Rivals must collaborate on ‘TV everywhere’ offerings: Bell exec

As Canadian television providers have rolled out their TV-everywhere strategies, aimed at fighting off over-the-top (OTT) competition by making content easier to access online, customers can be forgiven if they’re left somewhat confused. Companies like Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc., for instance, have separate names for different services that allow their customers to watch TV through their wireless devices, on their computers, and through numerous apps and websites offered by their media subsidiaries — plus growing amounts of video-on-demand content available through their set-top boxes. Television providers are banking on these services being key to keeping customers in the paid-TV system. In order to do that, they have work to do to ensure customers understand a system that’s — right now at least — much more complicated than picking up a remote and finding a channel to watch. “There’s definitely customer confusion,” David Purdy, senior vice-president of content at Rogers, said in a phone interview. “We’re definitely aware of it, and we’re definitely working really hard to streamline our offerings, harmonize them, make them simpler and easier for customers to sign up for, register and use.” Rogers offers an Anyplace TV smartphone app, which features live TV and on-demand content for its wireless customers. It also has an Anytime TV service on its website, which makes on-demand content and live sports available for other devices, such as desktop computers. Some of that programming is available to non-Rogers customers, though much of it is only for Rogers cable customers. As well, subscribers to other Rogers services can access some programming not available to the general public. Rogers’ media division also offers content through specialized services, such as its City TV app. Purdy said, initially, the content the company made available through its media division was from its over-the-air stations and didn’t require authentication to prove that one subscribes to that channel through a service provider. That will change for content from its specialty channels, he said, which the company is planning to make available on an authenticated basis. “I think increasingly what you’ll see as we go into our specialty channels is more authentication, the reason being that those channels are supported by both advertising and subscription,” Purdy said. “If you want to watch the Blue Jays game or you want to watch other sporting events, it’s important that we authenticate those customers to either a cable, satellite or IPTV subscription.” Other companies have also been launching their TV-everywhere strategies. Shaw Communications Inc.’s media division has released channel-specific apps and websites through its Shaw Go services. While users can view content on the websites and apps of services like Global Go and History Go without logging in, “authentication is necessary to view the full library of content, and to get the most out of the app and subsequent website,” a company spokesperson said in an email. Some of those apps, such as Global Go, will also authenticate non-Shaw customers (including those who subscribe to services offered by Rogers, Cogeco Cable Inc., Telus Corp. and Eastlink). Bell has set up its TV-everywhere offerings in a similar way to Rogers. Its Bell TV app allows TV and mobile customers to access live and on-demand TV content on mobile devices, while its Bell TV Online service allows its television subscribers to access on-demand TV and movies on a computer. The company’s media division has also been rolling out channel-specific apps like CTV Go and TMN Go, which require authentication to watch at least some content. Jon Taylor, vice-president of digital products at Bell Media, said in a phone interview that while it’s still in the early stages, “all the different divisions are launching and initiating their approach to multi-platform media consumption.” He agreed that this can create “a very difficult environment for the users and the consumers, because there’s all sorts of different, great, fantastic ways to get your content, but from a confusion point of view, I think it can be high. And that’s not exclusive to Bell; that’s the industry as a whole.” Alan Breznick, a media, telecom and technology analyst at research group Heavy Reading, said companies have to streamline their offerings and make navigation easier. “Different polls that have been done that have shown that most customers actually don’t know that their service providers actually offer TV everywhere services, and even if they do, they don’t necessarily understand it,” he said. “The service providers have basically put it out there, and they promote that they have it, but it’s an education process, and it’s not nearly simple enough to navigate yet.” He said many companies are now working on making the authentication process quicker and smoother. “Authentication … is going to be something everybody has to do. Then the way they’ll differentiate themselves is who makes their authentication process the easiest, and the quickest to use,” Breznick added. Bell’s Taylor said that while “everyone’s running full-steam ahead,” and trying their own versions of TV everywhere, strategies are starting to become more cohesive. Companies have to work together to authenticate each other’s customers, he said. That’s already been happening in the case of some of the apps. For instance, customers of 15 broadcast distributors, including Cogeco, Rogers and Eastlink, can be authenticated through the app for The Movie Network, which is owned by Bell. “It involves us working with our Shaw Cable counterparts and it involves Global TV working with Bell TV and Rogers Cable to get all of their customers coordinated and authenticating into their apps,” he said. “It’s the closest you have to something that’s going to be an industry-wide initiative, which is really what it’s going to take.” Taylor predicted that soon — perhaps this year — companies will start coordinating marketing and customer education efforts. “That hasn’t happened before because we’ve ultimately just been competing or following our own strategies,” he said. Taylor added that the industry has been hesitant to do too much marketing before a critical mass of broadcast distributors have signed up to allow their customers to be authenticated through these apps. “Adding more is happening … and we’re transitioning to educating the consumers, and simplifying that log-in process,” he said. “And you’re going to see that in the next six to eight months, maybe.” At the same time, he said, the two types of services provided by companies like Bell and Rogers — on one hand, apps and websites launched by the broadcast distribution divisions that allow customers to watch a line up of live channels and on-demand content, and on the other, channel-specific apps and websites provided by the media divisions — can coexist. “From my perspective, comes in two flavours,” he said. “I’m not afraid of having both of those in market.” While one service replicates the kind of TV package a customer has at home, the other offers a “deeper brand experience,” and can make available additional content, like short clips and news, Taylor said. Taylor noted the two types of services are offered by divisions of companies that often have different goals and motivations. He said that the goals of TV distributors are more aligned to keeping customers from cutting the cord, while the media companies are concerned about audience size. Rogers’ Purdy added that challenges around content rights have also been a barrier to a cohesive strategy, as rights holders will often release rights separately, for example making them available for set-top VOD viewing first, then later making them available for tablets and then smartphones. “It’s an unfortunate result of people having to go through the legal clearances necessary to make that content available across all devices, and because of the negotiations, and because of the legal work involved, it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen in a uniform fashion,” he said. “Clearly, the utopian end state that we’re driving toward is that all content is available across all devices, whether you’re in the home or out of the home. That’s what we’re pushing for.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Rivals must collaborate on ‘TV everywhere’ offerings: Bell exec

Broadcast | March 26, 2014

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Rivals must collaborate on ‘TV everywhere’ offerings: Bell exec

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