The number of people watching video-on-demand (VOD) programming in the US surged in June – fuelled by rises in the popularity of pay-per-view content and more children taking advantage of free programming, according to Rentrak.
The increases made June the most-viewed month for video-on-demand this year, delivering more than 589 million transactions.
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Digital content in the average US household could reach 12 terabytes by 2014, according to researchers.
A joint report by Coughlin Associates and Objective Analysis includes DVD libraries, which accounts for a large chunk of the 12TB total.
The cost of VUDU’s basic 250GB VUDU HD player has been halved to USD $150.
According to the on-demand internet provider the move is not a sign of looming financial problems. It stresses that the dramatic price cut is due to positive factors.
Roku has agreed a deal that will give its set-top box users access to Amazon’s video on demand (VOD) content.
The agreement means owners of Roku digital video players will be able to instantly purchase, rent and watch digital movies and TV episodes from the Amazon service.
Video on demand shouldn’t be viewed as a threat to broadcast TV but helps promote it, according to a report.
Thinkbox, the marketing body for the UK’s commercial broadcasters, says that online VOD services do not detract from linear television viewing.
Subscribers to America’s DISH Network who have its MPEG-4 HD DVR boxes are to be offered full 1080p (1920×1080 progressive) resolution wherever content is available.
Starting on August 1 with a Video On Demand option for the movie I Am Legend, the new high resolution programming will supercede the 1080i (interlaced) or 720p which until now was usual HD fare for DISH and other services.
As competition for video services continues to grow in Europe operators will offer high definition VOD as a means of standing out from the crowd.
That’s acccording to a report from analysts ABI Research, which says the move from near-VOD to true VOD dramatically increases buy rates.
It believes the next step will be to differentiate even further with HD VOD and greater content choice.
NBC has made no secret of the fact it plans to use the Beijing Olympics as a campaign platform for HDTV.
Now the US network has announced that the summer games will also act as a research lab to guage how viewers use different media platforms.
The network hopes its research will reveal how people combine, for example, high def TV coverage of an event with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones.
Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research chief, said the company would publicly issue a TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) for the first time.
“An event of this magnitude requires the biggest and most sophisticated research effort to measure it,” he said.
Over a third of all US broadband users have watched at least one TV show on the Internet, according to a study conducted on behalf of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).
But the research found that while broadband users are increasingly turning to the web for their video content fix, 94 per cent still prefer to do their viewing on a television screen.
For cable and satellite networks concerned about the growing threat of online TV shows and movies, the survey provided some comfort.
Of those who watched online shows, 82 per cent did so because they had missed a specific programme on TV.
Based on this, the report points out the “critical importance of strong marketing for the initial TV showing".