TORONTO – Has Rogers found the way to save the Canadian broadcasting industry from suffering the same fate as the recording industry? David Purdy, VP and GM for television products at Rogers, seems to think so.
The big, red cable company announced that its widely anticipated broadband portal – officially known as Rogers On Demand Online – will debut November 30th, to be followed a mighty marketing push in January.
On Monday evening at the posh Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville, Rogers allowed the blogging and social media community, and a few of us other media types, a sneak peak at the phenomenon it’s calling ‘The Next Big Thing in Television’.
As Cartt.ca reported earlier this year, the new portal aims to be more than just a Canadian version of Hulu or Fancast.
“The customer needs are evolving, and they want a legitimate and easy way to access this content”, Purdy told Cartt.ca. “Our constant message is either you embrace it and evolve with the customer, or they find illegal ways around it.”
The portal will offer two levels of content. A ‘base layer’ will be available free of charge to all Rogers cable, Internet and wireless (including Fido) customers across Canada. It will consist of over-the-air television content, plus what Purdy referred to as “deep library content”, or traditional content without a subscription stream such as classic TV series. The other content will be available in tiered levels of access based on customer’s cable TV programming, and therefore will be restricted to its cable footprint.
Rogers On Demand Online will launch with more than 15 content partners on board, and Purdy hinted that another major broadcast group will be signing its contract later this week. The portal demonstration included programming from the Corus family of stations, the Rogers media group, and a few independent networks. But Purdy predicts that all Canadian broadcasters will be on board after they see how well the system works.
“My personal goal is to launch a new content partner every week for the next year”, Purdy enthused.
Content can be searched by name, genre or television network, and the portal also includes rankings like ‘Most Watched’ or ‘What’s New’. The content will have the same number of commercial breaks as it does on linear television, and ads cannot be skipped over like when viewing via a PVR. Some broadcasters will supply their own ads, but Rogers will sell ads too, if their agreement with the content provider permits it.
To ensure security for the content partners, authentication will occur via registration and a password, or through a customer’s unique modem address. Rogers will also post a customer’s account number on the site much like the iTunes model as a disincentive to sharing passwords, and will monitor usage for unusual activity. The system will allow for 3-5 simultaneous users.
So why not roll it out across the country instead of restricting the system to its cable footprint?
“Our primary objective is to meet the evolving needs of our existing television subscribers”, Purdy continued. “Secondly, is to provide something to complement and help the Canadian broadcasting system. We would rather see our cable peers and brethren follow suit with this type of service then be in their backyard mowing their grass.”
Rogers said it would help other BDUs, including its satellite competitors, to develop their own similar systems.
“Online authenticated viewing is going to become part of the subscription TV business on a going forward basis. We’ve seen the future and this is part of it.”
