Looking to fill a market niche with new digital technologies not readily available at traditional commercial post houses, torontostartv.com, a two-year-old spin-off of infomercial network Toronto Star TV is hoping to capture some of Canada’s post-production business.

torontostartv.com is offering digital encoding, Net broadcasts and live webcasting, an ORAD Cyberset ‘O’ system along with digital production and post-production services.

‘We’d definitely like to chew off a bigger piece of the commercial industry,’ says Heather Brunt, torontostartv.com’s operations manager. ‘Given the fact we’re a commercial channel, that was our natural in.’

Brunt explains torontostartv.com has done full production on ‘lower-budget commercials,’ including six ‘graphically oriented’ spots for Z103, a Sudbury, ON radio station. However, she makes it clear the company’s strength is in digital post.

‘We’re not The Partners’ Film Company,’ she says. ‘So when we’re talking about taking a commercial from beginning to end, we’re not talking about location scouts and shooting on film. When you’re looking for a place to offline, or if you’re shooting on video, we’re the place to consider.’

Toronto Star TV, which went to air in October 1997, has been steadily building its post-production capacity since its launch and has grown from four employees to 50 over that time. Last year, torontostartv.com did post-production on approximately a dozen spots, and hopes to double that figure this year.

On top of Avid and Jaleo nonlinear editing suites, and 2D and 3D graphics and animation facilities, torontostartv.com’s most unusual offerings are its broadband services and Cyberset.

Brian Magee, broadband sales manager at torontostartv.com, gets excited when talking about the new and ever-developing potential applications for online advertising. ‘We can come up with different viewpoints on where to take a commercial. By developing online parts to it, we can extend an advertising campaign over a longer period of time,’ he says.

torontostartv.com hopes to offer more and more interactive spot services as the new commercial medium develops.

torontostartv.com’s broadband services also include a built-in online approval system with high-end streaming and encoding standards. ‘Clients, wherever they may be, can access, go in, add notes and put in any changes. It’s excellent for multiple approvals,’ says Magee.

The ORAD Cyberset ‘O’ system (a virtual studio allowing 2D or 3D graphic sets complete with interactive objects and streaming video), while inspiring to infomercial-makers and host-based, long-form programming folk, does not have a commercial application so immediately apparent.

However, torontostartv.com’s studio supervisor, Hilary Doherty, suggests the Cyberset is an ideal technology for test spots, before agencies ‘actually get to the point where they drop their million-dollar budget.’

Another strength, says torontostartv.com’s director of program development, Rekha Shah, is the diverse backgrounds of the company’s employees. ‘We have people from broadcast, radio, post, Internet and new media. We have people with an on-air background. And a lot of producers, as well.’

Shah feels the mix enhances the network’s ‘ability to work as a team and understand what our clients’ needs are.’

-www.torontostartv.com