for Global tv’s existing news team. However, the online service files content as it’s being developed for tv broadcast, offering a more immediate user resource.

‘Cross-promotion is a perfect example of convergence,’ said Lucie Lalumiere, director new media partnering, cbc. Partnering with sponsors is key to funding, she added.

According to Lalumiere, cbc’s Street Cents website, the Internet component of the tv program that helps youth make consumer decisions, is funded almost entirely by partners with whom the cbc works on related initiatives, such as outreach programs.

One audience member asked how a broadcaster can deliver pure and truthful content when it has a corporate partner.

‘We partner with companies who want to promote image as opposed to product [such as bankers’ associations],’ Lalumiere responded. ‘Partners provide funding to cover costs of the show and the site, not the selling of products.’

Marketing online to young people for a direct revenue stream can be tricky, however.

‘Kids don’t have credit cards,’ said Hale, pointing out that series such as cbc’s Drop the Beat and stations such as MuchMusic have an added challenge when it comes to e-commerce because of their demographic.

The usual suspects – licensing, revenue sharing, advertising, sponsorship, e-commerce and infinite combinations thereof – were analyzed by the panel, but still there remains, as Payette said, ‘No solution of the perfect financial model.’

Stirring the pot

Certainly one of the liveliest panels was ‘Content Acquisition, Licensing & Copyright Protection,’ mostly because iCravetv.com’s Craig was sitting alongside Stephen Tapp, who is the vp & gm, Citytv & ChumCity International, one of several over-the-air broadcasters who filed a lawsuit against iCrave for broadcasting Chum’s programs on the Internet.

The maverick Craig put forward his vision of convergence, which involves distributing the television signal via the home computer as well as other home appliances, even refrigerators. While he agrees rightsholders should be paid for the use of their content, the major hurdle is discerning exactly who that rights holder is.

In evaluating the type of content streamed on the web by companies such as Yahoo’s Broadcast.com (Yahoo! Canada’s managing director Mark Rubinstein sat on the same panel), Craig said there was little of substance – because of the copyright conundrum.

While Craig lent some additional edge to the proceedings, his lament that the Internet, like tv, remains dominated by the big broadcasters was confusing considering iCrave simply transposed the maligned ‘old structure’ to another medium. *