Internet to enhance the broadcast experience: Bell Canada takes first step to PC/TV integration

Maybe reports of convergence's demise were greatly exaggerated. With recent developments in set-top box design and the ability to compress Internet protocols into broadcast formats, those willing to foot the bill soon will have something on their TV that doesn't look anything like broadcasts of old.

By this time next year, consumers with the latest and greatest electronic toys will be watching television while simultaneously pulling related information off the Internet.

"Until this point, it was defined by the RCA device or WebTV," said Dave Limp, vice president of consumer marketing for Network Computing Inc., referring to early devices that forced users to choose between full-screen views of broadcast or Internet.

With the new models, coach potatoes can cruise the Internet while watching broadcast channels on a window shrunk into the corner.

Other vendors are flip-flopping the concept by putting broadcast windows on PCs. WebTV, now wholly owned by Microsoft, already is contemplating a number of different form factors, according to Steve Guggenheimer, senior product manager for Windows marketing.

"We don't believe everyone is going to be watching television on their PCs," he said. "But for those that do want it, the technologies need to be the same. The basic standards of creating the content need to be same."

Some vendors such as NCI are doing just that by developing platform-independent software.

The company's latest server software, Custom Connect Server Suite, lets Internet, cable or satellite service providers deliver what it calls Internet-based enhanced TV services. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company, whose ownership roster includes Oracle, Netscape and Sega, also is touting the software's ability to accommodate service provider branding.

"One of the things we heard was that they need to control content," said Charlie Tritschler, director of consumer product marketing for NCI.

Bell Canada will use the software in its first application to provide enhanced broadcast services. The telco also will use the suite to customize content and brand its service based on the province it's serving.

In another example, presented at this month's Consumer Electronics Show, NCI is combining information on fashion, stored on the Internet, with ads from Levi's.

Key in the new model is the ability to transfer Internet data in the broadcast signal's vertical blanking interval. By using this interval, which is a part of standard broadcast formats, software vendors don't need to rely on a specific platform or network architecture.

"It gives the content provider a lot of options on how to use this," said Tritschler. "It's a way to proactively provide more information to users."

It also could become a marketing weapon for cable operators in competitive markets. Americast, the cable programming consortium that includes Ameritech, BellSouth, GTE and Southern New England Telecommunications, is looking at ways to combine Internet information and cable programming, said Dave Mahachek, vice president of operations for Ameritech New Media.

Ameritech likely won't unveil converged PC/TV services until standards for set-top boxes that can handle such information services are in place. However, the company and its other telco partners are making moves in that direction.

In November, Ameritech debuted a near video-on-demand service that lets subscribers order pay-per-view movies through an on-screen programming guide. Indeed, much of americast's focus will stay on those products that are proven winners because all its partners operate in competitive environments.

"One of the things we've learned from customers is [that a lot of new services] are still somewhat complex for people to understand," Mahachek said. "There are great opportunities to come up with applications to manage and use that content more efficiently. Movies are certainly the place to start."

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