ABC to Offer Shows via On-Demand Cable

[admin]

We've long predicted that cable would rise to the occasion and begin to offer greater and greater amounts of on-demand content. Eventually, it would stand to reason that with the proper service and pricing structure, this would dramatically compete with physical media like Blu-ray. This week ABC inked a deal to provide episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives (among other shows) for free via video-on-demand (VOD) cable systems. Walt Disney is the parent company for ABC and is planning to reap a ton of extra profits by selling ad space on the VOD content.

Discuss "ABC to Offer Shows via On-Demand Cable" here. Read the article.

 

[stratman]

The magic word: "free", as long as it's "free" consumers will use it. When they start to charge for TV episodes, it'll fall flat. There will always be a market for physical media, as long as people are smart enough to realize that it's cheaper in the long run. If you watch movies over and over (what A/V'er doesn't) physical media wins hands down, if your a casual user then VOD will win out. One problem I see with VOD is availability, what if a movie that you like wasn't popular or it's an obscure 1950s sci-fi flick and the provider deems it's not "important" enough to take up space, then you're out of luck.

 

[Halon451]

Most of the On-Demand movies thus far already prevalent have been rife with a pitiful selection, at least in my market area. I've used it once or twice because they do offer some of the newer releases (Bourne Ultimatum and the new Die Hard flick - thumbs up).

I've heard that they were going to open up the on-demand venture for regular network programming, so I've been waiting to see the results. Looks like ABC is off to a good start with 'Lost' - both my wife and I are rabid fans, but at this point, we aleady own the first three seasons on DVD and are recording the ongoing 4th season directly on DVR.

All told, I think the On-Demand market is going to fare well with some, and not so much with others. It took me a long time to get over the habit of buying physical CD's, and went to downloading albums right off the internet, and the only thing I have to show for the purchase are a bunch of 1's and 0's. Alas, it's the new age coming though, and more and more people want convenience, instant gratification, and some network or cable company officials telling them what they want to watch.

 

[autoboy]

It seems to me that there should be no reason to need a Vudu box to rent movies if cable companies would get their act together and sign the same contracts as apple and vudu for their movie content. A few menu changes to their VOD service are required, but VOD has proved so far valuable and reliable for me and could make VOD a real force to be reckoned with. It seems like a much better service than clogging my internet tubes with vudu's torrent style download and upload service. The HD videos I watch on VOD are pretty good quality in full 1080i. There is a fair bit of compression blocking and it is not something that would replace BluRay for the better action movies, but for general viewing and the general public, I think VOD makes a lot of sense.

My only fear is that it does catch on and the studios quit producing BluRay discs. I'm pretty certain that won't happen though. There will always be a need for some physical media and as long as there is there will be a path to rent or buy it. BluRay in the mail has proven very effective for me.