Why I’m interested in Project Canvas

I’ve had the question put to me a couple of times recently, what is it about Project Canvas that makes me so interested in it? (If you don’t know, a year ago - next week will be the anniversary in fact - I setup a wiki and blog and twitter account all about Project Canvas. For my Australian compadres, Canvas is the working name to a UK initiative that’s being led by the BBC and other TV networks that is aiming to bring tech standards to IPTV, to increase the penetration of VoD to TV screens.)

So I’ve tried to distil down some of the reasons that I find Project Canvas so fascinating:

• The regulatory concerns. There are 3 main areas to this:
  • the role that the BBC  should or shouldn’t play within digital, and R&D, and an area that has signs of growing free-market traction (& consequently how the BBC Trust governs the executive);
  • how well regulators such as the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) understand the VoD & IPTV space and how they relate it to existing competition frameworks - especially in light of the CC’s killing of Project Kanagroo 13 months ago; and
  • emerging areas of regulation such as the new(ish) European Commission’s Audio-Visual Media Services directive (AVMS) and how it will apply to IPTV services in addition to VoD services.
• The development of standards. Even though we’re only on the outside and so miss the sordid details, it interests me how so many competing manufacturers (both set top box makers, and TV manufacturers, and now also ISPs because of Canvas) work through all their issues when part of a trade body such as the Digital TV Group (the DTG), which in this case is the how digital TV specs get developed. Canvas poses an even trickier problem to solve, given there is two acknowledged distinct elements to it - the technical standard (which coincidentally seems to be the one causing the least problems, by the sounds of it), and the standard around the user interface and user experience (far less straight-forward currently for Canvas - this seems to the big sticking point amongst parties including the DTG & Canvas itself, as well as grounds for a not small part of competitors Virgin’s & Sky’s complaints).
• The content potential for a punter. Forgetting that I work in a digital and media for moment, the ideal of Project Canvas - at least the original vision, separate to what may or may not make it to the living room as - is an awesome one as far as entertainment goes. In essence: video on demand (VoD) offerings from any & all content producers that wish to make them available (under either ad-supported, or rent, or subscription models), supplemented with widget-based slices of the internet we love so much. (And combining the two, you finally get a chance to see some awesome social+TV action combined - on the one screen.)
• The marketing potential.
  • Think of all the data that could possibly be available. Think of all the segmentation and targeting that could happen. And yes, BSkyB are introducing their AdSmart platform at some point this year, but even if it does beyond their PC-based VoD content, it’s still only one provider (albeit one with a 10mill install base) - imagine what the landscape might look like in 3 - 5 years time when a shedload of TV content is consumed via a device that allows that sort of segmentation across all the main terrestrial TV output as well as a load of archive content…
  • And then of course there’s a whole additional marketing opportunity: no longer will those brands who have content and want to make it available to a wide base have to pay large amounts of dosh for a spot on a satellite or cable EPG - for a small fee they can be accessible via the Project Canvas interface, or if what they have to offer the audiences is more utility than entertainment they can see uptake of their widget.