The recent ruling by the CRTC exempting mobile television services from regulation promises to provide plenty of fodder for the panels and addresses at the Playback Mobile Forum, May 11 at the York Event Theatre in Toronto.

Claude Galipeau, Alliance Atlantis Communications’ SVP digital media, expects the CRTC’s decision will lead to much debate, as he feels the ruling is both ‘exciting and challenging’ for the fledgling Canadian industry.

‘One of the challenges facing Canada right now is that there is an insufficient amount of Canadian content, especially entertainment content,’ says Galipeau. ‘I think broadcasters are well-positioned to promote mobile content, as well as commission it. It will be a question of how Canadian players position themselves in an environment where the interface is owned by distributors in an unregulated manner – where carriage rules and Canadian content rules are not in place.’

Although a big development, the ruling is just one of several issues facing the Canadian production and broadcasting industries with regards to mobile, a content platform that has exploded in the past year in this country, but remains behind the level of progress in other international territories.

According to Peter Vamos, Playback’s publisher, the time is ripe for a summit about mobile content in Canada.

‘Every jurisdiction that has a major production infrastructure is paying attention to this area,’ says Vamos. ‘When you go to the NATPEs and the MIPCOMs, they are devoting entire days to mobile, but there is no one doing something exactly focused on mobile content from a production perspective.’

Galipeau – who recently joined AAC from CBC, where he headed up the mobile side of the pubcaster’s Winter Olympics coverage – will be part of the Rights: Negotiate the Best Deal panel at the Forum, along with lawyer Casey Chisick and Jonathon Millman, director of the interactive department at Decode Entertainment. It is a topic other Forum speakers, including marblemedia partner Matt Hornburg, are eager to hear discussed.

‘When you go to a broadcaster and pitch a show, they try to gobble up all of the other rights,’ says Hornburg. ‘For us, because we have an interactive division, a big part of what we want to do is think up innovative ways to exploit those rights.’

Hornburg, who has been consulting with the CFTPA about mobile rights issues, will be speaking about financing mobile content, using as case studies Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction – a series of short films produced for mobile platforms with the National Film Board and Bravo!FACT – and Contxt, a marblemedia development project with House of Blues and the Stratford Festival Theatre, whereby users will be able to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content via their cell phones.

‘[The panel] will be looking at how producers can finance their mobile content… how we’ve done it and different revenue models,’ Hornburg says.

Mark Farmer, director of marketing at QuickPlay Media, will be present on the State of the Market panel, which, he says, will look at what kinds of content mobile users are accessing, user behavior, and whether the mobile platform is something that can realistically compete with TV. QuickPlay recently helped VH1 launch an application known as Pocket VH1 that integrates text, images and video related to most VH1 programming on viewers’ cell phones. The application will officially launch on Sprint within the next month or so.

Farmer also anticipates discussion about how to grab the attention of people outside of the early mobile adopter demographic – generally males, 15 to 21 – who still only use their cell phones for phone calls.

‘With the networks being fast enough and phones being good enough, the possibilities exist to produce a more immersive experience that will be more relative to a larger market,’ says Farmer. ‘We, as an industry, need to focus on how to break through the 10% [penetration] barrier to hopefully 30% or 50% who are doing more with their phones.’

Andrew Lippman, a research scientist and professor at MIT Media Laboratory, will deliver the Forum keynote. According to Vamos, Lippman predicted the rise of cable in the 1980s.

‘Now he’s developing theories on where broadcasting is heading with the advent of podcasting and mobile content,’ says Vamos.

Jeffrey Elliot, president and CEO of interactive digital channel Bite TV, who will be sitting on the Made for Mobile: Programming for the Tiny Screen panel, says he is looking forward to getting an idea of where, overall, the Canadian mobile industry stands.

‘Mobile is a cornerstone of our business,’ says Elliot, whose Bite posts viewer text messages during its primetime programming, among other mobile-related features. ‘It is very early in the mobile days, and the more you get groups together talking about common issues, the better the industry will be in the end.’

Vamos says nearly 170 delegates have registered for the Mobile Forum, and expects that number to exceed 200.

www.playbackmag.com/mobileforum/2006