Public organizations like the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Radio Canada seem to be on the leading edge of digital media, providing free access to films and TV shows online.

One industry analyst says the future of content delivery could look an awful lot like the past. 

“Free is the way of the past,” Patrick McGowan, said president of InMotion, an HD video production company.

“If you go back into the history of television, over-the-air was how television signals evolved. It wasn’t until cable emerged that this concept of paying for access to content started ... All that’s happening here is you’re removing the cable chunk out of it.” 

The NFB has garnered no small amount of attention for its new Screening Room, accessible via the organization’s website. Launched about a year ago with 650 films, its library has now grown to 1,500, and attracts an average of 20,000 daily visitors, said Deborah Drisdell, the NFB’s director general of accessibility and digital enterprises. 

“In the film board’s early years, we had travelling projectionists,” she said.

“People would actually go out all across the country with film cans under their arms, and show films in church basements and everywhere. When television came, the NFB lost a bit of that direct connection. We thought digital technology would allow us to get back that direct connection with Canadians.”

Similarly, Radio Canada launched Tou.tv last month, offering free access to archived and new French language TV shows at a single access point.  

It’s an extension of Radio Canada’s existing digital media work, said Marie Tetreault, communications manager for the organization’s Internet and digital services division.

“We thought that at this moment in time, it would be great to offer more choices in video on demand.”

With 2,000 hours of programming on offer, Tou.tv’s content comes not only from the public broadcaster, but also TFO, Télé-Québec, and RTS. The organization says it’s a good way potentially expand its audience, Tetreault said.

In the first 10 days of operation, Tou.tv’s top-two shows are CA and Les Parents, both comedies. Radio Canada plans to add new shows each week.

The free content harkens back to a time when people tuned into their favourite shows via free, over-the-air broadcasts, and production was supported by advertising.

“We’re back to where TV started,” McGowan said.

Michael Geist, a law professor and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said public entities like the NFB and Radio Canada could have an important role to play in the digital universe—if they get the formula right.

“I think public broadcasters must find ways to distinguish themselves from the private sector in order for support to continue,” he said.

“One way to do that is content. Another is by making the content more openly available and re-usable, so that it is more relevant and valued by the public.”

The NFB has developed an application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, allowing users to watch NFB films from the Screening Room on the go. Drisdell said the app has been downloaded 193,000 times.

Free content doesn’t necessarily spell zero revenue. Drisdell said that with static budgets and rising costs, the NFB faces dwindling purchasing power, so the film board is taking on money-making initiatives.

“You can still go to our store on the website and buy DVDs of the films,” he said.

“I think ultimately there might be some hybrid model ... where if you want to see a film that’s in the theatres at the moment, perhaps you’d want to pay to see those films. I think those are models we might test in the future.”

Tou.tv doesn’t plan to stay free forever, Tetreault said.

She said the pre-roll and banner advertising now on the site might not be enough to support it in the long term, but Radio Canada aims to keep access free for as long as possible.

The CBC is publicly funded but it doesn’t plan to launch anything like Tou.tv, said Jeff Keay, a CBC spokesman.

Still, the organization has a number of digital initiatives.

“We have a great deal of news and entertainment programming available online at CBC.ca and available for sale on iTunes, for both audio and video content, Keay said, adding that this summer the broadcaster will offer the World Cup on its various digital platforms.

An In-Stat report released late January suggested that it might not be long before online projects come full circle.

The firm predicts a proliferation of technologies designed to bring web content to TV sets, allowing viewers to access content on sites like the Screening Room and Tou.tv on their televisions.

Worldwide shipments of web-enabled consumer devices (such as TVs that can access the web) will grow to more than 230 million by 2013, In-Stat says.

Content delivery is changing—but that’s not all. As Drisdell pointed out, the way we talk about content is also shifting.

“We’re pulling away from the word ‘filmmakers,’” she said.  

The people gathering footage for NFB projects often use digital cameras, and they’re developing not just moving pictures, but content like photo essays.

Instead, the NFB calls them “creators.”

“There’s a whole new grammar that needs to develop,” Drisdell said. 

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