Reviewing AT&T;'s PEG System with the Alliance for Community Media

Yesterday I had the unique opportunity to sit in on a meeting between AT&T; and some members of the board of directors for the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), which represents more than 3000 PEG access centers and is holding their annual conference in DC this week which I will be attending.

The event was presented to me as an effort by AT&T; to engage these leaders of the PEG community in a dialog, to walk them through their U-Verse PEG application, address the PEG community's concerns over its shortcomings, and solicit feedback on how it can be improved.

As we were given a demonstration by Chris Boyer of AT&T;, all of the complaints that have been aired online about the U-Verse PEG application came out. In no particular order, here are the main ones:

- The video's lower quality as it's encoded at 1.25Mbps for PEG instead of the 1.5-2Mbps that standard definition channels using MPEG-4 are typically encoded at.

- All PEG channels are listed in a separate application under channel 99, so it takes some clicking through menus to get to the PEG content.

- There's a significant delay of more than 20 seconds in getting the PEG application launched.

- It can't handle closed captions for the hearing impaired.

- You can't record PEG channels using the U-Verse DVR.

During our conversation, Boyer was upfront and frank in addressing these limitations, and shared examples of how AT&T; has taken this feedback to heart, including:

- PEG video used to be encoded at 1Mbps, but in response to complaints AT&T; bumped it up to 1.25Mbps. While this does make a noticeable difference, not everyone is satisfied as exemplified by the comments of Matt Schuster, Channel Manager for Louisville's MetroTV and chairman of ACM's board of directors, who pointed out that his city as well as others have invested in broadcast-quality production equipment and therefore have a hard time swallowing having to distribute that video at a much lower quality.

- Boyer admitted that the reason all PEG channels are lumped under channel 99 is because of technical limitations.

- To help make PEG channels more easily accessible, Boyer pointed out that AT&T; had listened to critics and added a direct link to the PEG application from their main menu.

- With regards to the delay in launching, Boyer explained that the reason it exists is because their PEG application is actually running in the network and not on the set-top box. He acknowledged this delay is a problem and informed us that a forthcoming upgrade to the box will reduce that delay to 8 seconds. Also he shared that the next update after that will bring the PEG application onto the box, which should eliminate that delay entirely.

- The lack of closed captions is another technical limitation of the IPTV platform that AT&T; has to address with Microsoft.

- Finally, he admitted that because PEG channels are under channel 99, it makes enabling a traditional DVR scenario quite troublesome.

But that leads us to the phase of this conversation I found most interesting: discussing what potential features could be added to AT&T;'s PEG system to push the PEG paradigm into the 21st century.

The DVR issue is a perfect place to start. I've long felt DVRs are a stopgap technology. As we touched on AT&T;'s PEG DVR limitation, I put forth the suggestion that couldn't an on-demand PEG system that let's you watch whatever videos whenever you want overcome this limitation?

While I didn't quite get overwhelming support for the idea that DVR-functionality isn't necessary, I did get strong support for the PEG community's interest in being able to deliver videos on-demand through the TV system. And Boyer hinted that enabling PEG on-demand is something AT&T; is exploring.

As we continued to chat, here are some of the other features that first came to mind from this crowd of PEG luminaries:

- Making content searchable. Some specifically cited government webcasting provider Granicus for how it allows users to click on agenda items and be taken right to a particular point in a meeting. Everyone seemed eager to get this type of functionality on the TV, including things like keyword search.

- Adding interactivity seemed like a holy grail for this group. This could mean things like allowing someone the ability to contact public officials while watching local government meetings to give feedback on different issues.

- Along similar lines, there was a suggestion of adding social features that would allow for viewers to know who else is watching PEG content and to communicate with them about what they're watching through things like chat. This could mean through the TV, or over the Internet in an integrated experience with what's being watched on TV.

- Finally these thoughts took on the big picture of introducing the concept of a community media server where everyone could be uploading video to share through PEG.

In the end this seemed like a positive conversation for all involved.

The ACM representatives appeared to really appreciate AT&T;'s efforts to reach out and engage them directly in both listening to the concerns of their constituents and brainstorming new ways to expand the platform.

And I know in talking with Chris Boyer afterwards he was ecstatic to have the opportunity to start talking about what PEG 2.0 can mean as he admitted that almost all of the focus to date from both sides of the table has been on how can we recreate the PEG 1.0 paradigm within AT&T;'s new IPTV system.

Where this will ultimately lead is still up in the air, though. Boyer promised to raise many of the ideas and concerns brought out at this meeting up the ladder, but couldn't make any promises regarding specific launch dates of new features and on some issues was unable to guarantee any changes will be made at all.

But at least people are talking with each other and not at each other. I consider that alone on any telecom-related issue to be a huge step in the right direction.

And in the meantime, I'm excited to see what the ACM's conference has to offer for expanding my understanding of where PEG stands today and what it can mean tomorrow. All of the ACM representatives in attendance proved themselves to be not only well-informed but passionate about PEG. Plus they all seem like really nice people who I'm eager to chat with further.

Look forward to more PEG-related thoughts to come later this week.