The idea, says Triff, is to assure that PBS interactive content plays well on all digital cable systems. PBS National would like very much to deploy interactive fare on those systems and, at the same time, enable PBS local stations to eventually easily add their own localized ITV elements to national programming. If all goes well, PBS will initiate cable-based interactive content on the national-local model with New Jersey public television (NJN) and with WNET in New York, both carried by Cablevision.

Triff mentioned in the session and in more detail to [itvt] that PBS is also collaborating with Microsoft TV (which provides middleware for the Charter Communications cable systems). The goal here, says Triff, is to make sure that PBS interactive content performs well on the advanced set-top that Charter Cable has said it plans to deploy as well. The St. Louis public Television station KETC would be the starting point for a Charter system project.

For all the money and energy the U.S. Government mandated that TV Stations must devote to developing terrestrial broadcast DTV capabilities, PBS recognizes that, for general consumption, digital content must first and foremost work on cable, where the great majority of Americans get their TV. Cable initiatives, clearly, are part of a broader strategy to keep PBS and its member stations in the digital media game. In the ITV realm Triff says PBS is focusing on 3 specific objectives:

1) Put forth best-practice guidelines for creating ITV content so that the interactive content which stations and independent producers generate will work smoothly across multiple platforms.

2) Seed and fund ITV projects that set a high standard for how content could and should look and perform. (Current PBS-backed projects include walled-garden initiatives where stations develop "virtual channels" for interactive users, program-synchronistic interactive TV productions, and a third still-secret type of initiative which Triff would only describe as "other things in the works related to other interactive TV applications.")

3) Get cable and satellite services to carry PBS network and station-originated content.

In the absence of a must-carry rule from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that would force cable systems to carry all the broadcast DTV channels of local stations in a given market, PBS is promoting a "must-convince" approach. Cool interactive content will make public station signals attractive to cable carriers, Triff explains, and PBS expects to repeat this idea to its member stations. "Our whole interactive strategy is a dual-data stream where you start building local content around national programs. That is a very effective service offering that strikes a positive chord with cable companies, which also have a local presence."

Over the last few months, in fact, PBS and a group of seven stations tested local ITV insertion methodologies during several episodes of "Scientific American Frontiers." Stations that participated in the test were WETA (Washington, DC), OPB (Portland, Oregon), NJN (New Jersey), MPBC (Lewiston, Maine), TPT, Twin Cities Public Television (St. Paul/Minneapolis), WHYY (Philadelphia), and KQED (San Francisco). Software, hardware, and research providers including WaveXpress, Triveni, Zenith, Aligent and Nielsen Media Research also participated. Although the experiment did not yield much useful statistical data, Triff says, the real goal of the tests was to get hands-on experience producing local enhancements. "That's why we did our 'SAF' trial - to technically figure out how do you make this happen. What is the workflow process? How do you work with stations to say 'insert here?' And how does that insertion impact the national program?" Local enhancement of national programming, enthuses Triff, is "one of the killer apps of interactive television."

Many budget-crimped PBS stations - who confided in [itvt] over the last 6 months during in-depth interviews with local station executives and line managers - say, unfortunately, that they do not have the budget or production systems to create new interactive content. To try and address that issue, PBS is now taking a similar approach to the way it helps stations and producers create Web content on their local sites: by developing style guides and actual templates that local stations can use as turnkey tools to produce ITV elements. Triff says PBS is working with Chyron and its Lyric authoring tool to develop an ITV station tool kit.

Beginning this fall, says Triff, stations will have opportunities to add local interactive enhancements to the new PBS primetime series "Life 360," which premieres in October. Another new show, the children's series "Cyberchase," will also have interactive enhancements, but no local insertions are planned.

In addition to all that Triff had to say about national developments during the session and to [itvt] later, panelist John Grozik, director of media services at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and a representative of the Local Enhancement Collaborative (LEC), had some interesting things to add. (The LEC is a collaboration among four public broadcasting stations --Twin Cities Public TV-St. Paul; KCSM-San Mateo, CA; WMVS-Milwaukee; and WGBH-Boston--supported by Corporation for Public Broadcasting money. The overall objective for the LEC is to help public TV stations develop the potential of digital television content). The LEC's Grozik told session attendees about its new online "ETV Cookbook" (some people in the industry use the term "enhanced TV" to refer to interactive TV), which was produced by the group to blaze a trail for other public broadcasters. Located at etvcookbook.org, the "Cookbook" is a fun and easy-to-navigate primer that will prove to be a valuable resource for novices and experienced hands alike.

In his presentation, Grozik additionally spoke about how developing standards for digital asset management, which would enable stations to share content seamlessly, is an important issue for the future. Potentially valuable content assets at stations around the country stand to be "lost," he asserted, as they are not currently preserved in a compatible digital format. Triff told [itvt] that PBS is also working on this issue and referred us to Dave Johnston, senior director of technology for PBS. Johnston explained that PBS is developing an XML-based Content Management System (CMS) "to help us in the management and deployment of content to the Web, interactive TV, wireless and mobile devices." The CMS, in combination with a "personalization engine", is expected to help stations present local content and allow users of the PBS Web site to personalize their experience. Johnston also tells [itvt] that "PBS is looking to develop an advanced traffic and asset management system for the video properties we distribute." Johnston explains that "the two systems will need to work together in the management of broadcast and broadcast-related assets. What metadata lives where and whether the video, audio, captioning, and enhancement streams live together or on separate servers (and are united at broadcast) are all still questions we're examining." Stay tuned: asset management is one of the seminal issues upon which the future of digital media depends.

One final piece of ITV news: Triff revealed that PBS continues to see digital terrestrial free "over-the-air" broadcasting as a viable long-term option even though most viewers at home receive local station signals via cable or satellite. Specifically, Triff tells [itvt] that PBS is working with an unnamed datacasting firm to develop digital terrestrial datacast initiatives for schools. "Datacasting in closed environments holds great potential for us," says Triff. PBS and its corporate partner are "just beginning" to pull together a group of stations to work out "a full business plan for classroom applications with data -- interactive and straight datacasting."

[itvt] REPORT: PBS and local community stations around the nation are currentlyundergoing a massive infrastructural transformation in order to make the "transition to digital" as mandated by the U.S.Government in 1996. Read [itvt]'s latest research into these developments in an upcoming online presentation entitled "Public Broadcasting and the Digital Transition: Community Stations Make Their Preparations." In colloquium format, this presentation features insightful and detailed comments by executives and line managers around the U.S. who daily make important decisions about how these stations will form business and equipment strategies, raise and deploy resources, encourage partnerships with commercial and non- commercial firms, as well as develop new programming and applications. Look for an announcement of this presentation in an [itvt] email newsletter in the weeks to come. To subscribe, send an email to itvt-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

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