AirsideTV expects web broadcasting to take off

By RICHARD WOOD

Web broadcasting firm AirsideTV is expecting that Microsoft's Windows Media 9 video technology will usher in a new era of internet-based video presentation, and has jumped aboard for the ride.

The aviation enthusiasts' site has been developing a niche broadcasting operation for three years from its base in Wellington.

Co-founder and director of programming Paul Brennan said the firm's audience reached critical mass in December and AirsideTV was now making a small and growing income through advertising.

The website gets 4000 to 6000 viewing sessions served a week. It is also the only official webcaster for the US Government's Centennial of Flight Commission.

As well as association with and filming rights for events surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flights, the deal gives it access to Nasa archives and the Smithsonian air and space museum.

Brennan has just returned from the US with 40 Betacam tapes from Nasa to use on the
AirsideTV site. They included "some of the most famous memorable occasions from space and aviation", he said.

AirsideTV shifted to Microsoft's Server 2003 and Media 9 encoding software last week, and would progressively shift its archives to the new format, which Brennan said had "near broadcast" quality.

He said when combined with the internet's video-on-demand capability it marked the beginning of the end for terrestrial broadcasters.

"It is purely and simply a revolution."

Brennan said New Zealanders needed to wake up and tap into this technology now, and take advantage of our ability to prepare content the night before most of the world looked at it.

He said he could not find a local internet provider for the hosting he needed so the site was hosted in the US, where bandwidth costs less and it can be positioned in the "main pipe" of the internet.

The firm has arranged sufficient server capacity in the US for another three similar-sized internet TV operations and he is inviting other New Zealanders to come up with ideas or joint ventures.

One already in progress is a New Zealand music channel and another under wraps involves sports.

Brennan said the cost of providing internet TV was a fraction of that of traditional free-to-air and pay TV.

He estimated that setting up a site like AirsideTV would cost S250,000, including start-up content, and few people were required to run such a site as long as they had the right skill sets.

Brennan said internet TV changed the nature of broadcasting because viewers could send in clips through uploading.

As an example, AirsideTV has regular contributors from Heathrow and Yugoslavia.

"Your viewers can also be your content providers. We have spotters and enthusiasts uploading content all the time."

AirsideTV was formed by advertising agency Media Force and web design firm Phil O'Reilly in 1999 with early help from Paradise.net's Shane Cole.