MONTREAL – Due to copyright issues and bandwidth needs, cable operators have been unable and/or reluctant to offer high definition video on demand.
Today, however, Quebecor Media-owned MSO Videotron announced concert tour footage from La Tournée Star Académie is now available through its illico digital cable service. The concert tour features performers from TVA’s reality program Star Academie – and since TVA and Videotron are both owned by the same company, there are no copyright qualms.
TVA has signed a deal with Star Académie’s producer, Productions J (the production company owned by Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau’s long-time partner, Julie Snyder) to make the concert footage available in HD, on demand.
And, given the price – $14.99 for 24 hours (or a buck less than what the company is charging for monthly basic phone service) – bandwidth concerns are likely to be mitigated.
This is "the first time in Canada that HD programming is being made available," via VOD, says the Videotron press release.
Star Academie is a bit of a cross between Big Brother and American Idol and has been a runaway hit in Quebec for TVA. The HDOD programming precedes the DVD release set for next month.
Since Videotron began offering high definition in 2002, increasing numbers of digital cable subscribers have switched to the service. Today, HD has a penetration rate of nearly 9% among Videotron subscribers, well above the national average of approximately 3%, says the company’s press release. The move towards HD has gathered momentum since the beginning of the year as 17% of new digital television subscribers are choosing set-top boxes that support HD content.
The illico on demand service logged more than 10 million paid and free orders in 2005 and over 4.4 million orders in the first quarter of 2006 alone. Videotron has a catalogue of over 1,000 films, television programs and documentaries.
