If the buzz out of MIPCOM is any indication, the long-hyped potential of wireless for the broadcasting community is fast becoming reality. And broadcaster CHUM, in collaboration with QuickPlay Media and Rogers Wireless, is at the vanguard.

CHUM turned to new Toronto interactive company QuickPlay to repurpose content from its MuchMusic station for delivery on a mobile phone dubbed the MuchMusic Edition Pay-As-You-Go Phone from Rogers Wireless. MuchMusic offers mobile customers preloaded graphics, ringtones and games, and exclusive content for those who sign up for the MuchPhone package. Content includes video downloads accessed from MuchMusicEdition HQ, hosted by QuickPlay.

Heading up the broadcaster’s wireless initiative is Roma Khanna, who last year left Toronto interactive firm Snap Media to work on the client side as VP CHUM Interactive. She believes that CHUM is particularly well suited to the wireless world because of several components.

‘One is live television; another is a strong youth audience, which is an earlier adopter. They’ll suffer through a lot of experiments with you,’ she says. ‘CHUM also has a breadth of conventional and specialty channels, so you can try to reach different audiences. As well, CHUM’s always been about letting the audience in the front door, quite literally, and interactive is an extension of that.’

Immediate interactivity

Whereas MuchMusic used to solicit music video requests via fax, mobile phones now allow viewers to interact more immediately. They can text message poll responses and commentary that can be incorporated into the channel’s programs. MuchPhone holders can also directly text message other subscribers in a sort of wireless chat line.

Specialty channels have narrow demographics – Much’s is 13 to 24, with its core audience 18 to 24. A highly targeted audience makes specialties conducive to the mobile experience, Khanna notes. Whereas consumer TVs and computers are often shared in family rooms, mobile phones are owned by individual members, and therefore are ideal for the kind of personalization the MuchPhone offers. After all, what kid wouldn’t want a ringtone that has on-air Much personality George Stroumboulopoulos announcing, ‘Hey dude, your phone is ringing’?

As broadcasters fight desperately for eyeballs in an increasingly fractured landscape, wireless sees them going after what untapped audience time still remains.

‘We’ve got audience members for the lean-back experience of TV, and we’re keeping them within the brand for the lean-forward experience of the computer [through CHUM’s station websites],’ Khanna says. ‘Now we’re saying, ‘And by the way, for that mobile experience – when you’re standing up and moving – you can also connect with us and our content.’

Obviously, with the MuchPhone’s bandwidth limitations and a screen 1 1/4′ x 1 1/2′, QuickPlay and MuchMusic had to prepare content appropriate for the delivery device. News information usually travels best on a mobile, and so the handsets provide customers with the latest on concerts, albums, artists and program updates. Video might include two minutes culled from a Much program – such as clips from various interviews with Britney Spears.

Other broadcasters out there are saying, ‘Show me the money!’

‘Unlike the Internet, where media industries have always struggled with issues of content, control and billing, [a mobile phone] is a personal device. It has a built-in billing system and the expectation of billing. Nobody really expects that they won’t get charged for getting stuff on their phone,’ Khanna explains. The pay-as-you-go revenue is shared among CHUM, QuickPlay, rights holders and carrier Rogers.

QuickPlay is also packaging and distributing video clips for Rogers Wireless’ new Video Messaging phones. The content is repurposed from MuchMusic and other CHUM brands Star!TV and Fashion Television, and includes movie trailers, music videos and celebrity interviews, such as a 15-second clip of Eminem commenting on creativity.

QuickPlay sees the future of wireless video extending far beyond the youth demographic. To them, it is the logical next step for people who depend on their mobiles for text information.

‘For an executive who is interested in keeping track of, say, a new ruling from the FCC and wants to get an immediate update, multimedia is really just enriching the whole experience,’ says Mark Farmer, QuickPlay’s director strategic marketing.

While 11.6 million Canadians (42.9% of people aged 12+) currently own cell phones, according to the Print Measurement Bureau, QuickPlay’s research indicates that by 2008, 16 million Canucks will subscribe to video-enabled handsets.

‘That’s a pretty rapid penetration rate. Think of how long it took for televisions to make it into the home,’ Farmer says.

Principals in QuickPlay include Raja Khanna, president of Snap Media and Roma’s brother, and Wayne Purboo. CHUM’s Khanna says that in awarding the MuchPhone gig, she was careful about mixing business with family.

‘[QuickPlay] made sense,’ she explains. ‘We had them come in and do a full pitch session for eight or nine interactive executives.’

QuickPlay has also been in talks with CBC for a wireless collaboration.

The MuchPhone is available through Rogers’ stores and website and at the ChumCity Store at Toronto’s CHUM Television building. The phone packages are available on the Motorola V551 (which is video enabled) and Nokia 6010 models. The MuchPhone went to market on Nov. 9, and Khanna says that after three days, the number of registrants for the service numbered in the hundreds. Rogers Wireless launched its new Video Messaging service on the same day. *

-www.chumlimited.com

-www.rogers.com

-www.quickplaymedia.com