TORONTO – On Tuesday at the NextMedia conference in Toronto, Rogers Communications vice-president and general manager, television, David Purdy, told delegates that the cable, Internet, and wireless giant will launch its own broadband video portal sometime in 2009.
During a panel discussion pondering the pay-per-use model, non-advertising, that is, of monetizing broadband video (which also included Trevor Doerksen of Calgary-based TV download portal Mobovivo and Missy Suicide of Suicide Girls, a multi-faceted social networking portal which features pictures and videos of “hot punk rock girls naked” for $4 a month), Purdy was asked what he thought of Bell Canada’s online service www.bellvideostore.ca.
While saying he has issues with the online video store’s overall configuration, noting that it is a download to rent or own portal, with no streaming, Purdy said: “I embrace it… It’s one step in the process that brings us closer to the truth – which is going to be revealed to us by consumers.”
Plus, efforts like this from Bell helps get capital and projects approved at Rogers, he added.
And one of those projects will be a video portal of Rogers’ own, “an online video extension of our product,” said Purdy, launching “sometime in 2009.”
However, at least some of it won’t cost Rogers customers any extra. “It will be an online or broadband product that extends from our existing subscription relationship,” he added.
Purdy believes these types of “value added extensions of the existing subscription” on TV, online or on mobile, will see video use continue to grow in the future.
For a look at what Rogers’ portal might look like, check out Hulu (a joint venture between NBC Universal and Newscorp – which owns the Fox Network) or Fancast (a huge online video clearinghouse run by Comcast) next time you’re in the States (or if you’ve got a nifty way of disguising your IP location). As Cartt.ca reported last week, Purdy said at the CTAM conference in Boston, the folks at his company are big fans of both. “We’re looking very seriously at what’s been done with Hulu and Fancast,” he said there.
As for what’s still coming this year, Purdy, in response to a questioner from the floor who complained about how difficult it is to search for videos on TV as compared to online, said Rogers will unveil its next generation electronic program guide “before Christmas,” saying the video search capabilities of the cable EPG “is not where it should be.”
For example, if Rogers carried content from Suicide Girls, it would be hard for customers to find it in the menus, he acknowledged.
“Not for me though, because I’d be motivated to find it,” added Purdy, to laughter from the audience.
