| Mobile and TV: Mobile's TV adventure |
| Sunday, 31 August 2003 | |
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Revolution September 2003 - As broadcasters use mobile to make their programmes more interactive, so mobile firms are launching new TV channels. A few years ago, when convergence was the word on everyone's lips, the two media envisaged to come together in beautiful harmony were TV and the web. Internet firms, it was thought, would effectively become broadcasters, and the merger between ISP AOL and content provider Time Warner seemed to point the way, but slow takeup of broadband has put the lid on the idea, at least for now. Rather than converging with the web, TV is cosying up to another medium: mobile. Firms such as Flytxt and 12snap have found a ready clientele among broadcasters, providing mobile apps to boost programme interactivity.12snap has provided voting and revenue-generating tools for ITV's Reborn in the USA, while Flytxt became exclusive CRM agency to TV channel Five last year. Some mobile providers have gone further and launched their own TV channels. While mobile services firms Amplefuture and Opera Telecom have launched TV channels on Sky digital - Txtme TV on Sky digital channel 686 and Friendly TV on 268, respectively - Opera is retreating back to the position of supplier, selling its stake in Friendly TV to an as-yet-unnamed group of investors. Meanwhile Amplefuture continues to run Txtme TV as a broadcaster. "Now that the channel has established itself, we have had an approach to sell our stakeholding," says Gary Corbett, managing director of Opera Telecom. "The terms agreed are significant enough for me to want to sell. Our strategy is still to support broadcasters with applications and we will continue to supply the channel with mobile interactivity." "Friendly TV is in the same building as the London congestion charging management, and the amount of cable available to the channel enables it to operate a live satellite link-up that is almost constant. On launch, the channel benefited from the mobile back-end systems of Opera Telecom's, which allowed it to process and filter received premium-rate text messages and show them on screen, send texts to the audience. It also means viewers can play games on the TV screen using their phones. Txtme TV can draw on Amplefuture's mobile applications, such as SMS and Java games, ringtones, logos and SMS alerts. At a time when a proliferation of other media are gaining market share and advertising, it is important that mobile and TV can drive revenue through other means such as premium-rate texts and downloadable ringtones. In addition, the companies involved can use their channels as a showcase for their applications and as a way of experimenting with and testing new products. "When we went into this venture it was to show our mobile content and applications in an original and innovative format," says Corbett. Opera will provide applications to Friendly TV, as it does to Rapture TV and GMTV, among others. We provided MMS services for GMTV's Summer Food services, which sent recipes to people's mobile phones," says Neil Penny, group product manager at Opera Telecom. It is not the first time that telecoms firms have dabbled in content. When WAP was young, and full of the potential it is now starting to realise, network operators vied to get mobile portals up and running. After all, if firms like AOL and Freeserve, essentially internet service providers, could own content online, why shouldn't the operators do the same on the mobile internet? Most WAP portals didn't make much of a splash: Vodafone's joint-venture with Vivendi, Vizzavi, saw the media firm pull out and so it was merged into Vodafone Content Services. BT Cellnet portal Genie, also vanished during the rebranding to mmO2, although the company does offer colour WAP service O2 Active. If mobile companies decide to launch on TV, they will not get special treatment from broadcasting regulator ITC. Spokesperson Helena Hird says: "It is no problem for a firm with no previous track record in broadcasting to buy a licence, as long as it can prove it is a fit and proper company to run a channel and can pay for the license." Like any broadcaster, a mobile firm would have to comply with ITC codes, which include abiding by the 9pm watershed, not running misleading advertising, and keeping a clear line between ads, sponsorship and editorial. However, the fact that truly interactive shows go out to the audience live, or practically live, could open mobile broadcasters up to problems, particularly since a lot of content is generated by the public rather than presenters. The ITC is currently investigating several complaints regarding Friendly TV's showing of inappropriate content at inappropriate times. "Just because something is going out live is no excuse to breach the code," says Hird. "If the MTV awards go out live and the broadcasters have briefed the recipients not to swear, and they do, that is still a breach of the code. We would expect channels to have measures in place to bleep out words or filter texts and so on." Channels using a lot of mobile interactivity must be clear on the cost of messages on different platforms and be careful that they don't confuse ads or t-commerce with editorial content. Friendly TV launched in April as a 50/50 joint-venture between Opera and Hi2, a gaming and content company founded and run by David Wainwright. He approached Opera chief executive Gary Corbett with the idea for a TV channel that used mobile technology to ensure all programmes were as interactive as possible. Although Opera had concentrated on print media to drive text-message revenue, Corbett had already been thinking about television, so the channel was born. The channel employs some 15 presenters and has a mixture of content strands. Its most popular show in terms of viewers is Gamerweb:TV, which goes out live every weekday from 5pm to 7pm under the auspices of producer Stevie Kennedy (see box, p45). The show contains games reviews, interviews with developers and a retro section. Viewers can text their thoughts on the games discussed, text the Cheatmaster for tips, and win the opportunity to come into the studio to appear on the show. Gamerweb:TV is one of the more advanced shows on the schedule, boasting three camera angles rather than the fixed one used on the chat shows. The channel is still in its beta stage, but is planning a profile-raising campaign in the winter. "If you went to traditional TV people with what we do, they'd throw their hands up in horror," admits Wainwright, executive producer of Friendly TV. "They want big budget and high standards, but you have to bear in mind that people watch TV for seven minutes and flick channels. If you rely on advertising you'll have a hard time." Still, he says most of the channel's revenue is from ads, not texts, with ad sales handled by Dolphin. Although Gamerweb:TV is the channel's most viewed show - BARB figures show it has attracted more viewers than established channels such as Men and Motors - it doesn't attract as much text interaction as other less popular shows. Wainwright says it is perceived as a lean-back programme, while the chat and trivia strands are seen as more lean-forward and interactive. The chat shows, which make up a large part of the channel's programming, involve a presenter sitting in a studio where they manage the flow of texts to the screen, deleting any obscene or libellous ones, and chatting to the senders. Most of Friendly TV's programmes are live, which Wainwright sees as the real selling point, enabling viewers to interact directly. Its casino game Spin Spin Spin asks viewers to text in to be given three numbers, which are placed on the roulette wheel by the presenter who spins it. There are no prizes, but people still text in for the fun of seeing their chips placed on the board. Other games are controlled by viewers texting 'left', 'right', 'up', 'down'. "The dream is that when everyone has Java phones they will be able to play games with each other using their phone like a remote control," says Wainwright. "We want to spread the channel, so red-button interaction is no good for us as it doesn't work in other countries or on other platforms in the UK." Another idea is a pub quiz, which Wainwright is trialling in one of the Punch chain. The pub will screen the channel and punters can text their answers which will appear on the screen. If this works, he has plans for pubs to play each other, all watching the same programme. "Our peak time for texting is just after the pub when people have got a few drinks inside them, but we'd like to extend that to when they are actually in the pub." Friendly TV prides itself on its different programming strands, from dating, trivia and casino to chat, short films and gaming reviews, each with its own interactive text element. "We are trying to be a TV station, rather than a text channel," says Grant Hardy, account manager at Opera. "You have to give viewers value and give them compelling reasons to watch the channel." Txtme TV doesn't broadcast in the same way. Its presenters, or 'TextJockeys', are not filmed. Instead, they communicate with the texters using the same medium, a bit like an internet chatroom, but the texters are not allowed to talk to each other, only the presenter. Texters can send in pictures of themselves via MMS and images of the presenters are also shown. In the next few months, Txtme TV is planning to roll out a Java-enabled game that people can download to practice on their phone before dialing in to play live on air. "The concept was to use it as a development platform for new applications," says Derek Byrne, managing director of Amplefuture. "If we are selling to TV firms, we need to understand TV." Amplefuture is using its technology to supply text-to-screen and polling applications to Big Brother. "We've learnt a lot about the TV industry through Txtme TV, such as the legal and technical requirements and obstacles, and understanding what customers need," explains Byrne. He says the channel is making money because the cost base is fairly cheap. "If it had to have its own back-end staff it would struggle, but because it uses Amplefuture's own staff and technology it is a reasonable revenue stream." Byrne also believes it is possible to make money through interaction without ads, so the channel doesn't have any ad-breaks. "Can a channel make money purely on interaction with its viewers? Yes. Can it make huge amounts? Yes, if you have enough viewers," he adds. With Opera stepping away from TV broadcasting, will other mobile services firms take note and stay on the supplier side? Byrne thinks they will follow Amplefuture: "There's a queue of firms trying to launch channels in this space. If we are running a TV channel, other people in our sector will think they should be." However, Lawrence Alexander, chief executive of O2 Online, says this is not something his network would do. "We concentrate on working with content providers and have no desire to be in the content business. I used to think content was king, but now I believe distribution is king. We are distribution specialists and we let the content specialists make the content." Amplefuture and Opera admit that setting up as a broadcaster was a bit of a gamble. Of the two strategies - exit and retention - which will prove the winner? © Copyright Flytxt Ltd 2006. Unauthorized use of any content constitutes a material breach. |
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