Lights, music, action

With the battle for the leisure pound being fought on all fronts, it is imperative that licensees stay ahead of the game. Graham Ridout presents the latest entertainment systems

What's a licensee to do? Competition for the leisure pound has never been higher with both out-of-home and in-home entertainment on the rise. Wet-led pubs are the ones that are suffering most, but it is not all doom and gloom.

Pubs provide an atmosphere that is unique and, therefore, it is up to operators to exploit this natural pulling power by offering entertainment that can't be replicated inside or outside the home.

Sport is the example that springs easiest to mind. If not at the event itself, the best place for people to watch sport and soak up the atmosphere has to be the pub. However, the improvements in flat, widescreen, home television equipment make it imperative for operators to stay ahead of the pack. Although the retractable screen and overhead projector systems still command pride of place in many pubs, they are coming under increasing pressure from the new generation of large screens (see "Screen wars", below).

Providing music, either audio or audio-visual, is probably the second-highest generator of footfall. Mediatheme says its Entertainer Pro system, for example, has led to an increase in weekly takings of between 5% and 10% during trials at two Spirit pubs that previously took around £10,000 per week.

With Entertainer Pro, DVD video music is stored on a PC and accessed by a touch screen operated by bar staff. Operators can select up to 50 different styles of music ­ such as Irish, Australian, reggae, soul and Motown, through to individual artists ­ and thereby create their own play lists. Every month, licensees receive a CD containing the latest hits. The system can also be used for race nights (both dogs and horses), karaoke, quizzes, bingo, raffles and card games like high-low (where contestants guess whether the next card will be higher or lower than the previous one).

Mediatheme managing director Bill Blackstone comments: "Setting up a race night can cost up to £200, but it is included as standard in Enter-tainer Pro."

Licensees can rent or buy

Licensees can either opt to rent, currently less than £100 per week, or buy outright ­ the cost varies according to the specification required, such as zoning, that allows music to be viewed on some screens while sport is shown on others. Last year, the company introduced Entertainer Pulz, a purely music-based system that costs about half the price of Pro to rent. Blackstone adds: "In the right venue there is no reason why weekly takings can't be increased by 5% to 10%."

At a lower entry level, the traditional coin-in-the-slot jukeboxes are coming under extreme pressure from computer-driven jukeboxes that use broadband to digitally download tracks. Leisure Link's system, The Music, epitomises what is possible with today's jukeboxes. The system has a database of two million ­ yes two million ­ music tracks, with consumers able to select tracks from 93,000 albums. Chart and pre-release tracks can be downloaded weekly. Leisure Link says The Music machines will bring in more than three times the income of traditional jukeboxes. Operators can vary the music according to the time of day and also choose the background music to suit the occasion.

Alan Bryson, managing director of Bute Video, adds a word of caution: "With jukeboxes, you are at the mercy of your worst customers who might want Black Sabbath all night long."

Bryson says Bute fills the gap between outlets that don't necessarily want jukeboxes or uncontrollable music channels like MTV and VH1. Bryson explains: "A lot of landlords have said to us: We've nothing to show on the screen when the big matches are not on'. Bute's solution is to provide a system that allows licensees to create their own music video channel. For the basic £50-per-week package, operators get a starter pack of 300 music videos and are posted monthly updates containing 10 of the latest tracks.

The system is CD-based and operates through a DVD player and there is no computer to grapple with. Instead, there's a touch screen that enables licensees to automatically compile play lists of different types of music.

Karaoke nights can also be accommodated and there is a facility for scrolling text messages across the screens for forthcoming events or special promotions for example, or for running paid-for adverts from the likes of local mini-cab firms. Bryson says operators can also talk to drinks reps to try to persuade them to run TV ads on the screens, thereby earning extra revenue.

Tailored to suit audience needs

Another supplier offering music videos is Avanti with its MVN (music video network) channel ­ Genie. It works via a broadband satellite link and is being installed in selected Litten Tree outlets. The music can be tailored to suit audience needs throughout the day and has a facility that lets DJs take control of the play list. Also included in the package, which costs £199 per month on a three-year contract, is a silent entertainment channel ­ Magnetic ­ that doubles up as a means of text messages giving details of events or special promotions at the pub.

Avanti commercial director Paul Walsh says the beauty of the system is that the two channels can be zoned to offer contrasting entertainment in different areas within an outlet. There is also the capability for taking live feeds from Sky news or sports programmes.

Another advantage of Genie is that Avanti shares the advertising revenue generated with the operator. Walsh explains: "Bar owners get 25% of all advertising revenue, which means they might not have to pay anything for the system."

Screen wars

Technological breakthroughs have seen the birth of two competing systems ­ plasma or phosphor screens and DLP (digital light processing) screens.

Plasma screens consist of hundreds of thousands of pixel cells containing phosphors (inert gases such as argon, xenon or neon) that produce light when subjected to electric pulses. Each pixel is effectively a microscopic lightbulb connected to a board containing silicon chips. The chips analyse the electric pulses to ensure the proper balance of red, green, or blue phosphors contained in each cell is illuminated. Plasma screens have a near perfect 180° viewing angle. The screens are thin and lightweight ­ so they can be fitted easily on walls. On the downside, the life of the phosphors is limited and after 30,000 hours' use, they are half as bright and will probably need replacing.

DLP screens are basically back projectors that use a device to tilt more than 1.3 million micro-mirrors ­ each of them thinner than a human hair ­ towards or away from the light source inside the unit. This process creates light or dark pixels on the face of the projection screen. The light then filters to a colour wheel, which rotates 120 times per second, producing the correct hue. Each mirror can turn on or off several thousands of times per second and can, for example, reproduce up to 1,024 shades of grey. Varying the intensity of the white light coupled with the colour wheel produces graduation in colour ­ thereby making DLP images sharp and clear.

Unlike plasma screens, DLPs are bulkier, about 15 inches deep, and heavier, which means they are usually floor mounted. In theory, the only thing that should ever need replacing is the light source.

At present, plasma screens have the edge in overall performance, but experts predict that it won't be too long before DLPs are competing on equal terms.