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View from the Editor: Playing the naming game at SportelMonaco - October 2003

The biggest question on the minds of delegates at SportelMonaco 2003 in mid-September 2003 wasn't whether the Guinness would last all night at the Setanta Party, but rather what will be the new name of the company formed between TVNZ Satellite Services and Intelsat Global Sales & Marketing in the occasional use broadcast services business.

As we were in gambling heaven, it made sense to have a flutter on the new name. At 2 to 1 on, the people's choice seemed to be 'IntelNZ', although at 3 to 1 'TVIntel' was a contender. But at 5 to 1, the money from fanciers of random names (of the ilk much favoured by global consultancies in recent years) went to 'Albert', although that was largely due to the combination of Guinness and regular sightings of Monaco's Crown Prince.
According to Christine Fenby, director of marketing at TVNZ Satellite Services, the new branding and name will be revealed at the end of October 2003, but for the purposes of our interview, she referred to the new venture as NewCo. "The new identity will encapsulate everything we stand for and will be generic, not exclusive," she says. One thing seems sure ñ the New Zealand part of the name will be dropped as TVNZ SS has struggled in the past to shake off its image as a regional rather than global player. "It's a double-edged sword though," says Fenby. "We don't want to be perceived as a regional company yet the New Zealand angle has helped to impress people that we have supplied services to globally ñ they have asked ëhow on earth have you managed to do so well considering your size and location?'"
The alliance is designed to leverage the strengths of each company by offering a global network of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure, complemented by a portfolio of television broadcast and enterprise services. Upon final completion of the agreement, the alliance between Intelsat and TVNZ will create a combination under one umbrella of occasional use satellite provider and television broadcaster. Event management, host broadcast services and on-air enhancement products are examples of the expanded range of offerings. In addition to its global network of ground resources, Intelsat will contribute dedicated capacity on eight of its satellites, with additional capacity available. TVNZ will contribute occasional use services and television broadcast solutions expertise.
"Intelsat liked the fact we are a TV broadcaster," says Fenby commenting on why the alliance was appealing to both parties, "and we were attracted by the ease of access to satellite capacity that NewCo will give us. We have found ourselves in a less healthy position due to the recession last year with costs not dropping but prices doing so."
The announcement has certainly caused a degree of discomfort among other leasors of satellite capacity. One such leasor says: "We have been a customer of Intelsat for years so we do wonder how this will affect our position." Fenby acknowledges that some of her competitors were at first "horrified" by the alliance, but have since been complimentary. "We have been at pains to stress we will not be competing head to head on every event. No-one is interested in alienating anyone else in the industry, NewCo is far more interested in developing arrangements that work for everyone," she says.
The inevitably of industry consolidation has been talked about for years adds Fenby: "We will get to the point where there are three or four players and we will return to a robust, competitive world. It has been competitive recently but not robust and the industry has been in survival mode."

Broadband adventures

While the Intelsat/TVNZ deal was a specific talking point at SportelMonaco this year, the general feeling among providers of technology to sports rights holders was that there is an increasing bullishness about the whole sector. "The bursting of the internet bubble is still on people's minds," says one delegate, "but those memories are starting to fade and venture capital funding in particular is moving back into sports technology companies."
The industry is also witnessing an increasing demand for sport content that is not readily available on traditional television. An exhibitor at SportelMonaco that garnered a lot of interested was High.TV (www.high.tv), a broadband sports channel that services the outdoor, adventure and extreme sports market. "We are not trying to be a new Extreme Channel," says Dilip Shukla, advertising and sponsorship manager for Narrowstep, High.TV's parent company, "but rather we are aiming for a mature, upmarket and affluent audience ñ the classic ëweekend warriors', who are looking to move away from the hedonism of the 1990s and pursue amore healthy, outdoors lifestyle." The channel has attracted 0.5m viewers in its first few months largely through word of mouth and free advertising campaigns courtesy of the likes of Tiscali and the aim is to provide up to 10 hours of live action per week. "We send our own cameras to events," adds Shukla, "which allows us to create programming that is more personable and community-based." High.TV is only one of several channels either planned or already launched by Narrowstep through its 'TV station in a box' concept, including a Field Hockey channel.

"Narrowstep was formed in reaction to the increasing fragmentation of TV audiences," says Iolo Jones, CEO of the company, "and allows federations and content owners to create their own channels and keep control of them which is appealing, particularly where they are building a brand. It's all about bringing media to niche channels."
Comprising of Mediaserver, a rich content management solution for the handling of video files, Channelserver, a scheduling and video on demand service and Adserver, an application that dynamically generates and optimises advertising revenue, ëTV station in a box' can typically reduce the cost of scheduling, playout and distribution by tenfold for a channel in any particular territory. As well as supporting broadcast streams in MPEGs 1,2 and 4, the system also supports internet broadcasting and mobile content delivery. Multiple data rates, sizes and all major formats such as DV, Windows Media, Real and Quick Time are also supported making this a flexible application available for the management of video content distribution.
The multiplatform Narrowstep system can play advertisements locally that are completely targeted to the demographics of the viewer. "Advertisers can manage their own clips in a system that gives them complete control," adds Jones.
Indeed, rights owners and advertisers can take charge of their channels and create their own mix of programming and messages after as little as three, half-days of training.
"Traditional television is going to the bottom of the barrel to maintain its numbers game," adds Jones. "This concept has always been stupid and remains stupid for most marketers. Almost no-one wants just to reach 2m people. Fifty thousand potential Volvo buyers is a much better demographic for Volvo rather than the Big Brother audience. Channels such as High.tv can deliver this with pinpoint accuracy. The old way of media buying has finally ñ thank God ñ died. The numbers game is over."
Currently, most Narrowstep viewers access the channels at work where broadband access tends to be more prevalent, although there are plans to put services into the windows of pubs and bars as well. Sport and alcohol? It will never work, surely? Now where did I put my Guinness?

Rachael Church - Editor

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View from the Editor: Playing the naming game at SportelMonaco - October 2003

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