Rollout of VOD service will give cable edge over satellite TV in digital: Rogers

The rollout of video-on-demand (VOD) will give cable an edge over direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributors in the digital universe, says the president and chief executive of Rogers Cable Inc. But Canada’s largest DTH operator says it’s not far behind with its own limited VOD service. Rogers Cable’s John Tory told CCR that the cableco has the technology to deliver VOD, but satellite distributors don’t because they don’t have two-way broadband capabilities.Speaking following a news conference in mid-February at which Rogers became the first Canadian distributor to publicly announce plans for a VOD service, Tory predicted that VOD would be a major digital driver. The jury is mixed, however, on just how much VOD will be embraced by customers. Skeptics point out that the window for delivery to VOD isn’t ideal, since much of the product will have been available already in the video store. But others note that movies have always been a digital driver, and VOD will bring more options for movie viewing. Rogers executives made it clear that the company sees its foray into VOD as giving it a leg up on its DTH competitors. "(Offering VOD) allows us to introduce enhancements to existing programming that satellite can’t match," said Michael Lee, VP of product development at Rogers Cable. "Now, that space is going to be split. If you want to watch The Sopranos on satellite or The Sopranos on digital cable, they fundamentally could be two different products." Satellite TV distributors don’t need two-way broadband capabilities to offer VOD, according to Stephen McDonnell, director of operations at Bell ExpressVu LP. He said ExpressVu is looking at using the personal video recorder (PVR) in a customer’s home to deliver VOD. "How it would work with our system is that we would push down titles to the drive in the PVR, and then the customer would be alerted to the fact that there are new titles in the PVR," he explained. "The customer would then be able to select a title that they wanted to see, at which point it would just play off the drive." He estimated that ExpressVu would probably start with at least 70 titles, which is much lower than the up to 500 titles Rogers’ service will accommodate. McDonnell said ExpressVu’s service would likely never go as high as 500 titles because of capacity limitations and because customers are really only interested in newer movie releases. Rogers plans to run its VOD from servers, which would store the program titles on offer. When a title is ordered by a customer, it would be sent from the server over broadband to his or her digital set top box and television set. McDonnell couldn’t commit to a launch date. "We’re in the conceptual model. We’re discussing with our hardware manufacturers, we’re designing software, and putting together a plan," he said. Tory and Lee told a packed news conference that initial VOD deployment will begin in Toronto to 1,000 employees and key digital cable customers by June, using SeaChange International servers.Additional communities will be phased in throughout the year, and by 2003, VOD will be available to 90 per cent of Rogers’ Ontario customers. Customers will have access to 300 to 500 movies a month, with the cost of each movie priced at about $4.99. Lee repeated comments made to CCR last year that Rogers’ VOD service would also include children’s programming, such as a weekend of Barney productions, or television programs, such as the full season of The Sopranos (CCR, Jan. 17/01). Vidéotron ltée hopes to begin testing VOD this month or next, and Cogeco Cable Inc. is testing its VOD service with 50 titles to 300 customers. Shaw Cablesystems is also testing VOD in Calgary, and is targeting a commercial rollout by year-end (CCR Update, Feb. 20/02).

Rollout of VOD service will give cable edge over satellite TV in digital: Rogers

Broadcast | March 1, 2002

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