GATINEAU – Earlier this month, a group of 14 broadcasters met for the first time to begin figuring out how to develop a subscription television set top box data measurement system.
In its TV Policy Review decision, the CRTC said building such a system would be a very good thing and set a deadline of April 13th for an industry-wide working group to start moving. Representatives from Bell Canada, Blue Ant Media, CBC, Cogeco, Corus, Eastlink, the Independent Broadcasters Group, MTS, Pelmorex, Quebecor, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw and Telus met on April 8th saying in its first letter to the Commission that they recognize “the benefits that may result from the development of a set-top-box audience measurement system for the various sectors of the industry.
“Participants have all demonstrated a genuine willingness to move forward with the establishment of an action plan to sort out issues related to set-top-box audience measurement, and to report to the Commission on its progress by June 10, 2015, as provided in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86.”
(Ed note: Gathering viewership data has been something we at Cartt.ca have been advocating for some time.)
Based on the group’s preliminary discussions, says its letter, the action plan will include:
- Identification of appropriate set-top-box audience measurement data, based on the various set-top-box technologies and development of technical standards;
- Recommendations on privacy standards to ensure that the privacy of distributors’ customers is fully protected; and
- Identification of a governance structure and recommendations on funding arrangements.
The STB Working Group will soon be sending out requests for information to various third party aggregators in order to better understand the range of services and solutions that each can respectively offer to assist the industry in setting-up a cost efficient set-top-box audience measurement system. During the Let’s Talk TV hearing, data miner Fourth Wall Media, Numeris (formerly BBM, and whose membership comprises most Canadian broadcasters) and Rentrak (which has been running a system Stateside for years) said they would be interested in leading the way.
As well, “the STB Working Group will also reach out to the Privacy Commissioner to solicit comments on privacy standards,” added the letter.
