Riding the Backchannel to Interactivity

Interweave

In time for Christmas in 2004, BT launched an IPTV service called BT Vision using the Microsoft TV IPTV Platform. It was and is different from the IPTV service familiar to those few in the United States who have experienced it. BT Vision is what Carbonari calls a hybrid.

Set-top boxes in the U.K. have two inputs: one for the broadcast or aerial channel and one called the backchannel, which BT uses to deliver video on demand and interactive functionality. Distinguishing it from a service such as AT&T Inc.’s, Carbonari said, “We don’t believe that using the broadband connection to actually deliver linear content is the most effective way of using the distribution platform.”

What BT does believe is that as long as people get the content they want when they want it, they don’t much care which platform is delivering it. Carbonari’s job is to exploit that broadband backchannel to bring interactivity, including advertising and e-commerce, into the home as part of the hybrid service.

One way to do that is using Red Button advertising, an early and ongoing attempt at interactive advertising where consumers click on a red button to respond to an advertisement on television. Carbonari said that despite some mixed reviews on the technology, he thinks it will be around for some time.

“It had problems in the past because the backchannel wasn’t fast enough and the response time for loading the interactive ad took too long,” he said. “It didn’t provide instant gratification, but I think we have that now, or will soon.”

BT currently uses an interactive advertising platform from emuse technologies that works with Microsoft Mediaroom. The company’s platform works across satellite, cable and Digital Terrestrial Television. Carbonari calls it a one-stop shop for telescopic ads across platforms. He also called it a short-term fix.

Long-term fixes haven’t quite been developed yet, but Carbonari is confident they will be. “I think the ad management system will advance to the point where we can start testing this summer. We are confident the systems will be there when we need them,” he said.

He’s hoping that billing and settlement for ad partners will be part of the ad manager. He’s hoping the ad manager can deliver ads from TV spots and VoD into a Web site, and cross report on either. He hopes he can call up a movie and insert an ad as it is being delivered and that the ad will be targeted by demographic and geography and tracked end to end. And he hopes to be up and running in 2009.