Canadian OTT startup looks to take on the world

An emerging Canadian provider of over-the-top (OTT) video content hopes that reaching viewers around the world, and particularly those with very specific interests, translates into keys to success in the fast-changing television market. TableRock Media, based in Toronto with less than 10 employees, announced this month it will launch three online video subscriptions services in the new year — covering guitars, aviation and motorcycles — for worldwide distribution. Asked why it is targeting the whole world right off the bat, TableRock CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Elliott said in a phone interview: "Because the world's huge. People like to play guitars all around the world and they like to ride motorcycles all around the world and they fly all over the world. "I did run three television stations before and I also worked at TSN for a decade; you were always limited by your programming and your programming rights. You were limited by your licences because it was a regulated environment, not only here but in other countries around the world." Elliott said that for OTT distribution "all those barriers have been removed and now you have the opportunity to create content and distribute content globally, and there are literally no barriers." He said about 80 per cent of the content on these channels will be produced originally for TableRock, with the rest acquired. He said this makes the process for distributing its content globally relatively easy. He noted that the company can do what it wants with its own programming. For acquired content, he said conditions for where it can be shown should be fairly flexible in most cases since the company will deal with independent producers rather than major studios. Still, he said there could be some geographical limitations for some of programming purchased. Elliott said only English-language content will be offered initially. Gregory Taylor, an assistant professor of mass communications at the University of Calgary, said in a phone interview that TableRock's global approach is "unique" but not completely unprecedented in Canada. He noted that Blue Ant Media Inc. distributes its nature documentaries worldwide. While this represents the type of global approach that's been preached to the Canadian production industry for some time, he said the final product is likely to feature no obvious signs of its Canadian roots. "This is the global Canadian content that a lot of government has been talking about for some time, and so now Canada is starting to produce some of it," Taylor said. "But it comes as kind of generic programming for a global market. Now, there's lots of money in all that, but whether or not that's really adding to what's traditionally seen as Canadian content, that can be debated." Troy Crandall, a telecom analyst with 3Macs, said in a phone interview that a major challenge for TableRock will be marketing itself to a global audience. "Trying to communicate across the world with a small marketing budget sometimes can be very difficult, and I think that will probably be the challenge for a lot of these channels," he said. Crandall said this kind of distribution model might be hard for Canada's bigger broadcast entities such as Shaw Communications Inc. and BCE Inc., which have rights to a lot of external content on a Canada-only basis. Of the bigger Canadian content companies, he said such a model might work for DHX Media Inc., which owns much of its own content and has made a name for itself in the genre of children's programming. Taylor said a big question about TableRock's content is whether it will be unique enough to separate itself from "an aggregate of videos that you can also scrape around and find in different areas." For TableRock's original programming, Elliott said the lineup is almost finalized and production should be getting underway in the fall. He said prices for these channels will be in the neighbourhood of $8 to $15 a month, which is "in line with other premium OTT offerings." He said TableRock's revenue will be primarily derived from subscription fees. There will be no direct advertising, though "sponsored content" will be included, Elliott said. He said other money-making opportunities exist in holding events related to the interests covered on TableRock's channels, such as motorcycle conventions or concerts. He said the first three channels slated to launch early next year cover topics that are among the "passions" of the company's founders, which also include David Hatch and Joseph Arcuri. Elliott added that those who are interested in things such as guitars, aviation and motorcycles tend to have above-average incomes and a willingness to spend money on the things they love. "Each one of these industries on their own are billion-dollar industries — in some cases multibillion-dollar industries — that are completely under-served," Elliott said. He said it would not work to launch such niche channels on the traditional television system "because it's too fragmented. But when you start looking at it from a global perspective, and you start to look at it from a subscription perspective, it starts to make sense and it makes a lot of sense." He said the plan is to launch these three channels early next year, with additional topic-oriented channels launching every three to four months. Broadcasting consultant Kelly Lynne Ashton said in an email: "I think niche OTT services is definitely the way of the future. OTT started as general entertainment services such as Netflix and Hulu, but now there are channels for anime, horror, faith-based family movies and docs. It makes perfect sense that channels develop with greater specificity, in the same way that they are developing on YouTube." She said as the CRTC starts mandating the unbundling of TV services next year and it becomes harder to get channels carried by broadcast distributors, going OTT will be the "only chance" for some content producers. Ashton said providers of specialized OTT subscription services might be challenged by the depth of free content available on platforms such as Google Inc.'s YouTube. Elliott, however, said the kind of viewers TableRock's channels will attract are those seeking very specific content who do not want to spend a lot of time looking for it. He recalled his own experience trying to find aviation-related content on YouTube: "I'm a pilot, so my biggest frustration is spending 45 minutes to find the one thing that I want," Elliott said. "And there's a lot of false starts where people either don't know what they're talking about or they've pulled out their phone and decided to videotape an air show: it's not good. We're talking about taking that headache away." On the other hand, Elliott said there is some quality content shown on YouTube and he would be interested in trying to work with some of its creators. He added that a sophisticated digital-rights-management procedure will be in place to ensure content TableRock has the rights to does not end up on free sites such as YouTube. "If we find our content on YouTube, it's one quick phone call away to have it taken down," he said, adding that it might often seem like a game of "whack a mole." Elliott said the trend toward OTT video represents a significant shift in the television industry, similar in scale to the emergence in the early 1980s of specialty channels devoted to things such as sports and music. "People, quite frankly, didn't give them a whole lot of chance for survival, but here we are and they did survive, and now we have TSN5," he said. He said online-based video is another step in the evolution of media, along similar lines as the movement from AM radio to FM radio, and from over-the-air television to cable to specialty channels to video-on-demand. "The genie is out of the bottle," Elliott said. "The consumer is in charge. They can program. They can watch whatever program they want to watch when they want to watch it, and we've been hearing this for the last five years." — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca

Canadian OTT startup looks to take on the world

Broadcast | August 17, 2015

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Canadian OTT startup looks to take on the world

Broadcast | August 17, 2015

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Telus’ arguments for incumbent access to wholesale regime not supported by competitors

CRTC finalizes terms of Uvagut TV distribution

Bell won’t participate in subsidized broadband projects if wholesale access for Big Three continues, signs agreement with CNOC

CRTC announces changes to Broadband Fund

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us