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by Grant Robertson
The Globe and Mail
Jan 25, 2006
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Aldo Di Felice, the president of TLN Telelatino
Network Inc., has a problem any television executive would love to have
-- one of his shows has grown too popular for its time slot.
Fans of Italian Soccer Fanatics, a late-night cult hit on Sundays that
he describes as "three guys arguing about soccer highlights,"
have been begging him to move the show to another time.
"They say they have to work the next day," Mr. Di Felice says.
"But our channel is full of programming, so we can only air it
once a week -- at that time."
Until recently, there wasn't much networks like TLN could do if their
schedules were packed. But the emergence of video-on-demand (VOD) is
giving them a new outlet.
VOD, where libraries of movies are accessible around the clock on digital
cable, is moving beyond films, albeit slowly. A small group of Canadian
TV networks are testing it out as a secondary market for their programs.
But the amount of TV shows on Canadian VOD is sparse. Only a few networks,
such as CBC, A&E and MuchMusic, have entered the market with limited
offerings.
Part of the problem is that Canada's biggest networks don't own most
of the programs they carry. While CTV, Global and CHUM have the broadcast
rights for the top U.S.-produced shows, those agreements don't extend
to VOD.
So for the time being, most of the growth in Canada's on-demand market
is limited to networks that produce their own programs, or have secured
VOD deals.
Cable companies have spent millions in recent years to build the digital
infrastructure necessary to transmit vast catalogues of movies to homes
at the push of a button. This year is seen as a potential breakout period
for VOD.
The market could be worth up to $300-million in 2006, a threefold increase
from two years ago, and TV networks want to capture some of that business
by supplying cable companies with content.
TLN, owned by Corus Entertainment Inc. and aimed at Italian- and Spanish-speaking
Canadians, has started with films and plans to have soccer matches and
other programs available, provided the rights can be secured. The Fanatics
will also make their way to VOD.
"We're going to branch out," Mr. Di Felice said. "I think
VOD is a fairly new thing that people are all getting used to over the
last year."
On-demand television has three models: Past episodes are offered up
free, on a pay-per-view basis of a few dollars an episode, or through
subscriptions, where viewers pay monthly fees for unlimited access to
a catalogue of shows.
One of the big unknowns for VOD is how many viewers are willing to pay
for programs they could otherwise have watched or recorded during the
original broadcast.
Still, the networks have little choice but to pursue on-demand programming.
The tradition of scheduled viewing has been eroded by satellite and
digital cable, which allow viewers to traverse time zones, and the emergence
of downloadable programs.
"It's being driven by what we call ATP -- acute time poverty,"
says Kaan Yigit, a media analyst at Solutions Research Group in Toronto.
"People are busy, they don't always have time to sit down and watch
a show when it's scheduled."
Some of TV's most popular shows have made their way into the downloadable
market already and more are expected to follow. Walt Disney Co. shook
up the industry last fall when it made Desperate Housewives and Lost
available for purchase on the Internet. Observers consider it a matter
of time before deals are struck to make catalogues of U.S. hit shows
accessible on VOD here.
TV's leap into the on-demand world in Canada has so far been led by
children's programming, mostly because the rights are owned by the networks.
Corus has made shows from its Treehouse channel available on free VOD
packages, while the YTV network has a subscription service.
Like CHUM, Corus wants to exploit the content from several of its specialty
channels, which include the CMT and W networks.
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