VOD: The race is on! (1 Viewer)

[Trace Downing]

EDIT: Hey, could a MOD change my subject header from os to is? It was the one-armed man that did it.
This just came in from my intra-company newsletter today.
"CABLE OPERATORS RACING TO OFFER VIDEO-ON-DEMAND - [The Newark Star-Ledger, online.] Cable-TV operators around the country are making plans to boost their revenues by using a new technology that lets individual customers set the viewing schedule simply by punching a few buttons on a remote. It is called video-on-demand, and it has the potential to shake up the way Hollywood, cable operators, and video-rental chains do business in the future. The closest thing to it that the cable-viewing masses have right now is so-called pay-per-view programming. Comcast expects to charge $3.95 for relatively recent movies and $1.95 for so-called "library titles," the industry's marketing euphemism for older movies and television programs. A few hundred titles will be available initially, the company said. Comcast is testing its video-on-demand offerings and expects to market the service commercially by the end of the year. As with a video tape or DVD, customers can view an ordered movie as often as they want to during the 24-hour rental period. Unlike a rented video, there is nothing to return -- and no late fees. The server sends the movie as digitally encoded light pulses that travel over a fiber-optic network; unlike some other video-on-demand systems, Comcast's does not transmit video over the Internet. It should be some race: Everybody in the video entertainment business is looking at video-on-demand. "Video-on-demand is something we know customers are very interested in," said Tracy Baumgartner, a spokeswoman for AT&T Broadband, the cable-TV division of AT&T."
Well, I'm not "very interested in" it, so there.

[Edited last by Trace Downing on September 17, 2001 at 10:52 AM]

 

[george kaplan]

VOD would certainly not be a replacement for owning movies I want. I'll still buy those. It would only be a replacement for renting movies I haven't seen. But unless they offered me the same 5 day viewing I can get at Hollywood Video, my answer would be: zero interest.
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13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[cafink]

I think it sounds awesome. My only problem with it is that I don't expect to see many movies presented in their OAR, in which case I guess I'll stick to rending DVDs.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I figured this would come around sooner or later. As for myself, I have never used PPV, so VOD is out for me too. I have no idea how popular they are, but with Blockbuster's sig on them, they are a no-no for me.
Glenn

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Video-on-demand is likely to have the same picture quality as regular digital cable or DBS satellite.
Screw that!

 

[Mike Voigt]

Trace: done.
As for VOD, we'll have to see. If (IF!) the video quality is as good as DVD, then I can see folks using it with some regularity.
OTOH, if it is of any lesser qualities, then I think it will flop.
As with the old DIVX (spit), there is still the issue of someone having a database of the movies ordered. Something I do not care for.
Mike

 

[David Lambert]

quote: ...there is still the issue of someone having a database of the movies ordered. Something I do not care for.[/quote]
Same as everytime you order from Amazon or any other on-line retailer. Same as when you use Best Buy's coupons that come to your mailbox with a barcode on them.
Same as anyone who uses the Kroger Plus card.
Privacy. We take it for granted. This is one of the reasons why I buy at B&M's but toss out Best Buy's piddly little 10% coupons.
I want to own what I want to own and I don't want someone analyzing my purchases and trying to figure out things about what I may or may not like. If you "target" me with specialized marketing, how am I ever going to know that something else is out there? Besides, I rather get nothing in the way of junk mail at all, and using that stuff is tantamount to begging them, "Spam me".
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DAVE/Memphis

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm [ /i]
[Edited last by David Lambert on September 17, 2001 at 08:15 PM]