By Gary Dretzka

Chicago Tribune

NEW ORLEANS _ Many of the television programming executives who gathered here last week seemed confused by the dozens of upstart dot.com companies at their annual hoedown.

NATPE is, after all,a place where buyers and sellers meet to discuss the new crop of syndicated shows and barter over ``Andy Griffith'' reruns. What were Bikini.com, AsSeenIn.com and StreamSearch.com doing among such powerhouses as King World, Warner Bros. and Carsey-Werner?

Actually, the Internet invaders were there at the behest of the National Association of Television Program Executives. Its planners sensed correctly that the long-anticipated convergence of computer and broadcast technologies no longer was a matter of ``When?'' but ``Where do we sign up?''

Broadcasting live from the floor of NATPE 2000 was PlayTV.com, a fledgling Internet network with a 12-hour programming schedule, five days a week. Their ratings may not equal those of ``ER,'' but such interactive series as ``Prime Directive'' and ``Kiki at Midnight'' can be seen around the world and are produced for a fraction of the cost of the lip gloss allowance on ``Friends.''

``Ever since the Time Warner-AOL announcement, there's been a lot of interest in seeing what the Internet is all about,'' said Ben Yoder, head of marketing and public relations for Play. ``I think people here are starting to see that it's not just about competition, and it isn't just about putting old television on the Web. The Internet is a new medium, which combines the best of print, radio and television.''

It probably didn't escape anyone's attention that the shows found at www.playtv.com were being produced, recorded and transmitted to the world using the technology found in a box about the size of a hotel mini-bar. A GlobeCaster ``TV-in-a-box'' offers Play Streaming Media Group affiliates all the infrastructure technology _ and access to advertisers and band width _ necessary to find the 54 million people worldwide who are broadband-ready.

Oh, yeah. The average show only costs about $500 an hour to produce.

During the three-day convention, veteran comedian Fred Willard and Internet diva Kiki Stockhammer interviewed celebrities and entertainment-industry executives, who also were invited to interact with global viewers linked to the live show by e-mail. Talk-show host Revelstoke Jim _ who usually does his ``Definitely Not the CBC'' from a log cabin in the backwoods British Columbia _ also was on hand to engage passers-by in conversation from his virtual-studio set.

He may just be Canada's "Johnny Carson", Revelstoke Jim's show already has outlasted those hosted by Magic Johnson and Richard Simmons.

For those with more elaborate Webcasting plans, iStreamTV _ of Manhattan's Silicon Alley _ was at NATPE to offer a different solution. When asked how ``Wayne's World,'' which went out on cable from an Aurora basement, might have been able to go global, COO Lawrence Vasell explained:

``OK, let's say you have analog content and want to get it out on the Internet. It has to be digitized and coded, and we do that.

``Then, it has to be put up on a server, which we can arrange for, as well. Once the content gets to the server, it has to go out over a fiber-optics e-commerce network ... and we have a variety of partners who can deal with that.''

After an initial investment of about $20,000 for the company's Webcaster-3 portable Webcasting unit, and a simple camera and T-1 or DSL lines, Garth and Wayne would only have to invest another $2,000-3,000 per episode. Almost anyone can sell that much in banner advertising these days to the adult ``schwing'' sites, or link up to a record label to sell CDs.

``We also can build a Webcasting studio for you to use,'' suggests Vasell. ``The one we did for the ProNetLink financial news service cost under $100,000. They sell real commercials _ not banners _ and each show is automatically archived, so you can go back to it any time you want.''

Vasell said iStreamTV has been approached by NBC and CBS for help. And, no, he can't fathom why they haven't been able to produce a simple, portable video-streaming system of their own.

As if broadcasters don't have enough to worry about, in the next few years they'll have to come to grips with FCC regulations concerning digital television and HDTV.

``Individual local stations have the potential to use that spectrum to broadcast the Internet content they're already developing for their Web sites, and there's a terrific opportunity to do more with data,'' said Sandra Kresch, a strategy partner for PricewaterhouseCooper. ``Broadcasters will have to develop other ways of getting advertising, including `rich media,' which is interactive advertising content. Consumers do seem to want to access that advertising, because it's highly targeted and of value to them.

``Traditional broadcasters have defined their world in a very narrow way, but the more creative ones are recognizing the fact that they're going to have to think about their business in fundamentally different ways in order to survive.''

No one should be surprised, however, if much of what's new on the Internet initially resembles a lot of what's old on TV.

Early on at last week's convention, Ed McMahon, Victory Entertainment and Microsoft announced their plans for a quarterly talent competition, ``Next Big Star,'' which looks very much like an on-line version of ``Star Search.'' It will be launched later this year at www.nextbigstar.com, with categories ranging from dance and music to pets and cheerleaders.

Web browsers will be able to check out taped performances on the Web site, and vote for their favorites in the finals, which will simulcast live on TV and the Internet.

``This is a talent search in which literally everyone in the world has the opportunity to be the next big star,'' declared McMahon, whose ``Star Search'' helped launch the careers of many now-famous entertainers.

Much of what's fun about NATPE is witnessing and partaking in the studios' often excessive efforts to market their fare. Each booth is decorated to take full advantage of the presence of a company's sales and publicity staffs; autograph-signing celebrities; mini-skirted receptionists; cartoon characters; caterers and bartenders; and throngs of media.

In this way, it's a convention like no other. Still, no one bothered to clue in the dot.com companies about this tradition, and they were at a decided disadvantage when lunchtime rolled around.

Although Bikini.com was missing the requisite lounge chairs and refreshments, the nearly 3-year-old Webcaster compensated by putting its team of swimsuit-clad supermodels on constant display. Their presence among the utilitarian booths of the other dot.coms was both impossible to miss and highly welcome in the cyber-ghetto.

``We developed the concept for TV back in 1989, but, when the Internet started to heat up, we realized that if we could get a great address on the Web, we could create an entertainment brand,'' recalled president and co-founder Gail Sonnenshein. ``We set out to create the world's largest beach party by taking that beach-blanket-bingo lifestyle and making it hip and cool for today's generation, most whom have no clue as to who Frankie and Annette were. We're geared to the 14-34 audience, but our core is really 16-24, about two-thirds male.''

Because the site is decidedly PG-rated, its content seemed to appeal to mainstream programmers who saw an opportunity to add a broadcast element to the fully interactive service.

``Clearly, the Internet and television are merging,'' said Sonnenshein, who formerly produced swimsuit and fashion specials for cable. ``These are all companies that have technological tools that will enable television companies to leverage their traffic and content into the Web. The studios come to us, as well, because we do have content.''

Before too long, Bikini.com will begin selling the swimwear worn by its models through links to manufacturers. AsSeenIn.com founder Sam Baldoni was able to use his background in advertising and product placement to offer a different strategy for pushing products, at a time when TiVo, Replay and WebTV services allow viewers to erase commercials with the push of a button.

``Everybody wanted to know one thing from me: How do you quantify your results? And, until now, I've never had an answer,'' said Baldoni. ``In television, we've never done product placement, per se, but there's furniture, apparel and all sorts of products on display. How does any viewer know whose product that is, unless there's a service like AsSeenIn to tell them?

``We provide a business-to-business relationship for the entertainment industry and manufacturers bylinking them together for seamless transactions and placement deals. We're also putting together a component that will allow fans to have immediate access to the things they see on their favorite shows.''

For example, he adds, ``When you're interested in something, you'll be able to click on it and make a bookmark. After the show, you'll be taken to AsSeenIn.com, where all your bookmarks will be listed for you.''

Eruptor.com president Brad Foxhoven predicted that broadcasters may be slow in embracing the Web, but its presence at NATPE will explode.

``Even though a lot of the on-line players were relegated to one side of the pavilion, the broadcasters are starting to get it,'' he said. ``This is the last year that you're going to see the low-key approach ... next time, at least a third of this pavilion will be Internet, and it's going to be a killer.''

(c) 2000, Chicago Tribune.

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