I see that CTV has recently launched a user-generated-content website. My News (mynews.ctv.ca) is an invitation to upload whatever news you happen to video with your phone or digital camera in the hopes that it is picked up by the CTV news desk, either for CTV’s main news website or the TV network proper.

What, are they trying to turn us all into Abraham Zapruder hopefuls?

In case you’re not a conspiracy theorist or John F. Kennedy nut (I’m almost certain that you can be one without the other), Zapruder was the fellow with the film camera near the grassy knoll in Dallas who, by incredible chance, captured the Kennedy assassination on film.

Technology has come a long way since then. If anyone were to fire upon a presidential motorcade today (never mind that the commander-in-chief nowadays is untouchable behind bullet-proof glass) the cell-phone- and digital-camera-wielding paparazzi are so plentiful that there’d be enough footage to cut it together to resemble the climax of an Oliver Stone movie. Perfect for Fox. Seems you can’t even Taser a guy in an airport anymore without someone getting it on camera.

So, sure, it only makes sense that a news org would fire up a UGC website and put out a call for clips. And CTV would be the first one you’d expect it from. The network has already shown an unparalleled appetite for diving into this online business. The department’s digital media staff is 150 strong, and, between the main network and its specialties, its web presence has grown to 110 sites. It pulls down 330 million page views per month – eight million of them unique hits.

CTV is also pulling far ahead of the others in the very sticky field of foreign online rights, most recently with a Disney-ABC deal allowing the network to make available full episodes of Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives on broadband. That’s on top of 100-plus hours of programming already available, including Nip/Tuck, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Robson Arms, Instant Star, eTalk, Whistler, CTV National News, TMZ and W-FIVE. All of these are geo-gated and many are advertiser-supported, typically with a Duracell or Volkswagen pre-roll before you get to the good stuff.

‘I think that it comes down to responsible experimentation,’ says Stephan Argent, VP digital media for CTV. ‘We have to be at the forefront to try new things to see what works, but it has do be done responsibly. We don’t want to just throw things at the wall and see what’s going to stick.’

CTV is not unique in making domestic and foreign content available on broadband, but it looks to be the one that’s most on the ball when it comes to business models.

CBC airs snippets of a number of its own shows – much of it newsmagazine stuff such as The Hour. The pubcaster does run full episodes of Coronation Street online, which would be a great draw. You know how dedicated Corrie fans are. But there is very little advertising – even Coronation Street has only the skimpiest of ad banners above it (makes me wonder if the pubcaster wants to make money online).

Global’s site, meanwhile, offers a much more modest slate, including full episodes of The Guard and Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites, both with pre-rolls. And while there are no complete episodes of fare such as ‘da Kink in My Hair, there are a series of promotional videos. Thing is, you have to sit through pre-rolls to get to them. Not quite clear on the concept, I’d say.

Back on the UGC front, CTV has several cards up its sleeve beyond MyNews, including Canadian Idol Last Chance Online Auditions, Your Call TSN and MTV Playlist.

‘The number-one goal was to create a better experience for users,’ Argent says of the network’s digital media strategy. ‘Once you create a better experience for users, you get more users, and the bigger audience you have, you create a better business model.’

And while he speaks of user control as a key point of CTV’s strategy, I do wonder about what this newsgathering call to arms does to people’s psyches.

There’s probably a generation of kids out there now, cell phones and cameras always at the ready, in hopes of being the one to get an exclusive on history in the making. This newest shortcut to fame – there is no fortune, as CTV has said nothing of the filthy lucre involved – is even cheaper to produce than reality TV. No ridicule, no karaoke. No personal trainers or insect eating. All it costs is some memory and battery power. Don’t seem right.

Thing is, big news happens too abstractly to capture on the fly, or so very rarely that a cell phone-wielding newshound would be better off to buy a lottery ticket.

In the meantime, if you check out MyNews, you’ll see a lot of fires. Here’s hoping they’re not being fanned by the videographers.