November 2007

Local broadcasters are coming together in an unprecedented way to support e-business for Spot TV. As of this posting, 606 stations from 64 broadcast groups plus 14 rep firms have committed to TVB ePort – and those numbers are growing daily.

Every station and rep that enrolls in ePort will, in the coming months, be able to send/receive electronic transactions (e.g.: Orders, Revisions, Log Times, Proposals) to/from their customers. And those transactions will include information for airtime, non-airtime, digital sub-channels, web and multiplatform offerings.

In November, TVB ePort went into live beta test. The first set of orders was sent from a single buyer’s desktop to her local station AEs who received them in ePort. This month the test will expand to include orders to reps and will follow with the live roll out of Orders, Makegoods and Revisions. TVB ePort’s introduction to the marketplace will proceed in a tightly controlled and precise manner. Rather than open the floodgates and risk the kind of problems often associated with new technology bugs, ePort will roll out in a measured fashion with tight quality controls and in close coordination with agency buy-system providers.

Simultaneously, sales system providers are working with the ePort developers to complete their work so AEs can realize the maximum benefits of eBiz. We are delighted to report that all of the traffic/sales system providers have declared their support for ePort. But that may not be enough. System providers have long to-do lists and eBiz functionality isn’t always at the top. As customers of traffic/sales system providers, we need you to urge your vendor to make eBiz a top priority, and to sync their development work to ePort’s release schedule. This is critically important.

Our e-Business goal remains to increase professional negotiation time by replacing error-prone, time-consuming paper processes with electronic connectivity. We invite you to stay up to date on TVB ePort progress. Visit the TVB ePort website to see the list of participating stations, FAQs and material to help broadcasters talk with system providers and customers about ePort.