When Will Popular TV Shows be Available On-Demand?

Filed in archive IPTV on June 13, 2005

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.

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.