Exclusive: Canada's TSN to Offer Interactive TV Coverage of NHL Hockey

--TSN's Paul Kaliciak, Tandberg's Joe Franzetta Discuss their New App

Canadian sports channel, TSN, will tonight begin offering a two-screen, Web-based interactive TV application to accompany its coverage of NHL   hockey. The application, which is sponsored by Canadian brewing company, Molson, and which was developed by Tandberg Television--the company which over the past year-and-a-half or so has purchased VOD infrastructure provider, N2 Broadband, interactive TV technology and services provider, GoldPocket Interactive, IPTV content delivery company, SkyStream Networks, and Internet video company, Zetools--is based on a custom-built template that was also the basis of an application that accompanied TSN's coverage of the Canadian Football League (see [itvt] Issue 6.96 Part 3).

When viewers access the application, they will first be asked to choose a team to support in the game, and will then gain or lose points as their team scores or is penalized. They will also be able to gain points by correctly answering hockey-related trivia questions and questions about the app's sponsor, by participating in polls, and also by playing hockey-themed mini-games that will appear in the app during half time and commercial breaks. In addition, the app will allow viewers to wage percentages of their points on predict-the-play questions posed at various crucial junctures of the game. Other elements of the app include chat rooms, and the presentation of facts and figures about the teams and their players, as events unfold on the ice rink.

[itvt]'s Tracy Swedlow recently spoke to Joe Franzetta, Tandberg Television's SVP of programmer sales, and to Paul Kaliciak, director of interactive TV at TSN's parent company, Canadian commercial broadcaster, CTV, about the enhancements the companies made when repurposing the application from football to hockey; about TSN's techniques for promoting the app to its viewers; about the key role played by sponsor, Molson, in persuading TSN to add interactivity to its hockey coverage; about Tandberg's switch from Shockwave to Flash; about Tandberg's view of the future of two-screen, Web-based interactive TV, and much more.

[itvt]: Paul, could you tell us a little about the two-screen application that TSN is set to offer to accompany its NHL hockey coverage?

Kaliciak: Yes. As you know, we have been offering a two-screen application for Canadian football that Tandberg developed for us. We're switching that app to hockey on Monday the 30th. Using it for football allowed us to test the waters--to see what we could do with it and to learn how best to run it--because we're actually operating the live component of it ourselves. These kinds of applications are something we've wanted to do for years, but it's only recently that sponsors have shown a real interest in this kind of interactivity. So football was our first kick of the can, and now we're trying it with NHL hockey, which in Canada, of course, is huge. Our hockey coverage attracts a big audience, so this app--which will be available through the end of the hockey season on April 4th--is a big deal for us and our interactive TV efforts.

Running this application as part of our football coverage gave us the chance to learn quite a bit about offering interactivity in association with sports, and so we have made some changes when adapting the app for hockey. One thing we've done is that we've enhanced and expanded the gaming part of the app, because people seem to love playing the little games that Tandberg came up with. We're also expanding the chat component a bit by giving it twice the screen real estate, so people can follow threads more easily. When you have 50 people chatting it one room in can get kind of chaotic! We're also really focusing on tying the app as closely as possible to what's going on on-screen, because it's a true synchronized experience.

[itvt]: So the new hockey app is basically the same app as the football app?

Kaliciak: Yes, it's basically the same app. We worked with Tandberg to build a generic, TSN-branded application, with the idea in mind that we would be able to use it for multiple events. So it takes us almost no effort at all to switch the app from football to hockey. The biggest difference is that Tandberg wrote some new games for us as part of the switch--and we're also tweaking some other elements of the app, based on what we learned from offering it in association with football: the chat is being expanded, as I mentioned; we dropped a scrolling text list of players from both teams, since no one seemed to use it; and, because wagering-for-fun is so popular, we've actually tested having two or three "bets" open at once--which the Tandberg tool handles A-OK. We actually offered the app in association with football only for a very short period of time: September and October. But it gave us a chance to learn more about offering interactivity and to get the app perfect before launching it in association with our NHL coverage.

Franzetta: Our intent was to build TSN a template-based application that was branded for their network and that allowed them the flexibility to use it across any sports broadcast that they wanted.

[itvt]: How did the football application perform?

Kaliciak: We can't give out specific numbers, just because of our agreement with the sponsors. Also, bear in mind that it's still a relatively new field, so everyone is still getting their feet wet, and we didn't have tens of thousands of people playing. However, what has been very exciting to me has been that, between the beginning of September, when we launched the app, and the end of October, we had a 300% increase in the number of players. One thing we've really learned to do is to promote it relentlessly on air. So the announcers mention it at the beginning of the game; we run promos during the game; we push it on the bottom of the screen; and we also promote it on our Web site. So what we've found is that it's the kind of thing that, once people know about it and try it, they keep coming back. One of the best things about this application is its chat component--which is something that I never realized would be such a useful source of instantaneous user-group feedback! You get to hear immediately what people like and what they don't like about the app. Another nice thing is that you start to see "regulars" from week to week: I think we've really built up a small but growing following that I hope we can carry over into hockey and do even better with--because, after all, this is hockey and it's Canada!

Franzetta: You mean that hockey is popular there?

Kaliciak: We're born with sticks in our hands.

[itvt]: How are you promoting the hockey version of the application on your Web site?

Kaliciak: One thing we've added on our Web site, TSN.ca/NHL, is a mini-Flash application that has three hockey trivia questions people can play right on the page, to give them a taste of what they can see when the use the full application. It also has a countdown clock ticking down the hours and minutes until the next two-screen game.

[itvt]: What sorts of things do users of the application chat about, in addition to the strengths and weaknesses of the app itself?

Kaliciak: Well, with football, because the country is so big, every team tends to have its own regional rivalries. So there is a lot of--mostly--good-natured ribbing of one another. It has rarely ever devolved into a situation where anybody is being offensive. Tandberg actually puts good language filters into the app's chat function, but we haven't really needed those that much. It's quite heartening, after 10 to 12 years of the Internet, to see people behaving themselves better. They generally tend to stay on topic--with comments like "That was a dumb play" or "That was a good play." When you first think about offering chat, it's somewhat scary. But, people seem to really love it and it's worked out very well--to the point where, as I mentioned, we've asked Tandberg to enlarge the feature so that people can have even longer chat histories.

[itvt]: Which company is sponsoring the hockey version of the app?

Kaliciak: Molson Canadian, the big brewery in Canada, which also sponsored the football version of the app, is sponsoring the hockey version. Half way through the run of the football version, they said, "Let's do hockey, too." So they've been really supportive, really great. They and their media agency, MediaEdge, were really interested in doing this--and it was actually them who asked us to look into it.

[itvt]: So the decision to offer the application in association with hockey was driven by Molson?

Kaliciak: Yes, Molson actually asked us to put together a hockey pitch for them. They've been behind the app a hundred percent. When you've got a sponsor that wants to do something like this, it's so much easier than trying to drum up interest in it. They could see what this was, and they were interested in doing it.

[itvt]: I take it that Molson and MediaEdge were familiar with two-screen interactive TV before Molson agreed to sponsor the football version of the app…

Kaliciak: One thing that's helped here a lot is that TSN is part of the Disney-ABC family--we're one third owned by ESPN--and, as you know, ABC has been offering two-screen interactivity in association with Monday Night Football for seven years now. So there's been an awareness of the potential of interactive TV here at TSN for some time. And we've been communicating to agencies for three to four years now that this was something that was possible and that we were looking into it.

The other thing that's driven interest on the part of the agencies is that CTV, the big broadcast network that owns most of TSN, did an interactive TV application for the Juno music awards back in the spring, using ABC's infrastructure in New York. Advertising agencies were able to see what it was all about and how it benefited sponsors, and I think that's what got the ball rolling in terms of Molson's being interested in interactivity. And, to date, TSN and CTV are still the only ones doing this kind of interactivity up here. Most broadcasters think the economics are a bit scary, because it does take some money to do. So it's heartening that the advertisers do seem to be asking for this kind of thing--that they're looking to sponsor something where there is two-way interaction going on, that goes beyond a typical 30-second commercial.

[itvt]: When you were offering the app in association with football, what kind of opportunities did you offer Molson to get its message across?

Kaliciak: There were questions that were synchronized to run during commercials, so that viewers got bonus points if they knew, for example, what year the Molson brewery was founded or how many Molson breweries are located across Canada. So we definitely incorporated questions like that into the trivia questions viewers were answering. There was also persistent messaging about the product, and Molson's Web site was promoted. One thing that was great--from the sponsor's perspective as well as from ours--was that we were getting 40 to 50-minute usage times, depending on the game. That's a long period of time to be engaging somebody compared to the average time they would normally spend on a Web site.

[itvt]: When you cite usage times do you mean the amount of time that viewers are engaging actively with the application, or just the amount of time their computers are connected to the app?

Franzetta: Well, you can tell the difference by the frequency with which they're answering polls and making use of the application's two-way infrastructure. The numbers generally reflect that users of the app are not only on the site during that period of time, but that they're actively engaged with the application.

[itvt]: And how does 40 to 50 minutes of engagement compare with other two-screen apps in your experience, Joe?

Franzetta: Based on our experience, these are solid results, consistent with what we've seen elsewhere.

[itvt]: Presumably there are factors related to the content of a linear program itself that have an impact on the usage of its associated application…

Kaliciak: Yes. With football, we see people dropping in and out, and it's generally related to what the score in the game is. If the score is close and the game is exciting, it tends to keep people using the application longer. If, on the other hand, it's a blowout, the app tends not to hold people as long. That's just the nature of sports.

[itvt]: Joe, did the football version of the application, and will the hockey version of the app, innovate in any way upon the work that you've done in the past on two-screen apps, whether as GoldPocket or Tandberg?

Franzetta: One innovation is the fact that mini-games are being built for each version of the application that are specific to each sport--despite the fact that we're using the same template for both the football and the hockey application. TSN found that there was a lot of interest from their viewers in mini-games that are sport-specific, so they asked us to develop some specifically hockey-based mini-games to respond to that interest.

[itvt]: Could you tell us a little more about these mini-games and when they appear in the application?

Kaliciak: What's great about these games is that we can call them up at any time and that we can call them up for as long as we need to. At half time, for example, we'll call them up for maybe three to four minutes, and give our team that's running the app a break--since running this can be pretty relentless, with having to constantly feed new information in, and so on. The games give people something to do while they keep an eye on what's happening during the half-time show. However, I should stress that we never run one of these mini-games while there is play on the field, because we don't want to distract from the TV broadcast. But what we've found is that during half time and commercial breaks, these games help to keep people engaged in what's going on and thus stop them from changing the channel.

[itvt]: Do you award viewers points for playing the games as well as for answering the application's questions correctly?

Kaliciak: We give points for everything, including playing the mini-games, answering poll questions and answering sponsor questions, too. We want everybody to accumulate some points so they have something to wager, and feel involved.

Let me give you a couple of examples of mini-games we offered on the football app: there was a passing game in which you could choose from five different plays shown on the left side of the screen. One was the fly route, but you could have them go to the left or to the right, so you actually ran a little passing play and you had to click on a receiver. We also had a field goal kicking game where you had to try to kick a ball through the uprights, and there were a couple of graphical sliders where you had to finesse it so that you didn't kick it too hard or too soft. The great thing about these mini-games was that they exemplified how Tandberg and TSN really work well together. They came to us with a whole bunch of ideas for games, and we ran them all by our group of in-house Web geeks, asking them, "Which of these do you like? What would you like to see?" It was a really nice process back and forth. You   can see that it has paid off in the chat rooms: people brag, "I got two field goals!" or "I got three!'; and they help one another and give one another tips, and so forth. When we saw that kind of stuff going on, we decided that we definitely wanted to do these mini-games for hockey too. So now we're doing a target practice game where you have to slap a puck into different corners of the net. We're also doing a game that features an ice cleaner--you have to try and clean the ice in between periods. That was a great idea that Tandberg came up with: you mightn't know this, but one thing that every Canadian wants to do is to ride an ice cleaner.

[itvt]: The mini-games offered by the application are single-player, not multi-player, correct?

Kaliciak: That's right. Speaking for TSN, I don't think we'll see multi-player games on an app like this in the near future, since that does involve a higher level of complexity--not just in the application, but on the server side as well.

[itvt]: Whose idea was it to offer games within the app--Tandberg's or TSN's?

Kaliciak: Tandberg's. We'd never really thought of offering games when we first approached them about building the app. I definitely think that games have been one of the most successful elements of this application so far: if we continue to offer this app in association with football and hockey in the future, we'll probably keep rolling out new games to keep the app fresh. I'm actually amazed at how quickly they can put them together. I mean, I never thought Tandberg was a gaming company. You guys might have a new business here!

[itvt]: Offering fairly complex games within a two-screen application--isn't that something relatively new for Tandberg?

Franzetta: Well, our toolset enables you to do certain things, and we were lucky to find a programming p*artner that was interested in leveraging that toolset. Really, it all comes down to how creative people want to be.

[itvt]: And the TSN apps were built using technologies that Tandberg acquired through its purchase of GoldPocket, correct?

Franzetta: Yes, they were built using traditional GoldPocket technologies, so to speak. However, I should point out that, in the past, our applications were built on the Shockwave platform and we've now moved over to the Flash platform--so that has provided us with more flexibility in the types of things that we can do. For example, Flash gives us better animation capabilities, which enable more exciting gaming elements such as the TSN mini-games. Additionally, Flash handles video really well; this is particularly important given the recent explosion in broadband video offerings. Also, as you know, Flash has an exceptionally high market penetration--somewhere around 97 or 98%--which gives our programming p*artners a significantly larger target audience.

[itvt]: When did you switch to Flash?

Franzetta: Earlier this year.

[itvt]: In addition to the mini-games and the expanded chat functionality, what other features of the TSN app stand out as original or unusual?

Kaliciak: Here's another thing that Tandberg Television proposed to us and that we had never seen before: when you start the application, the first thing you're asked is which team you are rooting for, and your answer actually affects some of the app's colors and some of its text. The screen changes color to match the colors of the team you chose. Then we conduct polls and ask questions during the telecast like "Do you think that ball was out of bounds?" And we show the number of people for each team who thought that the ball was out of bounds, and it's always interesting to see how the fact that they're rooting for one side or the other influences their perception of reality. Also, if the team you chose scores, you get bonus points based on that. So this has turned out to be another great way to draw people into the game, because there are always rivalries and you're always rooting for one team or the other when you're watching a game--or you probably wouldn't be watching the game in the first place.

[itvt]: How much of the ongoing production for the application is TSN doing and how much is Tandberg doing?

Franzetta: To TSN's credit, they are taking on a lot of the production themselves--and also using our tools to do real-time production. They're creating some of the content ahead of time, and then pushing that content when it's appropriate to push it. But they're also creating content on the fly: if something interesting is happening in the game, and you want to fan the flames of rivalry on the application, it's good to be able to instantly create content in response to whatever it is that's happening.

[itvt]: What percentage of the application's content is developed in advance and what percentage is developed on the fly during the broadcast itself?

Kaliciak: It's probably close to 50/50. We do like to load up on trivia in advance, because everybody likes trivia. Actually, speaking of what people like, one thing we've been doing a lot of for this application is asking people what elements of it they like and dislike, and what they'd like to see. We've even been asking people these kinds of questions in the chat rooms. In terms of creating content for the application, one thing we've noticed is that people really seem to enjoy it when they get to click on something, versus just passively getting information. So, if you just put up a picture of a player with his biography, people are OK with it. But if you replace that biography with a question--so, for example, "Where and when was so-and-so born?"--all of a sudden people are like, "Wow! Here's something to do." So we've definitely moved more towards asking questions than just providing information: one thing that seems to work very well is asking questions like "Do you think that this team will score on this drive?" or "Do you think they'll get this field goal?"

[itvt]: You mean predict-the-play-type questions?

Kaliciak: Yes. So with the hockey version of the application, we're going to ask people questions like "Do you think they'll score on this penalty?"

Now, as I think you know, one thing that we've been doing and that I don't think anyone else is doing is that we're allowing people to wager some of their points on the answers to these predict-the-play questions. So you can bet anywhere from 5% to 100% of the points you've accumulated on the outcome of a play. That really seems to draw people in: you'll see people in the chat area saying, "Damn! I've just lost 12,000 points!"

[itvt]: Now Canadian law would prohibit you from offering wagering with real money, correct?

Kaliciak: Yes. The gambling laws here are pretty similar to those of the States. We can't allow wagers for real.

[itvt]: Could you talk a little more about the application's points system?

Kaliciak: Yes. You get a running tally throughout the whole time you're using the application. And, when you're in the chat room, the chat room list shows you what your rank is, so that you can see how you're doing against other people. That, of course, is very important. Even though by scoring points you're not actually winning money or anything, it's amazing how important the bragging rights for having scored the most points are to people who use the app. You see them boasting in the chat   rooms: "I'm number one!" or "I'm number two!" Actually, one thing our producers have started doing that's very clever is that they're now playing into this by putting up messages that say things like, "So-and-so just dropped out of first place and he's been replaced by so-and-so." So we're actually giving shout-outs as to how things are going points-wise, and people are now participating in the trivia contest just to see if their name comes up. This kind of thing fosters friendly rivalries and I think it's one of the reasons why we're now getting "regulars." It just makes it a lot more fun. A lot of the two-screen applications that I've seen other broadcasters do still seem to be based more on just pushing out information at you--and that doesn't really give you a sense of being involved in the application. I actually think one of the best things that Tandberg has done with this application is make it less informational and more like a game. We didn't want an app that would basically be doing little more than calling up Web pages.

[itvt]: Now when you mention that you're doing shout-outs, that's only within the application, correct? Do you have any plans to do shout-outs on the air for viewers who are using the app?

Kaliciak: No, not yet. That's certainly a goal, but it would require a level of integration with the broadcast that's still tricky with the resources that we have. But having the announcers refer to a poll on the air is certainly something we'd like to do someday. I think we'll get to that point. Right now, though, we're crawling but hoping to walk eventually.

[itvt]: How did the relationship between Tandberg Television and TSN come about?

Franzetta: As I recall, the general introduction came through CTV: we've been in discussions with those folks for quite some time now. We actually have a lot of activity in Canada, so it's not surprising that we eventually crossed paths with the guys from TSN.

Kaliciak: I should add that part of the reason that I was aware of Tandberg was because we've done a fair bit of single-screen interactivity on Bell ExpressVu's platform, and some of that stuff was done using Tandberg tools.

[itvt]: What other deployments does Tandberg have in Canada?

Franzetta: Well, as Paul mentioned, we've actually deployed a number of single-screen applications on the Bell ExpressVu platform, for example. However, I think that the TSN deployment represents the first time that we've done two-screen applications that are designed solely for the Canadian market.

[itvt]: Does TSN plan to offer the application in association with other sports in addition to football and hockey?

Kaliciak: Well, first we have to decide if we're going to expand it to all the 70 hockey games we carry per year. Right now, we're offering it in association with 22 of those games. If it proves successful, we'll probably extend it beyond our Wednesday night hockey broadcasts, which are marquee broadcasts for us. In addition to hockey and football, we carry the NBA and Major League Baseball--but those tend not to be anywhere near as big as hockey, so I don't know that we'll   offer the app in association with those sports. Here hockey is the giant, and everything else is dwarfed. We also have amateur hockey tournaments that we carry on our channel, and we might look at extending the application to those too. But it really all depends on our ability to get sponsors involved, since there are costs to doing this. If we can't get sponsorship upfront for doing this, I don't think we could afford to do it just on our own. This isn't cheap to do--especially if you do it right. We've actually played with various forms of interactive TV over the years, trying to build some technology ourselves. But when you're trying to have multiple people playing simultaneously, it's just really hard to do. One of the reasons we went with Tandberg was because I wanted to work with a company that I knew had already done this: one thing that convinced me to go with them was seeing some of their US applications, such as the ones they did for NBC for the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

[itvt]: Joe, do you know how many two-screen applications GoldPocket/Tandberg has launched to date, and how many are currently running?

Franzetta: I have no idea how many we've done overall, but it's got to be over 100. As for how many are running right now, well, certainly you have a lot running with GSN, as they've made two-screen interactivity central to their channel. In addition to our applications on GSN, there are probably five or so others running right now.

[itvt]: Joe, as you know, two-screen interactive TV applications have traditionally been viewed as a band-aid/stop-gap until platforms that support single-screen interactive TV become more widely deployed. Do you feel that two-screen ITV has a future, and, if so, how do you think that will play into the broadband video phenomenon?

Franzetta: Actually, we've seen a recent upsurge in demand for two-screen programming from our network p*artners. I believe this is due in large part to the increasing penetration of broadband connectivity to the home, as well as the growth in online video offerings. Consumers are spending more and more time online, as well as with mobile and "on-the-go" devices like iPods. And networks and advertisers are following those eyeballs. Interactive is a great way to keep viewers engaged with programming and, currently, the largest user base for interactivity is available online. As other platforms, such as IPTV and OCAP-enabled cable set-top boxes, come on board, we expect to see the number of interactive offerings continue to grow.

Regarding broadband video in particular, as you know, Tandberg recently acquired Zetools. Based on what we are seeing in the industry and hearing from customers, we believe there is significant opportunity for a combined offering that leverages Zetools' expertise in broadband video, as well as Tandberg's interactive and advertising solutions.

URL: TSN Interactive

URL: Tandberg Television

Originally Published: November 1, 2006  in [itvt] Issue 7.02

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