Digital Bridge presentation

Digital Bridge: 

Digital Bridge ‘Digital Switchover – Pain in the neck or major opportunity?’

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The way people consume media is changing – from passive to active Public service providers need to adapt to these trends The context – engagement and participation Jade Goody on Big Brother 6.4M votes cast during final episode in 2004 54% viewers vote weekly during 9 week run Last general election 61% turnout down from 80% 30 years ago 5.7M votes cast by the 18-34 age group in that election Less popular than BB ! Disparity in interest and participation

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Web 2.0 Social Networking and User generated content My Space and You Tube New era for information and entertainment Desire to interact + take control of content Ability to access anywhere anytime Context – technology and the internet Two top social networking sites are in aggregate almost as popular as Google Millions of page views per million users How does local government increase the level of community engagement in selection, choice and delivery of public services ?

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LA’s responsible for 80% of government services £675M programme to e-enable services £80M funding for 22 national projects £24M investment in e-innovation projects Challenges Move to ‘self care’ but what about digitally excluded? Correlation between heaviest consumers of public services and digital exclusion Content that is static and centrally generated Lacks capacity to interest and engage users E-Enablement of local public services

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% percentage with internet access at home or at work, 4th quarter 2006 All 15–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65+ % % % % % % % All 62(+2) 74(+1) 71(+1) 78(+4) 72(+2) 59(+5) 24(+1) AB 79(+1) 89(-4) 88(-4) 93(+3) 91(+4) 80(+2) 42(+0) C1 73(+3) 85(+1) 85(+1) 86(+2) 81(+3) 70(+9) 27(+1) C2 58(+3) 74(+4) 65(+2) 74(+5) 67(+5) 44(+2) 18(+2) DE 37(+1) 55(-1) 45(+4) 52(+7) 38(+8) 29(+1) 8(+1) Base: c. 10,000 GB adults 15+, October-December 2006, (compared to c. 12,000 GB adults 15+, January-March 2005)Source: Ipsos MORI Monthly Technology Tracker Digital exclusion Significant disparity in access between affluent young to middle-aged and poorer / older socio-economic groups

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In top 10% most deprived wards. Rank 1 - 841 In next 10% most deprived wards. Rank 842 - 1683 In next 10% most deprived wards. Rank 1684 - 7573 In bottom 10% most deprived wards. Rank 7574 - 8414 London focus Wards ranked by indices of multiple deprivation Census 2001 Social Exclusion England’s most deprived 20% of SOAs have the following characteristics on average. London is ranked 4th nationally (IMD 2004): • Just under a third of people are income deprived. • One in five of women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64 are employment deprived. • Just under half of children live in families that are income deprived. • Just under a third of older people are income deprived. Digital Exclusion The ‘resistors’ of digital services are most common in deprived communities They do not attach a value to the internet……..“It is not for me” OFCOM 2006 Consumer Engagement with Digital Communication Services Report

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DTV seen as solution to digital exclusion and e service delivery to non-pc households But, these are poor platforms for interaction Slow or no return path Not a great user experience It is a transactional medium but will never generate interest or engagement in the way that video content can Propietary middleware – not the web Digital TV

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Digital TV will be everywhere by 2012 Digital Terrestrial in 8.7M households at end 2006 forecast to reach 20M households by 2012

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Combines best elements of the internet and mainstream TV Hybrid model which combines DTT reception (Freeview) with broadband delivery of IPTV content and applications Freeview is best starting point because of market size and greater freedom to operate Over time, expand to integrate IP delivered Digital Bridge proposition with cable and satellite IPTV – a new concept Digital Bridge is a channel hop away from the main terrestrial channels – easy to try Video centric proposition – video on demand, minority COO channels, UGC platform, web transactional services and PC on TV – interest, engagement, interaction

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Digital Bridge – high level concept PC Hybrid STB IPTV Intervention Increasing appetite for watching video online Compelling front-end to existing web services Local promotion of the hybrid STB People need to buy Freeview boxes Retail partners and engage community People will subscribe to telco and ISP triple play services Carriage for local Digital Bridge services Fund a fully managed service to target homes Includes broadband connection for 2 years Have or will get broadband OFCOM forecast 85% homes by 2012 Digital exclusion Technical platform PC on TV system Content and community engagement strategy Overarching national and regional Digital Bridge content Local content production – mixed model Investment Benefits How users access

Key pilot results in Shoreditch: 

Key pilot results in Shoreditch VoD Audience share for flagship VoD (35%) comparable to leading broadcast programmes like Eastenders (38%) Interactive Applications 66% of users viewing the Action Maps detailing where crime has been reported and when it is being cleared. 46% of users reporting crime through the map, compared to 8% reporting to the LA previously. 70%+ users voting in polling on perceptions of local services Live Streaming 70%+ access and regularly use local webcam network PC on TV 60%+ use PC on TV on a weekly basis. Average user sessions are over 40 mins per session

Experience in Islington: 

Experience in Islington

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Children Poverty affects 48% of children in London compared to 39% nationally Ethnic minorities 29% London population from minority ethnic groups Disproportionately affected by poverty and health inequality Older people After housing costs, 36% of pensioners in London are living in poverty Loneliness and social isolation a big problem Disabled 20% London population have some form of disability Twice as likely to be unemployed Employment disproportionately menial 39% disabled 16-24 year olds in education versus 50% norm Digital Bridge helps vulnerable groups in London Potential benefit from Digital Bridge

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Business case – intervention Install Digital Bridge / Freeview platform into a proportion of households Heaviest consumers of public services Do not currently have internet access at home One time affordable cost per household to install and service for 2 years. Thereafter, users would need to pay for broadband but price is trending down significantly Modelling shows that this could be recouped in the 2 years through direct business case benefits Transfer existing physical and telephone interactions to online Significant increase in interaction as interest, engagement and interaction builds BUT avoid the normal transactional costs associated with this Transferred communication budget Various commercial revenue streams e.g. country of origin content Huge downstream benefit streams Improving life chances of the digitally excluded Catalyst for community cohesion Once people start to transact online, they don’t stop !!

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Political Endorsements Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister (May ’06) “Digital Bridge is an immensely important project…It will allow people to report graffiti online…And to be able to do that very, very easily through the technology. It's going to be fantastic for people and I think it is a really exciting project. And if it works as well as we hope then we can see that project extending in many different parts of the country.” Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP Chancellor of The Exchequer (June ’06) “We are interested in how local authorities across the country can use the internet and web portals to allow people to…receive the services they use. I have looked at Shoreditch…at the Digital Bridge that allows police to alert residents as events happen, and residents to alert them about abandoned cars, about graffiti, about vandalism” Connecting Communities

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Current status is piecemeal Individual action by local authorities Range of different organisations addressing different elements of the problem London wide response Develop a flexible hybrid IPTV service which delivers a concerted attack on digital exclusion across the capital 100k digitally excluded households receive the service free of charge for 2 years. Just 3k homes per borough on average Thinking big, acting together Benefits of acting together Impact – large enough to command top level interest from networks, set top box manufacturers and media. Potential to leverage matched funding from central and European government and/or private sector Cost – significant economies of scale can be created in video production and other elements of the service. Bring together skill and experience of existing suppliers to work together. Quality – wider range of content and services for users. London wide applications (GLA, London Transport) and central government funded content