TWO NEW DEALS, BOTH announced Monday, will see hit shows from American conventional broadcasters made available on demand through cable and satellite carriers.
Comcast, North America’s largest MSO, with 22 million subscribers, unveiled its deal with CBS that will see CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Survivor and The Amazing Race added to the video on demand service for Comcast digital customers. The cost? 99-cents.
UPDATE: Since CSI is produced by Canada’s Alliance Atlantis, the Canadian company will get a boost from this, too. While the company was not mentioned in the release, we heard back from Alliance Atlantis which confirmed that all revenue earned by the show is split between CBS and Alliance Atlantis. So half the VOD buy revenue, minus costs, will flow to the Canadian company.
The other deal, also announced Monday, will see NBC Universal make its programming available to DirecTV on demand through the DBS company’s interactive digital video recorder for 99-cents an episode.
This multi-year agreement will give the prime time on demand rights to NBC Universal TV programs, such as Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI, The Office, Monk, Surface and Battlestar Galactica. The programs will be available immediately after they air until the following week’s episode. NBC Universal’s movies and TV events will also be available through DirecTV Plus, and on pay-per-view.
These announcements mark a new phase for video on demand and further emphasizes the changing landscape of providing prime-time content to viewers whenever they choose.
These are the first two deals where a major broadcaster is making its current prime time hits available on demand.
Beginning in January, Comcast Digital Cable customers in markets served by CBS owned-and-operated television stations including the top 7 U.S. markets will be able to take advantage of the new VOD programming. Certain Comcast systems also may make CSI and NCIS available on demand in high-definition for customers with HD-enabled Comcast digital cable set-top boxes. Prior to the March debut of new episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race, viewers will be able to order episodes of the fall 2005 editions (Survivor: Guatemala and The Amazing Race 8.)
"Video on demand has fundamentally changed the way people watch TV, and now for the first time the most popular prime-time CBS programming will be available to our customers," said Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. "CBS has taken a giant step forward in experimenting with prime-time video on demand. Comcast’s On Demand service has been tremendously successful, with more than one billion program views so far this year."
"(V)ideo on demand is the next frontier for our industry, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Comcast in taking this giant, positive leap forward," said Leslie Moonves, chairman, CBS and co-president and co-COO, Viacom. "We’re offering hit programming that is extremely well-suited for this new medium, and we’re confident the lure of watching these shows at one’s own convenience, will make this feature wildly popular. "
"We are thrilled to be able to make some of the best and most watched programs… more readily available to viewers," said Jeff Zucker, president, NBC Universal Television Group in his press release. "We are extremely aware that viewers can’t always watch these programs when they’re originally scheduled, and this will give them far more control over when they’re able to see these shows."
"DVRs have fundamentally changed the way people watch television, giving viewers greater choice, control and convenience. We will take the DVR experience to new levels by offering the widest array of network primetime programming available on demand,” added Chase Carey, president and CEO, DirecTV.
The DirecTV Plus DVR will be available at retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City this month.
