Origin: iBA

In 1999, at Streaming Media West, a group of broadcast and Internet technologists gathered and agree to form the Internet Broadcasting Association (iBA). The Founders group discussed and agreed upon the iBA charter:

"To Promote, Protect, and Preserve the Rights and Privileges of the Internet Citizens.”

The iBA Founders group committed to and funded the developing of a comprehensive online enterprise that would become the community, channels of content and commercial resource center for the yet organized Internet Broadcasting industry.

The iBA Founders quickly found that most online citizens had little in the way of support - support that would increase the value of their Internet investments or help them reach the goals they had set out for their online activity. If the iBA were to become the club, or institution that would offer the online citizen this kind of support - the iBA would have to become an unquestionable form of reference  and resource for all of the Internet Broadcasting industry as it took shape.

There quickly formed a passion for what the Founders deemed, “The 170,000,000 audience of one desktop network”, and, “The Desktop Studio”, as new and exciting examples of how Internet Broadcasting was grabbing hold of the online citizens. The Founders observed that never before had there been an audience this large - where each member of the audiences was in fact capable of sending and receiving content - something that traditional networks did from a single centralized location. They also observed that Internet Broadcasting was being used in most business and educational industries to a large degree and that many of these applications was creating new forms of delivery for goods and services - generally improving the quality of services and reducing the expense.

So, the iBA Founders concluded that their efforts should form into two visible activities. The first would be to create a group of sponsors and activists who collectively would form the infrastructure components of the Internet Broadcasting industry. The second would be to continue demonstration projects - ultimately settling on a “format” of operations - reaching the full potential of online, interactive, mass communication - Internet Broadcasting.

In short, a two year development plan was to create a new form of interactive mass communication enterprise - one that utilized all the potential of Internet based broadcasting by demonstrating “what can be done” as opposed to promoting or marketing “what it is” (Internet Broadcasting being the “it” in this case).

This plan lead to the construction of the Internet Broadcasting Network as it now operates. In the initial stage there is to be a small number of sub-networks that are fully functional demonstration operations. These network operations are owned and operated by the Internet Broadcasting Association and involve one or more Founding Sponsors. What they will clearly illustrate is how things like news, information, marketing; online sales and advertising can weld into an online network environment. The Executive Group of the iBA will manage the iBN. Parallel to the iBN construction, the iBA grew its community, channel (iBATV) and resource center into a working iBN affiliate operation - continuing to demonstrate what can be done with Internet Broadcasting at the enterprise level.

Development through Sponsorship and Demonstration

The Founders committed to the iBA community being the managers of any Internet Broadcasting activity that developed. In the first round of contact with the television industry and the Internet industry - a group of sponsors was formed - who had the equipment and where with all to conduct Internet Broadcasting demonstrations with the iBA.

In April of 2000 the iBA produced its first demonstration during NAB. A group of sponsors supported the effort and secured the lobby, bar and restaurant areas of what used to be the Debbie Reynolds Hotel Casino - turning those areas into a virtual Reality, digital production studio and Internet Broadcasting Network Center. In the opening moments of NAB 2000, the iBA Founders were in the studios of KLAS-TV Las Vegas, presenting the first iBA Global Award to Dick Fraime, the General Manager of KLAS-TV News Channel 8 and the owners of KLAS.com t he station’s web page operation. The presentation was televised in the station’s news program that evening - and the recording of the presentation was also included in the four days of Internet Broadcasting that originated at the Las Vegas Convention Center Hotel.

For the four days of the demonstration, the iBA conducted hourly demonstrations of the Internet Broadcasting Station it had developed. The station constructed from leading equipment and software most of which contributed by Digital Production Resources of Santa Monica. AT the conclusion of the demonstration the studio turned into a ballroom and the first iBA Global Awards Presentation Event was broadcast live upon the Castpro wireless broadband system, which made its debut to the broadcasting world at the NAB 2000.

The NAB 2000 Internet broadcasting experience acted as a catalyst amongst the iBA Founders and the early sponsors. It also got the attention of the merging television and Internet industries.

Soon after the NAB 2000 activity, the iBA committed to building its own space within the Internet where it could:


Conduct public or controlled demonstrations of Internet Broadcasting platforms.

Contact potential sponsors and activists building a database of resources and references.

Publicly issue iBA Global Awards - acknowledging those who were making excellent contribution to the industry of Internet Broadcasting and/or were utilizing Internet Broadcasting in innovative ways to improve the Internet Citizen’s online experiences.

Establish relationships with developers of software and hardware platforms or system integrators - giving form to the platforms required to operate effective Internet Broadcasting operations.

Conduct the administrative business, promotional and goods and service transactions of the iBA within the online iBN demonstration process - showing progress to any visitor on an on-going basis. The construction of this space became www.ibaglobal.com <http://www.ibaglobal.com> and all of the iBA testing, development and implementation of Internet Broadcasting has been conducted there.

Starting the adventure on a simple web page - hosted at VERIO - with a commercial account. It was an early observation that millions of web pages are underutilized and if the iBA was going to offer help to these web page operations - it should have a hands on approach to building and operating its own web page channel.

Early on, the iBA found that little had been done to support the formation of an association, club or online societies. This led to the iBA Community where software platforms of online communities were developed. This software made it possible for the Founders to organize the near 10,000 contacts into managable e-mail groups. It was possible to survey a group, tabulate the data, e-mail cast and manage the e-mail campaigns - in essence hold all of the membership data and activity within an easy to manage online community. On the inside the iBA was designed to be automated - allowing the Founders and the Sponsors to get things done - not being bogged down with administrative or marketing details. The software/programming Founding Sponsor that made iBN development possible was Novasoft, of Burlingame California.

Novasoft is a nineteen-year-old mainframe computer software development company that presently crafts 100% JAVA web based programming solutions. In the iBN operations, visitors enter the network through a channel. Each channel has a series of content levels programmed into it. Each channel can be laterally connected to an unlimited number of web pages or transaction centers without leaving the iBN sphere. The Novasoft iBN programming platforms allow complete interactive navigation to relational databases, transaction centers as well as online services and archive distribution centers. All of these platforms are alive and well individually in the network and e-commerce enterprises Novasoft had designed them for - but never configured like they are in the iBN.

Two weeks before the NAB 2000 demonstration, it became clear that a Sponsor who could design, construct, implement and operate the network envisioned was needed. Such a Founding Sponsor was found in EXPOSION. Having a heritage of television network design, system integration and operational management - EXPOSION has been able to work with other sponsors, integrating their goods and services into an open network environment. The results are exponential in return - meaning that any web page operation that is working well now - will find ways to exponentially improve their results by adding parts of or a complete iBN channel to their existing web pages. EXPOSION offers Internet Broadcasting Network design, system integration, implementation, operations or backroom support. To many these will translate to the addition of a radio network to their web pages. Or, complete installation of trackable e-commerce engines - running radio and TV or e-mail communication campaigns within their existing customer bases. At the heart of EXPOSION is the invention of many technology platforms used in television and the digital imaging industry. More importantly, the company has developed comprehensive hardware and software integration and has the ability to configure “pieces of furniture” that make any system operator’s life much more comfortable while they are more productive.

In September of 2000, the iBA produced its largest public demonstration of Internet Broadcasting at the International Broadcasting Conference - IBC 2000, from the RAI convention center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This demonstration was a milestone in the iBA and the Internet Broadcasting industry’s development. Visit the www.IBC2000DEMO.com <http://www.IBC2000DEMO.com> area of this page///

After the IBC2000 activity, the iBA Founders observed that their was a need for a commercial Internet broadcasting network. Such a network had all ready been designed for the iBA and it could be an effective way of promoting the goods and services of the iBA members and iBN Affiliates. It also observed that audiences - the very Internet audiences who were Internet Broadcasters - flock to web pages that offer them something of value - generally for free, and once they are there they need a continuing reason/motivation to return. Assuming that Internet Broadcasting platforms can deliver anything from video e-mails to university education - and that commercial networks are effective from matchbook covers to television - and beyond - why not a commercial Internet Broadcasting Network?

Being convinced that the iBN model was ready for implementation, the iBA Founders decided it was time to build the iBN into operational mode - populating a few of the network channels (actually sub-networks) with valid online programming and goods/service transactions. The results would be that iBN operations could expand the demonstration of Internet Broadcasting’s potential as the Founding Sponsors goods and services were presented in a functional online environment - and the building of a group of benefit or service plans that were possible because of Internet Broadcasting could be delivered to those who would join the iBA. It became clear that the vision of having an Internet Broadcasting Network contained valid delivery and distribution systems that would be of great value to the members of the association as well as the audiences of the network. The next milestone would be launching the iBA Sponsorship programs (Corporate/Institutional Memberships in the iBA) while demonstrating the potential of the iBN to online audiences and network affiliates (sponsors).

The result of the iBA Founder’s efforts is visible within the www.ibaglobal.com <http://www.ibaglobal.com> web page channel. This channel represents the iBN Affiliate Web Page Channel model - and serves as a demonstration of what any iBA member or iBN affiliate can expect to gain through membership or affiliation. Within the channel you can find all of Internet Broadcasting’s potential - organized as the Community, Channel - iBATV, and iBA Resource Center operations.

The iBA Community is configured to:

Provide online interface between the iBA and those who visit the association

Wherever possible utilize Internet Broadcasting in the providing of benefits and services, at a discount to the iBA Members

Utilize Internet Broadcasting to promote and sell the goods and services of the iBA Members

Organize and lead Committees of Standards, Ethics and Codes of Practice for Internet Broadcasting

Utilizing Internet Broadcasting platforms, add value to the iBA member’s online experiences with interactive transactions between the iBA members or Internet Citizens the iBA member chooses to communicate with.

The iBATV Channel is configured to:

Provide news and information to the general public, of for and about the Internet Broadcasting industry.

Promote the goods and services of the iBA members and the iBN affiliates.

Conduct on-going demonstration, seminars, and live event coverage.

Provide animated HTML, radio station, Television station style channels of programming to online viewers.

Provide interactive, educational or commercial Internet Broadcasting

The iBA Resource Center is configured to:

Promote and sell iBA Sponsors and member’s goods and services

Administer iBA Member’s Benefits and Discounted Health Insurance Plans

Administer the iBA Membership allocations of Internet Broadcasting Network goods and services.

Act as a reference and resource center - providing articles, tutorials, special offering and programs to the iBA members or visitors.

Administer sponsorships and affiliation plans for the iBN.

Maintain Internet Broadcasting industry directories

Present the iBA Global Award Gallery to the public

Operate the iBN Multiplex and Internet Mall - allowing appropriate discounts to iBA members and iBN affiliates.

Enter the iBN

With completion of all the software/hardware system integrations the iBA Founders had to identify Internet service providers who could carry the content and hold the transactions that resulted.

The iBA iBN space has been tested over the years. The space has changed dramatically and at times been little more than an “under construction” sign. But, that sign is soon to be replaced with a new road map - the Internet Broadcasting Network.

In reality - the Internet is a network of networks. That is the problem - there are over 170,000,000 people capable of sending and receiving e-mail, audio and video and more - essentially each being an Internet Broadcaster. If you get a little closer to the 170,000,000 Internet Broadcasters you will see that most of them are only using a small portion of their desktop studio’s potential. To make matters worse - those that are doing something have a difficult time attracting people to their channel. The situation is not organized and even the best web master has a great difficulty in attracting people to their web page operations. For anyone wanting to find one specific thing online a maze of millions of web pages stands between them and the specific topic they seek. The iBA approached the situation from the desktop.

The online desktop is configured to send and receive content. In this definition the desktop could be the marketing department of a major online pay for view motion picture distribution center. In any case the desktop is a studio and a distribution center. If it has a commercial account and can transact online sales or exchanges - it is an enterprise. There are millions of them, millions.

The iBA Internet Broadcasting Network is built on tested platforms of technology and commercial network operations. The technology allows the entire content of the iBN to be organized, accessible and with deep memory - allowing the connectivity and content transferred to be tracked and/or archived for immediate retrieval. The nature of search engines is to filter through the content of web pages - especially if the web pages are legitimate and well designed/programmed. The iBA and iBN operations content will regularly be filtered through the most popular Internet search engines - making it easy for any online citizen to find the specific line of text or word they are looking for within the space.

As a commercial network the iBA iBN is organized into channels and sub-networks for specific topics. Each of these channels and sub-networks will have the opportunity to create content regarding their goods and services (or specific interest). This content is presented to the major search engines as it is posted to the channel.

The three rules of commercial network audience building will apply to the iBA and iBN audience as well. These are:

Maintain a delivery system that is good as or better than what the audience expects to receive.

Supply regularly updated information/communication of interest to the audience.

The audience will come and accept free (no cost to viewer) content - therefore building to a size that is of value to advertiser and sponsors.

The iBA iBN is the first commercial Internet Broadcasting Network operation of its kind and is a direct result of the iBA Founder’s Group 1999 vision.