Intellectual property – how to pay for it, how to protect it online. This hot subject once again generated the most sparks at the Convergence – iTV & Beyond conference, held Aug. 13-14 in Toronto.

Last year, William Craig, president and CEO, iCravetv.com, was the man on the hot seat, while this time it was Farrel Miller, CEO, JumpTV.

Miller defended the initiatives of JumpTV Canada, which seeks to webcast networks available over-the-air in Canada (ABC, CBC, CBS, CTV, Fox, Global and NBC) without their permission.

Miller has taken JumpTV’s case to the Copyright Board of Canada, hoping to get the go-ahead by agreeing to pay 2% to 3% tariffs to broadcasters for retransmitting their signals, as would be the case for a cable company that retransmits traditional broadcasts. He said industry regulations should be technologically neutral and that the basic difference between JumpTV and cable is its business model: instead of charging a subscription fee, JumpTV would sell banner ads around the webcast.

‘I think the vast majority of Canadians would like to have the option of watching broadcast television on their computers,’ Miller said. ‘It would mean more eyeballs for [broadcasters] and increased advertising, so where’s the harm?’

According to Erica Redler, general counsel at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the harm is in the idea ‘that program owners would lose the right to authorize or not authorize streaming of their product. We’re not against technology or its possibilities.’

Fellow panelist Stephen Stohn also disagreed with Miller. Stohn comes to the discussion from various angles, being Epitome Pictures’ executive producer on the forthcoming Degrassi: The Next Generation, as well as partner in entertainment law firm Stohn Abramovitch and lobbyist for copyright law reform. He likened this movement away from a subscription model to eliminating admission fees at movie theatres.

‘For the first nanosecond, people might say they would want movies for free, but with no revenue, nothing would be produced,’ he said. ‘There would be no Titanics or Terminators.’

The panel also focused on ‘spillover,’ meaning that as much as JumpTV would endeavor to contain its retransmissions in Canada, there would be some Web visitors, particularly in the U.S., who could pick up the webcasts, putting JumpTV in the position where it would potentially run afoul of U.S. broadcast laws.

Redler expressed skepticism about Miller’s earlier assertions that JumpTV had a system in the works that could stop its signal at the border to a 97% degree of efficiency.

‘I say, ‘Show me the system!’ ‘ Redler said. ‘I have to ask Farrel why he’s on a panel here and not in Silicon Valley selling this system for millions.’

Miller countered that JumpTV has in fact partnered to this end with Silicon Valley-based Quova, a leader in developing geographic screening systems for the Internet.

Jay Kerr-Wilson, legal counsel at the Canadian Cable Television Association, said his organization does not feel threatened by what JumpTV is trying to do.

‘It’s a rights holders’ issue,’ he said. ‘Cable companies aren’t doing Internet retransmission now and don’t see ourselves doing it in the future. We do the same thing they do, but do it better on a bigger screen with a stronger signal and no banner ads.’

Cautious optimism

The overall mood displayed in the conference’s various panels was one of cautious optimism. This is in marked contrast to last year, when the residual effects of the dot-com stock market collapse had not been entirely felt.

This year’s conference focused less on the start-ups and more on what companies with brands solidly entrenched in traditional broadcast can do in new media.

The keynote address was delivered by Karen Lennon, CEO of Atlanta-based Beyond Z Interactive Media, which works to enhance TV brands with iTV components. She hammered home the point that interactive television is fast approaching, as illustrated by media platform consolidation, such as the case of AOL Time Warner, and the availability of ATT Broadband in the U.S. She pointed out that iTV is already being embraced in Europe, particularly in the U.K., where the projected take rate of iTV services is 40% by year’s end.

In a session entitled ‘The European Benchmark: Where are they and where are we?’ Tim Larcombe, regional president iTV, North America, Agency.com, suggested taking these figures with a grain of salt.

‘iTV is media, and media is a cultural phenomenon,’ said Larcombe, who was born in the U.K. and has worked in iTV throughout Europe. ‘Habits of North Americans are different from habits of Europeans.’ Larcombe suggested that Canadians should certainly learn from the example of overseas iTV, yet work on developing content best suited to the needs of its own consumers. He added that North America is actually superior to Europe in some regards, such as earning revenue from media, which represents the major reason for North American hesitation toward iTV.

Michael McEwen, president of the Canadian Digital Television Association, quoted statistics that in Europe, gaming, with a pay-per-play model, represents 90% of the revenue generated through set-top box content delivery, with more games being played over iTV than through the Internet. Panelists agreed that news and weather programming was also well suited to having audience members ‘point and click’ for additional info.

But how will interactivity impact dramatic programming, beyond the availability of video-on-demand and personal video recorder services? Epitome’s Stohn was skeptical, which is surprising considering Degrassi: The Next Generation will be CTV’s first show to try out interactive technology and the large push behind the program’s website, developed with Toronto’s Snap Media.

‘For drama, interactive may not be the ideal, but we’re hedging our bets,’ he said.

Lennon suggested the industry brace itself for the rise of the ‘Digital Generation,’ the children of the Baby Boomers, who are roughly 75% digitally enabled. The keys to maximizing the potential of these customers, she said, lies in educating them about what they’re buying with iTV, and providing content that is compelling enough for them to want to buy it.

The first step is to get people to subscribe to digital cable services, as statistics suggest that 80% of those subscribers are receptive to iTV. In Canada, 14% of Rogers’ subscribers and 20% of Shaw’s are broadband users, ready technically for enhanced iTV services.

McEwen suggests Canadian producers, broadcasters and cable operators employ an entrepreneurial approach with regards to iTV.

‘We’ve got to start investing in this technology,’ he said. ‘Microsoft [and other companies south of the border are] investing a lot of money in this. When iTV starts in the U.S., it will be full of American content. Canadians know how to do it – we just have to go ahead and do it.’

Global TV got conference-goers’ attention with the demonstration of Canada’s first digital terrestrial signal transmission, sent from the CN Tower in collaboration with the Interactive Broadcast Development Group at Ryerson Polytechnic University and CDTV. The Global iTV News prototype will allow viewers to communicate with Global through VOD, content personalization, targeted t-Commerce, chat and delivery to wireless devices. It also presents another challenge to the cable companies in the ever-changing digital landscape.

-www.convergence-tv.com

-www.jumptv.com

-www.ccta.ca

-www.cab-acr.ca

-www.beyondz.com

-www.agency.com

-www.cdtv.ca

-www.ibdg.ca