There are a few Canadian broadcasters out there wondering if the program for Broadcasting 2000, this year’s Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention, has anything to do with television and radio.

That’s because most of this year’s sessions (entitled ‘platforms’) are heavily steeped in the i-word, interactivity, and the n-m phrase, new media.

According to cab president Michael McCabe, in planning for the 2000 event in Calgary, ‘we’ve consciously resisted any effort to have it look like any convention before this.’ One ‘platform’ sure to entice is the Dotcom Showdown, a cross between the interactive pitch competition held January past at the natpe tv market and the Market Simulations pioneered by Pat Ferns for the Banff tv fest. The showdown pits five teams of entrepreneurs against one another in a bid to land a $10,000 prize and, possibly, a broadcast partner to help them launch their interactive media projects or technology innovations.

The five finalists are: buyandsellitall.com, a Web content developer which ‘manages and maintains the backend technology and e-commerce for online classifieds’, which says its pitch will show how broadcasters can tap into what it describes as a $1.9-billion market; indie prodco Decode Entertainment will pitch THE CLICK On-line, which involves ‘new user experiences’ with wireless applications, original broadband content and online gaming’; it brains Carolyn Newman and Charly Smith will present renegadz, a teen-oriented interactive program which will deliver content to ‘television, radio, the Net and wireless devices’; STAK-ITS Toy Company will describe its model for simultaneous marketing of a cartoon series, an interactive website and merchandising based on cartoon series Mugwumps; and finally, VirtualThere, which has developed a product called NextGen Wireless, ‘a youth-focused, mobile Internet service targeting 15-30 year olds.’

The cab will advance the issues and recommendations addressed in 1999’s Future Plan via a ‘Broadcast Odyssey’ presentation from futurist Ken Goldstein focusing on hot new broadcaster-to-the-Web technology.

And, for smaller market broadcasters wondering why all this interactive hype is relevant to them, the conference will feature practical examples of how some smaller players have made interactivity work in their markets.

McCabe says the cab wants to build on awareness raised by the conference by encouraging his members to take part in a series of CAB Interactive Forums over the next year, bringing broadcasters together with new media leaders. He says the first forum will deal with such timely issues as copyright, intellectual property, Internet ads, and privacy in the online world.

Broadcast 2000 runs Nov. 12-14. *

-www.cab-acr.ca