Britain is about to become perhaps the world’s most advanced nation in
moving its TV networks online.
‘Click and watch’ technology and free instant access with no complicated software or file downloads is what ITV.com will offer as it beats the BBC, and the rest of the world, to the punch with a new Web service for delivering its current and archived video content over the Internet.
ITV, Britain’s biggest TV network, called the ITV.com service ‘the most comprehensive commercial Web site offered by any major broadcaster in the world.’ The service is expected to go live in a few weeks.
All four of ITV’s channels will be simulcast live over the Net. Plus, upwards of 20,000 hours of classics from the company’s archives will be made available. Users will have access to any episode that aired in the prior 30 days. There will also be user-generated content and user participation in game shows, plus other content exclusive to ITV.com. And, it’s all free, except for a few premium sports, with ads paying for the service.
The content will only be available for streaming, not downloading. Also, viewers will not be able to fast-forward through the commercials.
ITV.com, which cost ITV an estimated £20 million ($40 million) to develop, will offer live simulcasting of ITV’s four channels on the Web; a free catch-up service for the entire schedule’s prior 30 days, with the exception of Champions League soccer matches which will require payment. Channel 4’s 4oD and the BBC’s iPlayer services, by contrast, each only offer seven-day catch-ups.
ITV will also offer a ‘Best of ITV’ archive that will initially have about 1,000 hours of classic shows and expectations are that there will be about 1,500 hours by June. The archives could eventually produce as much as 20,000 hours of video entertainment once it’s all been digitized.
Additionally there will be exclusive behind-the-scenes content, special made-for-broadband productions, User-generated content and news services and interactive game shows that players can bet on.
The BBC just this week got approval from the BBC Trust to implement its iPlayer online video service, which it expects to have available by year-end. Channel 4 already has an on demand service called 4oD.
‘Today we are combining the best of TV with the best of the Web to create a service unrivalled by any other commercial broadcaster, anywhere in the world,’ said ITV executive chairman Michael Grade. ‘Some are already streaming their channels, some are providing catch-up and some building their archive, but ITV.com will provide all three.’
Grade told UK journalists that the company expects ITV.com to break even by about 2009. ITV said it would make money by inserting unskippable ads at the beginning of its shows and by using clickable video ads. There’ll also be show sponsorship and banner ads.
He also said the company will not depend on a third party such as Apple and its iTunes or Joost to distribute its content. The ITV.com service, Grade told the FT, is about maintaining control of pricing and distribution of its content. ‘ITV.com is our main Web site. We will look at opportunities to monetize content elsewhere but we are mindful of the way the music industry has developed. We are not going to make the same mistake and hand control to a third party.’
Some bad news for fans of British TV is that the programs will be ‘geographically protected’ to prevent them being viewed outside the UK. That appears short sighted at best, and yes, there are rights clearance issues, but, why be on the Net with some of the world’s best content and miss out on the 250 million to 300 million homes that now have a high-speed Internet connection?
ITV described its ‘click and watch’ technology as the industry leader. The ITV media player will be displayed prominently on every ITV.com Web page, giving viewers instant access to streaming, catch-up and the the ITV archive.
An interactive Electronic Program Guide can be customized by favorites or genres and will send out email and text reminders before the desired show airs.
A team of 40 online content editors and multimedia producers will work closely with ITV’s channel commissioners and program makers to deliver what it called the best of ITV, working across TV, broadband and mobile.
Content will be organized by genre: news, drama, entertainment, sport, lifestyle and soaps with video-rich content, first look promos and exclusive previews and interviews.
Viewers will be able to interact with the cast and crew of the soaps via live chats, behind-the-scenes interviews and on-set blogs, plus have access to never-aired scenes. ‘Celebrity Playlists’ will help viewers pick shows from the Best of ITV archive.
There will be exclusive made-for-broadband content, launching with ‘Web Lives,’ a documentary collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Roger Graef of Films of Record. ‘Web Lives’ is a new daily show with members of the public documenting their lives in a series of short three-minute episodes, providing snapshots of life on the Web.
The user-generated content service, called Uploaded, will be based around ITV News, which offers user-generated newsgathering. Anyone can become a citizen correspondent, commenting and submitting their own ‘witness’ news clips. ITV recently started allowing viewers of its popular prime-time ‘Emmerdale’ soap opera to make script suggestions and predict outcomes of various situations such the mysterious murder of a main character.
Sports
On offer in sports will be football, rugby, boxing and cycling including live Champions League, UEFA Cup, Rugby World Cup and Tour De France coverage and highlights. There’ll also be columns and punditry from major sports figures.
By combining archive footage with new audio recordings, ITV will offer some of the best game shows of the 1980s and 90s. Viewers will be able to join in with the presenters and play and win real money. Each game will cost participants 20 pence to 35 pence (40 to 60 cents). Players will purchase credits via SMS or PayPal in bundles with a value of up to £10 ($20).
Jeff Henry, director of ITV consumer, said, ‘ITV is now in a unique position among commercial broadcasters to use the Internet to support its broadcast activities.’
Grade said ITV.com will provide ‘a compelling free service to consumers and dynamic online opportunities for our advertisers.’ ITV recently acquired the social networking site Friends Reunited for £175 million ($350 million). It competes with News Corp’s MySpace, Google’s YouTube and Bebo.
ITV.com and the BBC’s iPlayer differ significantly in the way that they deliver video.The iPlayer uses peer-to-peer technology so that viewers’ PCs will be used to upload a program to others who requested the same show. That puts a load on the user’s bandwidth but lightens the load on the BBC’s servers and bandwidth.
ITV.com streams video directly from its servers to the viewer’s PC, meaning ITV will need more servers and more bandwidth.