FORMER ASTRAL TELEVISION chief executive Lisa de Wilde told Cartt.ca she was just "waiting for the right opportunity to come along" between the time she left Astral in 2001 until she was hired as president of TVOntario in September of 2005.
Since her hiring however, de Wilde has taken the opportunity to begin to dramatically overhaul Ontario’s public educational broadcaster with a new strategic agenda (the details of which were reported by Cartt.ca here). Out are Studio 2 and More to Life (and maybe others). In are far more kids hours and programming aimed at "citizenship and education."
Also in are new digital technologies and a hard look at how to boost revenues because while some new money has been injected by the government, more funds will be required to maintain production of its own content while also moving to digital and HD. Content sales to additional platforms are one avenue to new revenue, but advertising or sponsorship is also on the table (music to the private broadcasters’ ears, no doubt).
De Wilde wouldn’t say for sure what she’s thinking of along those lines, since TVO’s conditions of license appear to prohibit any promotions but its own programming for now, but such conditions are never set in stone and the broadcaster’s license is due to expire in August 2007.
Last week, de Wilde (pictured) chatted with Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien. What follows is an edited transcript.
Greg O’Brien: Was TVOntario’s new strategic agenda something you began working on as soon as you got to TVO or was it in progress already? 
Lisa de Wilde: No. Peter O’Brien, the new chair, and I were asked when we took over to undertake an internal review and we decided that it was a good time – with everything that’s happening in the market with technology – to step back and turn it into a genuine strategic review for the organization. We really got down to hard work, January, February, March; went to our board in April, and got to share the good news with our staff last Thursday.
GOB: Compared to when you started it in the fall when – to when you announced it, were there any directions that you ended up going that surprised you?
LDW: I’m very pleased that we were able to find a way to stay in the in-house creation of content. That very much was the question: Could we afford to stay in that business? And we realized there were some huge advantages around (content) rights for new platforms, around creating and building our brands and being able to deliver unique content for both children and adults. Being able to continue to create our own content is huge.
GOB: Okay. Now, TVO Kids is on a lot in my house (with an eight year old and a two-year-old). How will that change?
LDW: We will be able to offer you from six in the morning till the end of the afternoon, a continuous block of (children’s) programming. And we’re going to be doing new things on TVOkids.com – more games, better games, more interactivity, more challenging games, really trying to push the limits, but all with content parents can feel very comfortable with. It’s content that’s been created with educators, that’s linked to the (Ontario Educational) curriculum and it’s all driven from the desire to help kids succeed at the goal. We really are surrounding the school and focusing on the home.
GOB: Does the plan contemplate a switch over to high definition as well?
LDW: It’s a switch to digital technology at the level of how we create and then how we access the various distribution platforms. Whether we will go to HD immediately or not, is really a question we haven’t yet answered. We got the green light last week in terms of the funding. Now the details planning around that capital project begins.
GOB: Is it enough money to do what you need to do?
LDW: Yes, because we’re going to do it in a very modest what I call a "Jetta-like" approach, instead of a Jaguar.
GOB: Okay. Can you give me an example of where you might be able to keep the costs down?
LDW: We’ll look, for example, at cameras. You can spend a lot on cameras or you can spend less on cameras. The test is it has to be all interoperable. We’re going to be leveraging all of the potential economies that digital does hold.
GOB: What about like sponsorships or advertising? And I’m thinking of that because along with TVO Kids, PBS Kids is on a lot in this house and they have a lot of different sponsorships whether it’s McDonalds or Marineland or whatever to earn revenue. Do you see TVO doing that?
LDW: I believe that on the revenue side, we have to explore and create many new revenue streams – absolutely. Part and parcel of this digital plan is financial sustainability and sponsorships are certainly one avenue we’re going to be looking at, as well as (video on demand) or mobile.
The good news is we have, I believe, a very focused content and distribution strategy and everybody out there in the media industry is grappling with how to turn all these new opportunities into genuine revenue streams.
GOB: So, will I be able to take some of the TVO Kids content onto my iPod when I travel with my kids?
LDW: I very much hope so. Absolutely. We had some early successes on iPods with some of our content around lectures with big ideas. We think that’s a place that we want to be and we think some of our content is ideally suited to the long drive to the cottage.
GOB: Whether iPods or wireless phones or whatever the device may be?
LDW: Absolutely.
GOB: Now, with Studio 2 gone, how is The Agenda with Steve Paikin going to be different?
LDW: The Agenda is going do a lot of what Studio 2 did but it’s going to be a single-issue show. It’s going to be more in-depth interviews; more debates; have more voices… it’s going to be serious and authoritative. I’m very excited about the potential for user-generated content and what we can do going out into the community.
GOB: It’s interesting that Citytv started Speakers Corner where people had to go to a booth and tape themselves, but now everyone’s got their own speakers corner no matter where they might be with a webcam or digital camera. Will viewers be able to submit their stuff directly to TVO? Or is it going to be more structured than that?
LDW: Well, that is the potential and I think that is what’s so exciting about all of these tools.
GOB: Do you envision yourself branching out into other sort of broadcast streams in terms of specialty channels or digital multicast?
LDW: That’s something we’ll explore. Right now we are focused on getting the digital strategy clear, understanding what it’s going to take to be successful on some of the more obvious new platforms. We’ve got our content strategy clear and we’ll be focusing on new revenue streams.
GOB: The employees that have been affected by all this, are they being retrained or let go? Or is it up to them?
LDW: It’s actually a very gratifying place be in terms where we’re at in the media marketplace. We now have an opportunity over the next two years to focus on employee on training, organizational development, skills development, to really enable our people to be successful in the digital world. I’m really pleased that we’re able to do that.
GOB: Now, the changes that are happening at TVO, that we’ve talked about; are similar things going to be happening at TFO once it’s split off?
LDW: Certainly one part of the plan that we’re going to be putting together for TFO as an autonomous organization is to address its transition to digital.
GOB: When is the TFO split going to happen?
LDW: Our board will make a recommendation to the government by the end of the calendar year
GOB: When do you envision all of these changes that are in the new strategic plan being done?
LDW: Well, from a capital or plant perspective, we will start with some new cameras this fall but the real facility will be ready for September 2007.
When it comes to the content, we are starting to make some tweaks now but it really will be over the next 12 to 15 months that we rollout a new strategy for adults.
