Marketing Director

Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts

The State of WebTV in Canada, Part II: In the Trenches

Newcomers take aim at the incumbents
I've always been a huge enthusiast for WebTV: television programming that can be watched/streamed on demand through the internet. I haven't had cable TV for more than 2 years. I know some of you are saying wow while the rest are saying that you have never had cable or that you never watch TV; you my friends have already won. For everyone else in Canada there is a different reality.

If you never watch TV and you are still reading this post I salute you! I've spoken previously about the big three network holders in Canada: Rogers, Bell and Telus affectionately known at Rogebellus by some. Others add regional players Shaw (West) and Quebecor (East). This is the reality. It is not a problem. These organizations exist the way they do partly because as Canadians we built them to and we need them to or think we do.

Web television in Canada has come of age although it suffers from major flaws. Each of the Cartel members has associated content networks and broadcast channels, but they don't share; for the most part they covet and hold onto control to their detriment.
Telecommunications company Telus Corp. is urging the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission not to allow its competitors to horde the content for the exclusive use of their subscribers. The company is the only one of the major telecommunications companies that does not hold television networks as part of its assets. This year, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. bought the television network CTV, while last year, Shaw Communications Inc. purchased the television and specialty channel division of Canwest Global Communications Corp. -4.28.11 Source.
The federal broadcast regulator moved to block telecommunications companies from locking up their video content for their own wireless subscribers. -3.7.11 Source.
This is the biggest problem we are going to face in the future. In the US because of the vastness of the country and the multitude of providers this problem doesn't exist in the same way. Yes there are large content networks but they don't own all of or almost all of the means of distribution. In Canada the cartel does own those networks and they use that power to hold Canadians to the fire regularly.

Any Canadian internet connection/IP address in Canada can go onto CTV.ca, GlobalTV.com, MTV.ca or CBC.ca and watch any program that is made available on demand. Sure the quality isn't HD, the ads are incredibly repetitive and sometimes it stops working in the middle of show. On the other hand I don't have to watch 3 minutes of ads, I can watch programs whenever I want and only have to be able to access the internet to do it. This is the reality modern people want. Our lives don't dictate availability at certain hours. We are dedicated to them. If you want people to watch your content make it accessible and charge a reasonable price.

There is freedom given to the viewer by PVR, Netflix and other ways of viewing media on your own schedule. This is what iTunes, Amazon and others who are making serious gains understand: the delivery system is just as much, if not more important than the item of delivery. Most media companies have realized this and they are turning the corner but what the future holds is uncertain and none of us can predict what will happen.

In part three of this series we'll chat about the current realities and possible futures of the state web television in Canada. In light of SOPA, PIPA and Bill C-32 concerns are growing about the state of freedom on the internet and how that effects all internet users. Canada continues to exist as an experiment in telecommunications marred by challenges. I love my country. I love my Canadian telecomms. At this point I wouldn't have it any other way. Can it get better? Yes. Will it? I and many others have already given up cable and a home phone line.

It already has. 

The State of WebTV in Canada, Part I: Opening Salvos

To Americans Canada is like that cousin who lives outside the city and sadly doesn't have access to the same great things as you. In Canada we once longed for Target and TiVo now we have those 'great' things and more. Sadly the Google Chromebook is skipping us on it's initial launch in favour of more European markets. That's ok, but that's the way it is and once that's the way it was with everything. The iPhone didn't come here for at least a year after its launch in the United States. Canadians have long made trips across the southern border to acquire some of those things that aren't available in Canada. Whether it's Trader Joe's or Duty-Free liquor, which happens to be 25-50% cheaper.

This post isn't about that inequality it's about the inequality presented by our archaic, controlling, short-sighted telecommunications providers. "The Cartel" as we call them are Bell, Rogers and Telus. There are a few larger regional players (Quebecor and Shaw), but for the purposes of this post let's focus on the offerings of the big three. Many people globally have long been downloaders of content that they cannot otherwise access whether because they lack Cable TV or the content isn't available in their country. Most of these people want to pay for that content they want to ensure that those that create the things we enjoy receive funding to continue to create that content, but content distribution is the bottleneck in viewers ability to do that.

Hulu and Netflix have been creating strong digital content distribution channels in the US for years. Netflix in Canada is like dial-up internet compared to Netflix in the US which is comparatively like ultra-fast internet connections of today. Our Netflix has almost zero new content and when movies come their either from the archives are straight to DVD. Yes there are the rare high production value films in there, but it's nothing compared to what is available in the US. This is only the start of the problems presented by the current structure of the cartel's telecommunications Oligopoly in Canada. In the next part of this 3 series we'll get into the trenches on state of web TV in Canada.

In the meantime read this follow-on post from Jesse Brown: Honour among thieves: the only way to the best selection of television show and movies [in Canada] is to steal them.

Tracking a new media artifact

How was I paid by British taxpayers to be in an ad for an American bank?


Modern digital multimedia has given way to a whole new world of digital scrap-booking* and record keeping, but in a digital world where some memories are video, images, audio and text n digital form. These artifacts are then used to make great creations, presentations or web experiences. Digital hoarding* is another thing many of us do without even noticing. I started digital hoarding way back in the days of BBS* and still have the burned CDs to show for it. What about that book review I did on Amazon in 1999? It's still there, but sadly m Geocities* site from the late 90s has been tossed.

Dave Olson's podcasting talk, Fresh Media Conference 2009.
I am constantly inspired to do amazing digital scrap-booking by two friends of mine. Dave Olson* is a classic northwest storyteller: think Jack Kerouac + Hunter S Thompson + Walt Whitman, that's Dave. Rick Chung* is a classically trained web savvy journalist. Dave is more of an old school storyteller and creator. Rick has a journalism background and writes and uses photos is such an amazing way to tell real his stories.

Digital photography will ultimately change childhood as photography had previously. Now instead of a few shots of us as babies and kids; parents, relatives and the internet will already have a thorough record of our early days. When generations change their practices somethings are forgotten only to be repeated.
photo by: iciskaye. used under creative commons license.
I am referring to the great depression* and the modern great recession*; both resulted from overreaching on behalf of financial markets. Modern banking is a game of measured risk. Players act in the interest of profits and revenues. Sometimes at the expense of those they serve. This photo contrast below demonstrates how prosperity can't last forever and the only constant is constant change. In the 60s the US made the vast majority of motor vehicles sold within it's borders. Today that is no longer the case and this has effected major economic centers that once depended on the auto industry.



This is the same neighborhood. Note the square building in the lower center of both photos.
(Detroit 1961 and 2006)


Economic devastation runs deep these. So how did this happen? Think of globalization and international trade as the ultimate long term equalizer. As much as the emptiness of Detroit is a tragedy, somewhere else in the world auto workers are making cars and creating prosperous cities to support those efforts as Detroit once did.

What happened? How did this occur? We hear a lot of different things about Credit Default Swaps and Collateral Debt Obligations. If you seek answers to these questions this video is a well done explanation of the current financial situation.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized* from Jonathan Jarvis*.


Early this year I received a strange call from a representative of Charter One Bank requesting my approval for them to re-air an ad from 6 years ago, a smart and cost saving tactic. Thanks to Google I was the first one she found. I waited a few months for them to contact the others from the video and decide whether or not to proceed with re-airing the commercial. I was happy to receive a cheque in the mail for three times the amount I had originally been paid in 2004. Catch me in the blue jacket and green hat at 8 seconds.




I was part of this commercial because at the time I was a volunteer with the VON's Meals on Wheels a program that produces and delivers healthy meals. The commercial was made in Canada but for a bank in the US. The video is meant to highlight the ways the bank helps in their community as each program is something that the bank contributes to.


The commercial was created when Cleveland-based Charter One Bank* was taken over in 2004 by Citizens Financial which has been owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) since 1988. In 2010 when I received that phone call the British Government was a majority stakeholder in RBS due to bailouts in late 2008*

Billions of pounds of “toxic” sub-prime mortgages were bought by Royal Bank of Scotland traders in a spree that was not disclosed to the bank’s board. -March 2009, The Telegraph*.
Charter One was one of many banks born from the US banking system*. The realities in a 50 state nation meant that system evolved as was necessary to enable a balance between competition and stability. The Free Banking* era in the mid 1800s and the deregulation of the 1980s have helped lead to today's situation. This deregulation was dangerous in a nation where barriers to entry were low and the market increasingly unregulated.
Critics have pointed out that the federal government's attempts at deregulation granted easy credit to federally insured financial institutions, encouraging them to overextend themselves and fail. -Wikipedia*.
As the British government is a majority stakeholder in the Royal Bank of Scotland which owns Citizen Financial Group which is represented by Charter One Bank it can be inferred that I was paid by British taxpayers to appear in a commercial for an American bank. Did I really get paid by the British taxpayers to promote an American bank?


No the cheque said Charter One Bank on it. Tracking a media artifact can lead down interesting paths and should be done more often. Digital scrap-booking? What's that? It's exactly what we do everyday we use or input information into anything digital. Now the real challenge is what's better than a blog to organize that content? How will we curate our digital content? How will we allow access to it? What are your thoughts?