Network end users to pull down 2 gigabytes a day, continuously?

Mon Jan 15 14:50:51 UTC 2007

The problem with this all (or mostly) VoD model is the entrenched  
culture. In countries outside of the U.S. with smaller channel  
lineups, an all VoD model might be easier to migrate to over time. In  
the U.S., where we have 200+ channel lineups, consumers have become  
accustomed to the massive variety and instant gratification of a  
linear lineup. If you leave it to the customer to choose their  
programs, and then wait for them to arrive and be viewed, the instant  
gratification aspect is lost. This is important to consumers here.

While I do not think an all or mostly VoD model will work for  
consumers in U.S. in the near term (next 5 years), it may work in the  
long term (7-10 years). There are so many obstacles in the way from a  
business side of things, though.

Gian Anthony Constantine
Senior Network Design Engineer
Earthlink, Inc.

On Jan 15, 2007, at 9:31 AM, Joe Abley wrote:

>
>
> On 15-Jan-2007, at 08:48, Michal Krsek wrote:
>
>> This system works perfectly in our linear-line distribution  
>> (channels). As user you can choose time you want to see the show,  
>> but not the show itself. Capacity on PVR device is finite and if  
>> you don't want to waste the space with any broadcasted content you  
>> have to program the device. I have ten channels in my cable TV and  
>> sometimes I'm confused what to record. Beeing in the US and paid  
>> for ~100 channels will make me mad to crawl channel schedules :-)
>>
>> So the technology is nice, but not a "What you want is what you  
>> get". So you cannot address the long tail using this technology.
>
> These are all UI details.
>
> The (Scientific Atlanta, I think) PVRs that Rogers Cable gives  
> subscribers here in Ontario let you specify the *names* of shows  
> that you like, rather than selecting specific channels and times; I  
> seem to think you can also tell it to automatically ditch old  
> recorded material when disk space becomes low.
>
> One thing that may not be obvious to people who haven't had this  
> misfortune of consuming it at first hand is that North American TV,  
> awash with channels as it is, contains a lot of duplicated content.  
> The same episode of the same show might be broadcast tens of times  
> per week; the same advertisement might be broadcast tens of times  
> per hour.
>
> How much more programming would the existing networks support if  
> they were able to reduce those retransmissions, relying on the  
> ubiquity of set-top boxes with PVR functionality?
>
>
> Joe
>

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