Forget the broadband refuseniks

'You'll not get me on t'internet' - Ena Sharples, Corrie stalwart and almost certain broadband refusenik. Probably

SOMEONE once claimed that the best way to extend broadband take-up to everyone in the country would be to put Coronation Street exclusively online. This year, something like that may just happen.

It was in December 2008 that plans for Project Canvas – a partnership between the BBC, BT and ITV – was first announced. Like it its forerunner, the eventually doomed Kangaroo, industry analysts had partly expected Canvas to become mired in difficulties with the Competition Commission. But the new venture, which also now has Five, Channel 4 and TalkTalk on board, has succeeded where Kangaroo has failed because it will supply its services through a set-top box, expected to cost around £200, rather than directly to a PC.

What Canvas will provide for those who take it up is a video on-demand (VOD) service. Many of us already make use of such services, like iPlayer (which served around 730 million requests last year) through our PC or through Virgin boxes, or YouTube UK Shows, with more being rolled out this year, such as a more fully-comprehensive Sky package and newcomers like MSN Video. But where Canvas differs slightly is that it can access its partners’ enormous libraries, opening up a huge market in nostalgia, of the kind evoked in the current EastEnders‘ promotion campaign, while allowing households to take greater control over their own programming.

In addition, viewers should also be able to access orthodox online content – websites. The interface is likely to be different, so expect to see widget bars on your screens. Already, there are some widgets being offered for internet protocol television (IPTV), through sites such as Widgetbox. It appears that, like Android and Apple apps, there could be opportunities here for small-sized software developers.

Just before Christmas, the project took another step forward when the BBC Trust gave provisional approval to the corporation’s involvement, and it is currently in the midst of a consultation and expected to make a final and full decision next month. Given that Canvas has already cost around £115m to date, it seems reasonable to expect an answer in the affirmative.

But it will not be plain sailing from there. There is the Office of Fair Trading to contend with. It may have been alerted to the project’s shortcomings by Sky’s objections, and even the BBC has admitted that Canvas will hurt pay-TV with it’s one-time payment for the box and services such as pause and record live television. Rupert Murdoch’s aggressive stance towards Google over aggregated NewsCorp content has translated neatly over to the affairs of his other divisions, it would seem. However, there are a number of commentators that find Sky’s position short-sighted. Not only does it face technical obstacles in delivering VOD through its satellite network, but there is a convincing argument that were it to throw its lot in with Canvas, its own content would reach new and potentially far wider audiences through the platform’s pay-TV features.

Canvas would most likely be launched in an aggressive marketplace, vying with a series of VOD newcomers such as the Disney and NewsCrop-backed Hulu, SeeSaw (the old Kangaroo platform, bought from the BBC by Arqiva for around £8m), and BlinkBox, a little-known but fully-functioning VOD service that mixes up pay and free content, films and TV series. It may be that a unified service is delivered, through Canvas but making use of iPlayer’s functionality.

Despite these obstacles, there is some expectation among the Government and other authorities that IPTV will take the internet into the homes of those that don’t have it. Around 85% of homes and businesses in the UK have broadband speed of 2Mbps, which allows for stutter-free video streaming. The Government wants to improve this so that 90% of the UK will access broadband of speeds up to 50Mbps by 2017, and announced plans for a somewhat controversial new tax last June of 50p per month on fixed phone lines to pay for this. Over a shorter period, it wants to extend the 2Mbps threshold to the same proportion of households – around 98% – who currently receive terrestrial television.

But take-up is still considered an issue. According to the Government’s Digital Britain report, UK take-up is around 68% – just over two thirds. However, in Wales – and despite some recent and encouraging growth, particularly in rural areas – that figure is at 58%. Ofcom says that figure has risen from a paltry 45%, less than one in two homes with broadband, in 2008.

And the broadband poverty doesn’t end there. According to Point Topic’s Broadband Geography report, the country’s penetration is cause for concern. Tim Johnson, its chief analyst, said: “We class 68 cities, towns and districts as having high broadband penetration, but only three of these (one of which is Cardiff) are north and west of a line from the Wash to the Bristol Channel. Of the 60 with low penetration, only six are south of that line. Population penetration, total broadband lines per head of population, is just under 33% in the south compared to just over 26% in the northern and western regions.”

It isn’t rurality that is always the issue, according to Point Topic. Scottish broadband take-up is surprisingly high, partly because the country has far more telephone exchanges per head of population. But, said Johnson, “Much of the credit though must go to the Scottish government which has spent millions to ensure that broadband is available from all the country’s exchanges. In fact the take-up picture is even better than shown here because we do not include satellite and fixed wireless broadband services which are relatively more important in Scotland.”

Instead, Johnson says: “The lowest take-up zones … are often in regions that have been victims of industrial decline like the old mining communities in the north east, north west and Wales.” At present, the Institute of Advanced Broadcasting at the University of Wales, Newport is working with the Wesley Clover Corporation (headed by Sir Terry Matthews) and Move Networks on a project in Blaenau Gwent that is designed to find out if number of broadband refuseniks in the area can be reduced be selling them the benefits of advanced technology.

Inuk technology, which delivers high definition streaming via PCs, has been installed in the homes of 5% of people in the borough. There are plans to examine the potential for small community media as well as new business models.

Both the project and its aims are laudable, and presumably fit in with Welsh Government ambitions for inclusivity. And it will be interesting to hear its findings. But, sooner or later, both the UK government and its Welsh counterpart are going to have to face up to the fact that not everyone wants to buy into the online age. According to an EU survey whose findings were released in August, a third of all Europeans have never gone online and one in four have never even used a PC. More than one in three of those digital refuseniks said they did not see the need for a connection while nearly a quarter said they could not afford it.

The survey found that people above the age of 65 (along with the unemployed) were the least active online, while similar research for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in June last year found that of the over-60s, only a quarter had uploaded a photo and just 4% had a social networking profile. Instead, the internet was viewed as a communications tool, with 62% of older users sending an email at least once a week (compared with a national average of 76%). However, over-60s do access news online, with 22% checking at least once a week, compared with 21% of 16 to 24-year-olds, and a national average of 24%.

But even with PC penetration running at over 75%, Ofcom has found that 42% of adults without broadband at home said lack of interest or need were the main reasons they chose not to take it up, and many thought the web was just for the young. These people appear to be happy with their lives, in their communities, where their families, friends, shops and facilities are all found. These people prefer to smile enigmatically when younger relatives start talking about Facebook. Perhaps they appreciate the benefits, but it’s not for them.

As such, to label them refuseniks is perhaps a little harsh. Broadband nothanks might be closer. And instead of trying to encourage those disinteresteds, our administrations should instead consider devoting those resources to people who want better services – those who would benefit from superfast broadband, for example. After all, they are the ones that will continue to make the internet work.