Bell ExpressVu, the Canadian DTH operator, is hoping it can maintain the pace in the Canadian digital TV market by bringing a number of potential new services to its customers. Company president Gary Smith admitted to Satellite News that the operator was looking at the video-on-demand (VoD) opportunity, among other potential new services. He said VoD "is something that we are considering introducing, but there are a lot of exciting developments. There are an enormous amount of add-on devices for set-top-boxes for storage of video material, or adding, for example, portable media devices for streaming media across Internet to a personal device such as cell phone or PDA, or a laptop. There is a lot of opportunity. We are considering these opportunities and we will bring some of them to the market. I can’t be more specific than that, because we are not sure which ones make sense. But, the consumer electronics market is moving rapidly towards very exciting video offerings."

Smith believes the operator could be in a position to bring "exciting" services to market, adding "I think we will begin to launch these services at the end of the year. I think you will begin to see some exciting stuff coming at Christmas this year."

However, while on-demand opportunities are something that the operator is considering, the big push for the operator will remain in the HD arena this year. Describing the HD landscape in Canada, Smith said "we have been successful with HD and attracting customers at the high end of the market. I think that is going to continue to be a theme for us. We have had the reputation of being the best television service in Canada. We have the most HD channels, and if people want the best, they will come to ExpressVu. We want to maintain that as people will pay more and stick with you longer. You have to invest to keep that proposition real. We are investing significantly in HD channels. We are launching many HD channels. We launched about 11 HD channels over the last 12 months. We will be launching many more over the coming months and years to come, largely as they get developed by the broadcasters."

IPTV

One of the other interesting areas for the company is in the IPTV arena. Bell ExpressVu is somewhat unique among satellite pay-TV operators in the sense it is owned by Bell Canada, the largest telco in the country. Its franchise region is Ontario and Quebec, which represents two-thirds of Canadian consumers. Smith is also responsible for Bell’s introduction for IPTV in Canada. He sees satellite and IPTV as complementary products in Canada, saying "IPTV is a really exciting product for telcos, and in my view, it complements satellite pay-TV services very well, particularly in Canada. The reason why it is so complementary and I think the risk of cannibalization is very low. This is because in Canada we have a large number of consumers who live in multiple dwelling units (MDUs) in densely populated urban areas – particularly in Toronto, but also Ottawa and Montreal. Those densely populated urban areas are areas which are difficult to serve with satellite services because of line-of-sight issues, for example.

He continued "many MDUs do not allow satellite dishes to be attached to balconies. IPTV complements DTH because it gives us really strong video solutions in densely populated areas, which is precisely where penetration of satellite services are lowest. I think they are complementary, and for Bell Canada, it is a perfect scenario, because we have 1.8 million customers across Canada, which is around 20 percent of the market. We have IPTV in customer trials, and when it launches it has the potential to get us in a significant part of the market."

With such a strong position in the DTH market, the operator does not have to rush launching IPTV services. Smith said "we have not fixed a date. Because we have DTH, and are so strong in DTH, we do not need to launch IPTV as quickly as some of the other telcos have across the world, which have embraced it more enthusiastically in terms of timing. Our feeling is that we want to make sure that the product is rock-solid and gives an absolutely reliable consumer experience before we launch it. We are in customer trials and we are getting all the learnings in terms of how we do installations, how we service the product and support the product, and to make sure it is a television standard of quality."

Smith believes the Internet will also play an increased role in the developing TV market. Smith talks about "Over The Top" (OTT) video, saying "there is a lot of activity in the development of video services over the Internet, something we are calling OTT video. I think that will be something we will have to keep a close eye on. Some of the new generation of consumers – the 18 to 25-year-olds, some of them are not buying land lines or television sets. They are doing everything over the Internet. It is young technology and will remain so for a while. But I think it is something we will look at increasingly over the next 12 to 18 months, and I think it represents a threat and an exciting opportunity for players like us.

Importance Of Satellite

However, while IPTV is on the horizon, and new Internet-based television services are being considered, satellite will remain in a hugely strong position in the Canadian television market. Smith said "we have also just entered into contracts with a satellite services provider for two new satellites: One contract we entered into early in the year, [as] largely a replacement for an existing satellite, and a more recent one, which is an entirely new satellite, for expansion. The migration to HD is driving significant demands for new satellite capacity."

Interactivity

The operator also hopes to beef up its interactive strategy in 2007, particularly in areas like sports. "We have had a pretty solid interactive strategy. We have had them for two years. We have a solid suite of games, which is a traditional revenue earner for DTH platforms. That is something that we continue to invest in and benefit from. We also are beginning to do more in the enhanced television arena, these are services like interactive weather, news, sports. You can see multiscreen hockey. So, you can have six screens and have highlights of all the games. We are beginning to experiment with things where if a goal has just been scored, you can highlight it. We are looking to do reruns of goals. These are the sorts of applications we are looking to develop," noted Smith.

Changing Landscape

In terms of how the landscape might change throughout the next 12 months, Smith commented "the digital migration is well underway in Canada. I think somewhere between 50 and 60 percent of Canadian households have moved to digital television. But there is still a lot of people who are moving making digital TV choices right now and that will characterize the next 12 months. I think over the next 12 months, we will see the launching of exciting products in the peripherals arena: External storage to PVRs, VoD services, distribution of video over the Internet so you can watch content on your PVR in your hotel room, for example. I hope we would have some of these products in the market at the end of this year."

–Mark Holmes