Cross-platform communication and why the Bell Fund doesn’t ‘suck’

This article appeared in the February 17, 2009 edition of the Interactive Ontario Newsletter.
As many of you I’m sure know, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund had one of their scramble-to-get-it-all-in-a-binder deadlines on February 2. While this deadline was one like any other, Canadian television writer, Denis McGrath, took the occasion as an opportunity to pen a decidedly hyperbolic blog post on the subject. In the entry, titled “Sucky Canadian Broadcast Websites” , McGrath lambasts the Fund and interactive producers for failing to properly support their associated television properties. Most notably, he points out that Bell Fund-supported sites often fail to provide vital information such as up-to-date air times and cast info to would-be viewers.

The post sparked a great debate in the comments section, where individuals from all sides of the issue chimed in on the many complex and varied reasons behind said ’suckiness’. But really, does the Bell Fund suck? Do Canadian broadcast websites suck? Does Denis McGrath suck for communicating his point with such Michael Moore-esque one-sidedness?

The answer to all three questions is a resounding “no”.

As Bell Fund Executive Director, Andra Sheffer will tell you at the drop of a hat, “The mandate of the Bell Fund is officially to support the Canadian broadcasting industry. Our funding comes from a BDU which is part of the regulated broadcast industry.” Look it up. It’s true. According to the Fund’s site, since 1997, hundreds of Canadian interactive productions have been the beneficiaries of this multi-million dollar annual grant program, provided by the aforementioned BDU, Bell ExpressVu. The resulting funding has seen hundreds of high quality and highly innovative web properties produced; winning audiences, acclaim and awards the world over. But it’s not the ability of Canadian interactive producers to create stunning content (another important Fund mandate) that’s really in question here. The issue comes down to a simple commitment to communication between the partners who collaborated to apply to the Fund in the first place.

So why is this seemingly simple flow of information so difficult to achieve?

Having worked in a “marketing” function on a number of Bell Fund-supported projects, I can say from experience, that the communication needed to overcome this hurdle be arduous. As we saw last week with Being Erica, even hit Canadian prime time shows often change timeslots mid-season. When this happens, the communication needs to go through the decision maker to someone in programming or traffic, PR, and possibly to a Production Executive and their own interactive division. At any of these touchpoints, a communication could be made to someone on the independent production side – but each of them likely has a different contact, none of whom are likely to be responsible for web updates. Remember also, while a programming change may be urgent and have immediacy on the broadcast side, on the indie side, before that show was even delivered, 80% of the staff are already working on the next project! So when the news does reach the programmer with the knowledge to make the change, they’ll likely be receiving it third or fourth-hand, with little urgency, while they’re inundated with new work that has future deadlines tied to it.

Is this not an issue that could be solved, or at least improved, by putting two people in direct contact? Empower one individual on the producer side and one on the broadcaster side the accountability, access and authority to communicate and implement these changes. With all that people are asked to do on both sides, this infrequent responsibility can’t be thrown on someone’s plate? I realize I’m over-simplifying a little, but if a true fan can’t find their way from the show to the website and then back for next week’s episode – even if there’s a change in time slot – then it devalues the thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people leading up to launch.

Consider it this way. Interactive producers know that the easiest way to drive mass audiences to their content is through broadcast. Broadcasters know that the days of the TV Guide are long passed and everyone is looking online to both engage with and learn more about their favourite shows. Without each other, both groups stand to lose a significant amount of revenue. The Bell Fund simply helps both parties connect with fans through contributions that neither group is required to pay back! So in the end, perhaps the only thing that ’sucks’ is our commitment to working together to communicate with the group that matters most in this entire equation – the audience.

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