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Molly Reynolds
Molly Reynolds, Executive Producer, Beyond Online
Our case study is the three broadband channels that we will publish early in 2002. It is a joint venture between Beyond Online and Telstra: a content production house meets a telco. …
There are a number of challenges. As my counterpart from the ABC, Ingrid Spielman, will be aware, a big issue is rights. That is a nightmare. Who has rights to what? I know that this is an issue for Nick Murray as well. In particular, in relation to re-purposed content, we are contending with the rights issues involved in program segmentation. Historically you buy a program. However, what people like Ingrid and I are looking at doing is partitioning programs so that we can present 5 to 10 minute excerpts. There are also problems with programs which include stock footage. Often, stock footage bought for part of a program cannot be used in the online environment, which can prevent the video footage from being viable. Then, there are the underlying rights of your writers, your actors and your music. It was not too long ago, when I did my time at the ABC, that a 30 second television commercial needed to have all the rights cleared to be able to go on the Internet. So, we are still working in that sort of environment.
Another thing that we are finding very challenging at the moment is our relationships. It is not a fee-for-service environment out there at the moment, so we are busy working on contra-deals where we form alliances on the understanding of a future trade-off. These sorts of relationships are difficult; working on the basis that there is not fair exchange now but hoping that it will come together in the future. The biggest incentive in going into these relationships for all partners is this ground level entry, where we get there first and we get it right. A good example is a recent contra-deal that we have done with the AFI (Australian Film Institute). We are looking at representing their short film catalogue on our entertainment channel. We have done an exchange based on the fact that we have the resources to digitise their content and the model in which to present their content, and they actually have the content.
Another challenge is our audiences. Do we know our audiences? Hanging over us is the failure of outfits like Scape, Kgrind and Rush. Why did they fail; and why did they fail so spectacularly? We need to understand the reasons, because, as Colin Griffith said earlier, there is no VC investment here at all, and I think that we should stop and take stock of the carnage that has gone before us.
Another challenge is that we are considered second rate as a broadcasting communications medium. I have experienced this both in my time working with ABC TV and also at Beyond, where the attitude is that online should stand aside: 'we have more important things to do'. I have found that a very big part of my roles in both places has been to cultivate an understanding, and look at ways to create content loops. Colin talked about the connections, and I think that that is a very important part of it.
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