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Watch Out Cable: iMagicTV provides Interactive Digital Television Magic via Copper Telephone Lines
Interview with Marcel LeBrun, President and CEO, iMagicTV
(4-NOV-99) (Ruel.Net) - iMagicTV is a company that is helping telephone companies to provide the magic of high-speed interactive digital television to telephone customers via the plain old telephone copper wires. iMagicTV has its headquarters in Saint John, New Brunswick, in Canada plus offices in Cambridge in the U.K.
According to the iMagicTV folks, the iMagicTV technology provides an end-to-end solution that allows consumers to receive unlimited digital television channels, pay-per-view services, video-on-demand, internet, email, and other services. iMagicTV's flagship product, their DTV Manager, is "designed to integrate into a teleco's existing business environment and systems to help them become full service providers." The iMagicTV technology is based on IP multicasting, ATM switching, MPEG, and DSL technologies. There is a lot of telephone copper wire out there. That copper wire could be used to provide more services other than mere telephone calls. iMagicTV helps telcos to provide those additional services.
Marcel LeBrun is the president, CEO, and co-founder of iMagicTV. He was previously the managing director of electronic commerce over at NBTel Inc. which is the primary shareholder for iMagicTV. He holds two technology patents and has a background in electrical and computer engineering (he has a Bachelor of Science), marketing, and strategic business planning. He has some very interesting things to say about what iMagicTV does, television over telephone lines, and interactive television in general.
ML: Well, telcos running iMagicTV's software solution can offer consumers a unique bundle of services. Consumers can watch digital quality TV, browse an interactive program guide to find out what's on, surf the net, check emails via a web interface without dialup or per minute charges, watch videos-on-demand and instantly order Pay-Per-View movies....
RH: ... And this is all over the telephone line?
ML: Yes. What is great for the consumer is that the same copper infrastructure going into their home allows them to use their PC as they would their TV. With iMagicTV software, consumers can watch TV on their PC without the need for a hardware tuner while simultaneously surfing the Net at blazing speeds.
RH: No TV Tuner card. Just get the television signal, video, and data over the phone line. . . .
ML: So, to paint a potential xDSL scenario in the Jones' house: Mom is watching a movie on TV and checking emails or surfing during the commercial breaks. Dad is in the den watching the baseball game on the PC while checking the stats on the players at ESPN.com. AND their active teenager is chatting with friends on the phone. This would all be at the SAME TIME on the SAME PHONE LINE. Pretty neat for a line that carried 1200-baud data traffic only a few years ago.
RH: You're making my OLD 1200-baud modem sound more ancient than it already is. . . .
ML: And that is just the beginning. In the future, that same broadband network, using iMagicTV software, will allow consumers to activate channels on a self-service basis -- no need to call and wait for an agent. Record TV programs in the telephone network rather than on a VCR -- similar to voicemail in how it eliminates the need for an answering machine -- pause or rewind live programming, etc.
RH: Record television shows like voicemail? No VCR, no "answering machine" using the voicemail analogy?
ML: That's Virtual VCR-recording programs in the network. We have only just begun to fully understand the power of a two-way or broadband TV network.
RH: How wide is your coverage? iMagicTV is not really a well-known company except maybe at the corporate levels.
ML: iMagicTV is not a brand name that consumers will recognize now or in the future. Telcos license our software and use our expertise to offer the exciting capabilities I mentioned previously. As such, where this service is offered depends on when the telco adopts it and where they decide to deploy it.
RH: It looks like you are at least in Canada and the U.K.
ML: Yes, you are correct. We currently have a number of telcos in Canada licensed to deploy and one in the U.K. NBTel, Inc., in Canada and Kingston Vision in the U.K. are the only two telcos that have announced their plans publicly thus far. The others, including other major European telcos, have decided to hold their cards close to their chest for now so as not to reveal their strategies to competitors.
RH: Everyone is keeping quiet on what they don't want publicly known. But how about the U.S.? Are you doing anything in the U.S. that you could talk about?
ML: Well, we have also initiated some activity in the U.S. and plan to see more activity in the next 12 months in both the U.S. and overseas.
RH: Okay, how does iMagicTV compare with your competition from the telcos' in-house capabilities to come up with something that may be similar to what iMagicTV offers.
ML: iMagicTV's mandate is to be very narrow and deep in the software we create. As such, we feel that we should always have a significant lead on others focused at trying to do this themselves. It really comes down to cost and time to market. We feel that since this is our specialty, our solution should always be richer and less expensive than what a telco would try to build from scratch.
RH: So, you're expecting telcos to come to you to provide the solutions since you have the technology. You've "been there, done that" ....
ML: We have been building this software for two years and have about 100 individuals focused on delivery. We feel we can easily reduce their time to market. This in turn allows the telco to be more profitable sooner and helps them to be the first to market with services competitors, such as the cable companies, do not have yet.
RH: Okay, so then how does your solution compare to those provided for cable and satellite TV?
ML: Many of the basic elements of the iMagicTV solution are similar to what some cable companies -- offering digital set-tops -- and satellite companies offer. Enhanced channel changing, digital TV signals, and an Interactive Program Guide are examples. These features mimic the features of "one way" TV. However, that is where it ends. It is the broadband or two-way nature of the network, which holds the key to surpassing cable and satellite. This two-way network enables telcos to provide the services I mentioned earlier. Specifically, instant PPV, video-on-demand, self-service channel activation, high speed Internet browsing, Virtual VCR-recording programs in the network, etc.
RH: So, two way.... BUT what about cable modems?
ML: Cable companies have been offering consumers new services by providing high-speed cable modems. Cable modems can only bring customers "shared broadband" not dedicated broadband like xDSL. Therefore, the more people using cable modems the more limitations on the amount of speed that is available. This occurs because all users share the same bandwidth capacity. Without some major network improvements, this problem will not go away for the cable companies.
RH: So, the cable network bogs down and slows down. Okay, what about satellites?
ML: The satellite companies are starting to trial two-way satellite links. However, even the satellite spokespeople will tell you, the technology is still years away from the masses and probably will only be targeted at business data traffic for awhile -- considering the costs to provide it. So that leaves xDSL and the telco to take the lead in providing consumers with broadband and the applications that take advantage of it.
RH: I'm curious about your views regarding interactive television in Canada, the U.K., the U.S., and around the world? You have a lot of activity on the technical side, but what happens when people actually turn it on? Will people watch it and interact with it?
ML: It is difficult to say if customers want "interactive television" in a general sense. Watching television has been a favorite "lean back" activity for decades now and to mess with it just because we can, is not necessarily a good thing. I prefer to look at this a bit differently. What people want is content, especially content that pertains to their interests and moods.
RH: There are so many interests and "moods" . . . .
ML: Yes. So, with convergence, service providers now have the ability to offer any type of content, no matter what the format, to the consumer on one device. For example, with iMagicTV's software, telcos can offer "web channels" or simply the ability to place URLs in the channel lineup disguised as channels. So, a consumer could start channeling up to see NBC on channel 2, then CNN on channel 3, then CNN Interactive on channel 4, then ABC on channel 5, ABC's website on channel 6, and so on. The ability to place web content in a familiar "channel paradigm" is very powerful to the average user because it doesn't require them to learn anything new in the beginning to get the content.
RH: So, for the non-PC people of the world, regular television watchers, "channels" should be used to categorize content. Everything will probably be on the TV in the end.
ML: Of course, people at their own pace may discover that they can move around on this "web channel" and control what they see on their screen. They may not ever realize that they are surfing the web, and this is probably a positive experience for a large percentage of the population. For the most part, the average consumer does not care about how they are getting content. They only care about the fact that they are getting the content they want on a single, familiar device.
RH: On the "TV."
ML: I also think that "interacting" will be driven by specific needs. For example, if a customer has the ability to view the IPG (Interactive Program Guide) and sees a program that he wants to watch on a channel he doesn't subscribe to currently, then he should have the ability to interact with a simple method that allows him to activate that channel instantly so he can watch that program. The "need" drives the "want" to interact rather than forcing customers into a new "interactive" paradigm that they never asked for on a global, non-specific basis.
RH: Actual "needs" will drive the "want to interact." Okay, how about the future of interactive television? Your company plays a part in how interactive television will be delivered to the consumer. How do you see the future of television?
ML: I believe the power of a broadband or high speed, two-way television network will open the doors to many ideas, most of which have not even been conceived yet. The ability for a producer of a live show to get instant feedback from viewers will change how some shows will be produced -- or more likely will create new hit shows based on this capability. Time and channel programming may change as these two attributes shrink in importance over the long-term. Customers may start paying for only what they want to watch on a per show basis rather than buying entertainment in bulk. It is hard to predict where TV will be in 20 years. One thing is for sure: we are definitely in for some exciting times ahead.
You can visit iMagicTV's website at http://www.imagictv.com.
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