Internet TV just around the corner

BY WILLIAM MACE

Internet television, or IPTV, is coming to a living room near you.

Apple is attempting to colonise television in the same way they've done with computers, music players, cellphones and tablets.

The new version of Apple TV was launched this week but has been deemed ''underwhelming'' by digital analysts still awaiting a full television-based internet browser.

Amazon.com is making noises about a subscription service, Google TV will soon be released alongside Sony's new internet television, NetFlix and Hulu are sucking up viewers in the United States, and we all know how popular YouTube has been.

The big studios are scrambling to secure their online broadcasting rights.

New Zealand's major networks TVNZ and MediaWorks both have an online presence, although they restrict it to catch-up viewing to keep their traditional television advertisers happy.

Sky TV has just announced it will re-launch its online service due to the government's commitment to investing in the country's broadband infrastructure.

We're even getting a new high-speed internet link to Australia and the US via the Pacific Fibre cable which was recently confirmed.

It's the link between the small laptop screen and the big flat screen which has stood in the way so far, and that barrier is quickly disappearing, even here in New Zealand.

Internet television pioneer Paul Brennan is getting used to the new media realities after a year in business with his online TV start-up, Ziln.

Ziln.co.nz now has almost 30 channels 16 of which are New Zealand produced.

Brennan supplies the platform and the brand while independent producers fund and create the content themselves.

While Brennan's not envisaging his platform as a competitor for Apple or Google, or even TVNZ for that matter, he is pushing its value as a niche broadcaster and one of the few places Kiwi content is being concentrated online.

Online video advertising

Although Brennan says the pace of channels launching on Ziln has slowed since the launch last year, mainly due to adverse economic conditions, he thinks it's only a matter of time before Kiwis are creating and viewing niche content online rather than being fed directly from mainstream TV.

His advertising supported model is benefiting from new YouTube-like pop-up and pre-roll advertisements as well as traditional banner advertising.

But effective measurement of online audience and advertising value is still some way off across the board, he says.

''The recession has slowed things up a little compared to the pace of the launch, but I think the new economic reality that's dawning, mixed with the digitisation effect which is going through media, actually creates more oportunities for microbroadcasting to take place.

''Audience measurement and ways of valuing niches hasn't worked through the media system yet  ...  I think there's a bit of water to go under the bridge yet before the advertising and marketing worlds understand this new media like they understand the legacy media. But we're starting to see that.''

A place for local content?

No stranger to questioning the status quo, Brennan is also questioning funding priorities for local content under the transformation to digital and internet-based television.

''I think we're going to see greater pressure on the funders to diversify into smaller projects, smaller funding tranches but getting programming produced that is no different from the high-end stuff, given the equipment available now and that the quality of the filming and editing is right up there. It's all about unlocking new content that hasn't existed before and can't exist in the legacy system.

''There's a question that remains over whether philosophically we should be putting so much money into a show like Outrageous Fortune  it's a great show and it rates well  but why is the tax-payer funding a television network to have ratings?''

With the TVNZ Amendment Bill on its way through parliament with its main aim to dismantle any obligations TVNZ had to local programming, there's even less motivation for mainstream broadcasters to screen local content that isn't instantly commercial.

What will public broadcasting look like in the internet age?

Rumours of a plan to combine Radio New Zealand with TVNZ 7 abound and Brennan, a contract newsreader for RNZ, says on the face of it it looks like a workable solution although he insists he has no inside knowledge or influence.

But in an age where Kiwi viewers can just as easily watch blockbuster movies every night and big studio TV series' can saturate the globe simultaneously, how can we seriously compete?

Brennan says a platform like Ziln could eventually host channels which resurrect the long-form interview, encourage political debate without having to provoke a bun-fight, or even video blogging which give a glimpse into the New Zealand way of life.

''Go into any modern household today with kids of eight through 18 and they're in their rooms with their laptops and their ipads,'' says Brennan.

''There's a whole lot of talent out there. Access has been rationed over the decades, but now the lids coming off and I just think we're going to see a massive explosion of content.''

- © Fairfax NZ News