Source : Vancouver Province

New technologies creating environments that demand greater flexibility

The winds of change are reaching gale force on the Canadian broadcast landscape, but that doesn't mean the inhabitants should be diving for the hurricane shelters, a gathering of industry stakeholders were told yesterday at a national convention.

A panel of media company executives at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual conference said the emerging reality is that broadcasters must be nimble in reacting to the impact and opportunities offered by new technologies such as broadband Internet, podcasting and video on mobile telephones.

"I keep hearing it referred to as a 'digital tsunami,'" said Leonard Asper, president and CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp.

Asper played a news clip from Global TV on his Blackberry mobile phone, sponsored by Belgian beermaker Stella Artois.

"This little business is more profitable than owning a television station in Halifax or Regina or Winnipeg," said Asper.

"This happens because we were able to see an opportunity and seize it and marshal the right reserves within a company to get it done. I think that is the future, creating this environment in companies to see the opportunities out there."

With new communications platforms offering consumers unprecedented choice, the customer must now be given the higher priority, said Rick Brace, president of CTV.

"As we look at our constituents, they are the regulator, our distributors, our advertisers, but the difference is the consumers now will really be calling the shots," he said.

"Our focus going forward really has to be what the consumer wants."

John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment, said that as new platforms fragment markets, brand will become even more important. "One of the things we have the ability to do as broadcasters is drive things that audiences will enjoy," he said.

"We can develop the content on other platforms they'll find appealing. If we learned anything in the explosion of the Internet it was that nobody knows what the winning applications are going to be.

"We're experimenting. If you see something that looks like it's going, hit it," Cassaday said.

Meanwhile, in an earlier conference panel, analysts said Canada's broadcast industry, in general, is still a good investment despite potential fallout from a U.S. economic slowdown and challenges from new technologies.

"Relative to other media, broadcasting is seen as exciting, interesting and confusing," said Toronto-based analyst Andrea Horan of Genuity Capital Markets.

"The trend in newspapers is easier to understand and their ability to cope with the trends there has been a reasonably negative trajectory. Broadcasting isn't seen as bleakly as that and many portfolio managers have a real interest in this sector."

© Vancouver Province