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June 13, 2005
When Will Popular TV Shows be Available On-Demand?
Video on Demand advocates highlight consumer satisfaction when discussing VOD's bright future. Rarely do they point out that the most popular shows on television cannot be seen on-demand unless you record it to your DVR first. The only two alternatives are to wait for DVD releases or use a BitTorrent client to download it to your PC.
Sure, you can get HBO or Showtime on demand today, but only if you already subscribe to those packages through your cable television provider. Other than that VOD is a collection of low-demand items.
Despite that handicap, Comcast alone is expected to serve up over 1 Billion VOD streams in 2005. Sounds impressive, but consider this:
• Comcast refuses to pay directly for content and other operators feel the same way. With cable bills at an all-time high and satellite picking off price-conscious subscribers, cable operators say “We paid for this content on linear channels, and we won’t pay extra for on-demand rights.”
• Comcast has made on-demand rights part of its negotiations with networks. For example, the cable operator secured on-demand football highlights and out-of-market games in exchange for carriage of the NFL network. But without direct payments, the more popular a TV program is, the less likely it is to appear on VOD.
| "For the really good stuff that is on the sidelines to get onto the platform, there has to be an economic model that works." |
| Source: David Zaslav, President, cable division at NBC Universal |
| "Comcast is at loggerheads with networks and others who own some of the most popular television programming." |
| Source: The Wall Street Journal, 1/27/2005 |
| "[Les] Moonves would like to be selling previously-aired episodes of CSI at $1 per viewing.” Asked about CBS’ experience with Comcast’s VOD venture, Moonves says that “the results are really rather inconclusive.." |
| Source: Broadcasting & Cable, 6/6/2005 |
| "We don't want the consumer to have to subscribe to six different on-demand services. The Internet took off because it was largely free... If you had to pay per click, I don't think the explosion of consumer usage would have occurred” |
| Source: Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast |
| “One sticking point with [talks about VOD program distribution is with] cable systems operator Comcast [is] the issue of how content providers would be compensated. Comcast envisions VOD essentially as a free service for its subscribers.” |
| Source: Bob Iger, CEO of Disney in AdAge Magazine, 6/8/2005 |
In the long-run VOD advocates will be proven correct. But in the long run we are all dead, too. So, when does it happen? Answer that question and you know when traditional television rules die.
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Tracked on July 8, 2005 01:12 PM
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