A pair of articles in yesterday’s CTAM SmartBrief illustrates how far video-on-demand has come and how far it still has to go. The first is a USA Today article that reports on how RHI Entertainment will produce 24 made-for-TV movies exclusively for a VOD audience through mid-2008. This isn’t quite as good as what Mark Cuban is proposing with his Ultra HD VOD, but exclusive, long-form content is a step in the right direction.
The second article is a New York Times story detailing the lack of Hollywood content available on-demand. Interestingly, the article’s author points out that studios can earn three times the margin on VOD movies than they earn on a store video rental, suggesting that the lack of cooperation from Hollywood isn’t in its own best interest.
With VOD infrastructure firmly in place and operators lobbying hard, I don’t doubt that VOD will yet explode. Maybe around the time of the digital TV transition?
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