On Demand Weekly

Comcast First To Offer TV Series From All Four Major Broadcast Networks On DemandApril 27, 2011

We here at On Demand Weekly love all things TV & Film. And we love to catch up on all the TV series available On Demand because it allows viewers to timeshift their viewing habits around their daily schedule.

Until now, not all of the major broadcasters (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC) offered their TV series on demand. Today, Comcast announced they are the first to offer current TV shows On Demand from all four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – On Demand. This expansion of TV series, among others, nearly doubles the amount of hit TV series now available from the major broadcast networks, and brings customers the most TV episodes in high-definition On Demand.

Finally fans of TV subscribing to Xfinity On Demand can choose when they want to watch The Simpsons (FOX) and Modern Family (ABC), along with the most watch TV On Demand series, such as NCIS (CBS) and Parenthood (NBC).

“We are excited to team with Comcast to expand ABC’s fast-forward disabled VOD offering to their customers,” said David Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing. “This is yet another example of our dedication to exploring innovative business models that super-serve the fans of ABC’s popular shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Castle, and add value to our distribution and advertising partners.”

“Our goal is to deliver customers the best and most-current entertainment choices anytime, anywhere so they can catch up and keep up with their favorite TV shows,” said Marcien Jenckes, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Video Services for Comcast. “By nearly doubling the number of current TV series from broadcast networks, Xfinity TV On Demand offers our customers a one-of-a-kind experience that can’t be found elsewhere.”

Starting on Thursday, April 28, more than 20 popular TV series from ABC and FOX will begin to roll out On Demand the day after the TV series’ live broadcast and will be fast forward disabled. Each of the major broadcast networks will offer the four most recent episodes from the below TV series On Demand.

Let's hope other Pay TV providers will follow Comcast's lead.

ABC

· Body of Proof
· Castle
· Cougar Town
· Desperate Housewives
· Grey’s Anatomy
· Private Practice

FOX

· American Dad
· America’s Most Wanted
· Bob’s Burgers
· Bones
· Breaking In
· The Chicago Code
· The Cleveland Show
· Cops
· Family Guy
· Fringe
· Glee
· Hell’s Kitchen (available 7/19)
· Kitchen Nightmares
· Masterchef (available 6/7)
· Raising Hope
· The Simpsons
· Traffic Light

CBS

· Blue Bloods
· CSI
· CSI: Miami
· CSI: NY
· Hawaii Five-0
· Mad Love
· NCIS
· NCIS: Los Angeles
· Rules of Engagement
· Survivor: Redemption Island
· The Good Wife
· Two and a Half Men
· Undercover Boss

NBC

· 30 Rock
· America’s Got Talent (available 6/1)
· America’s Next Great Restaurant
· Celebrity Apprentice
· Chase
· Chuck
· Community
· Friday Night Lights
· Harry’s Law
· Law & Order: Los Angeles
· Love In The Wild (available 6/2)
· Minute to Win It
· Outsourced
· Parks and Recreation
· Parenthood
· Perfect Couples
· Saturday Night Live
· The Biggest Loser
· The Event
· The Marriage Ref (available 6/27)
· The Office
· The Voice
· Who Do You Think You Are?

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Saying Goodbye to Our Favorite Boss (VOD Trend Spotter)May 02, 2011

VOD Trend Spotter is a new weekly column where Kendra Anderson explores the most watched TV Series On Demand (by looking at Comcast (America's largest cable VOD provider) xfinity On Demand's weekly rankings). Sometimes the trends are obvious; other times, she adds her own spin to the psyche of the time-shifting audience.

Saying Goodbye to Our Favorite Boss, While CBS Loses its Edge, and A Good (Police) Story Matters Here (VOD Trend Spotter)
By Kendra Anderson

This Week In TV On Demand

1. Game of Thrones – HBO
2. Hawaii Five-O – CBS
3. CSI: Miami – CBS
4. Bad Girls Club – Oxygen
5. Survivor: Redemption Island – CBS
6. The Office – NBC
7. CSI: Los Angeles – CBS
8. The Killing – AMC
9. Tosh.0 – Comedy Central
10. Nurse Jackie - Showtime

Source: Comcast Xfinity and Rentrak On Demand Essentials (Week Ending April 24th, 2011)

· NBC’s (NBC TV) “The Office” (Official Show Website) clocks in for both SD and HD (#6 and #3, respectively). This week marked Steve Carell’s (Wikipedia) last episode as Michael Scott (Wikipedia), the show’s bumbling-yet-loveable manager.

o How can there be an Office without Michael Scott? Will Ferrell (Wikipedia) won’t cut it, and there is tons of speculation (Daily Mail) as to who will be the next Dunder Mifflin (Wikipedia) appointee (Will Arnett, please!) (Wikipedia). To echo Dwight’s words at the end of the show, “Uh oh.” – KA

· Comcast is the first MSO to offer current TV shows from all 4 Major Broadcast networks On Demand (On Demand Weekly). Beginning last Thursday 4/28, more than 20 popular TV series from ABC and FOX began a roll out On Demand the day after live broadcast. Each of the major broadcast networks will offer the four most recent episodes from select TV series On Demand. (Engadget)

o In case you’ve been living under a rock (YouTube), this is an important announcement. First, other cable providers are going to need to step it up to match Comcast’s (Official Website) play – who will be next? Also, are we going to see a bump in popularity for shows on Fox (Official Website) and ABC (Official Website), which haven’t yet been available On Demand?. – KA

· WWE (WWE Official Website) announced a record 1 million PPV buys of annual showcase WrestleMania (Variety), a 30% increase over last year’s numbers. This year’s goal was reached through significant promotion by WWE alumni Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (IMDB) and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (Wikipedia), in addition to “Jersey Shore’s” Snooki (Official Website).

o For pro wrestling fans, this actually is big news. Pay-Per-View is the primary option for audiences to see these live shows, and the margins are incredible – events typically run between $35 and $60 (Comcast), to watch live on your home screen. And WrestleMania is kind of like Sweeps (Wikipedia) for the rest of TV, so it’s good to know things are looking up for those among us who like violence. – KA

· CBS (CBS Official Website) lost some of its footing this week, owning only 40% of the top 10 series On Demand, compared to last week’s 67% (6/9) share. The network fared even worse in HD viewing – last week CBS stole 100% of the top spots, and this week, only 40%.

o CBS still hasn’t responded to my requests for comment on their insanely successful On Demand presence. I will fool myself and say it’s karma, but we really know this has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Steve Carell. (The Atlantic) I’ll miss ya, buddy. – KA

· Welcome to the top 10, AMC. (AMC TV) This week their show “The Killing” (Official Show Website) put away the #8 spot On Demand. It’s the first live action scripted show from a basic cable network that’s made it into the top 10 series On Demand (since this column began).

o Guess what? “The Killing” is a police procedural. (Wikipedia) You remember how much America likes those, right? So while the show itself appearing in the lineup isn’t big, the fact that AMC gets On Demand props this week is. – KA

- Kendra Anderson

Kendra T. Anderson is a digital strategist specializing in social media and marketing, with an emphasis on independent film and branded content. She has worked with Cinetic Media, Magnolia Pictures and Focus Features, and now helps brands build digital and social communication strategies. Read more from Kendra on her blog and tweet Kendra @ktwanderson

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The Power of the Throne Reigns (VOD Trend Spotter)May 09, 2011

VOD Trend Spotter is a new weekly column where Kendra Anderson explores the most watched TV Series On Demand on Comcast / Xfinity On Demand (The US largest cable on demand provider). Sometimes the trends are obvious; other times, she adds her own spin to the psyche of the time-shifting audience.

The Power of the Throne Reigns (VOD Trend Spotter)
By Kendra Anderson

This Week In TV On Demand

1. Game of Thrones – HBO
2. Survivor: Redemption Island – CBS
3. Bad Girls Club – Oxygen
4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – CBS
5. The Office – NBC
6. Blue Bloods – CBS
7. NCIS – CBS
8. Nurse Jackie – Showtime
9. The Borgias – Showtime
10. Hawaii Five-0 – CBS

Comcast Xfinity and Rentrak On Demand Essentials (Week Ending May 1st, 2011)

· For the 2^nd week in a row, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” rules in first place in On Demand viewing for both HD and SD. The series premiered on April 17^th, and since then has claimed sovereignty of #1.

o Ok, enough with the monarchy metaphors, but, surprisingly, the success of “Game of Thrones” was the only vestige of Royal Wedding Mania to be had this week. What happened to Middleton Madness? Did everyone just DVR the wedding? – KA

· For the first time since this column began, Comedy Central fell completely out of the week’s On Demand standings, with neither “Tosh.0” or “South Park,” the network’s go to series, making it into the top 10.

o Truthfully, I’ve been surprised that both shows have appeared in the Top 10 at all – each has a substantial online following: full, current episodes (South Park Studios) of South Park are available to stream for free, and Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 blog (Link) has tons of extras for fans. Also, the core college dude audience isn’t exactly the type to pay for cable. Still, I’m sorry to see the joy leave America’s TV screens this week. Maybe instead we got our comedic kicks from the White House Correspondents Dinner (Huffington Post). – KA

· Premium cable had a top shelf week in On Demand series, with HBO and Showtime collecting a total of 40% most watched spots in HD, and 30% in SD. Winning shows were Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie” and “The Borgias,” and, as previously mentioned, HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

o This lends credit to recent moves by premium cable to enter the On Demand space, in which they’re playing by their own rules. HBO Go, being called “the Netflix of HBO,” (CinemaBlend) gives subscribing customers access to content on any device, and ostensibly makes the network’s value proposition more attractive to potential customers. Remember, part of the digital arms race is providing audiences with the most premium content, and the best access. HBO has long been known to hold themselves to the highest standards in that department, suggesting “it’s not the other networks, it’s HBO” (Wikipedia). – KA

· Contrary to what I predicted last week, no other MSOs announced plans to round out On Demand offerings by including content from all four major broadcast networks. So Fox and ABC are still on the sidelines. The two nets did not see any traction in On Demand series viewing, despite the fact that many of their shows are newly available to this audience.

o Though the initial announcement may have boosted live ratings (TV By the Numbers) for ABC and Fox, many of their most popular shows are not available On Demand, so if we’re measuring popularity, maybe there is nothing to measure.

Why not make these shows available? A recent NY Times article points out that some popular series are not offered On Demand because networks never negotiated these rights with production studios, likely out of concern for a potential loss in ad revenue…and underscoring the fact that cable companies are pretty much freaking out right now as they face fierce competition from all things broadband and the dreaded Cord Cutters (GigaOM). – KA

· And in professional fighting news, WWE released its first quarter results (WWE Press Release) this week, showing revenues in the Classics On Demand category are down to $1.1 million, compared with $1.3 million during the same quarter last year. The decline is attributed to fewer domestic subscribers.

o First of all, wow. Do that many people really watch bulging, muscled pros duke it out whilst vegging on the couch with a bowl of popcorn? Every quarter? Research shows: “WWE is committed to family-friendly, PG content across all of its platforms,” (WWE Corporate) so maybe the answer to my question is YES.

- Kendra Anderson

Kendra T. Anderson is a digital strategist specializing in social media and marketing, with an emphasis on independent film and branded content. She has worked with Cinetic Media, Magnolia Pictures and Focus Features, and now helps brands build digital and social communication strategies. Read more from Kendra on her blog and tweet Kendra @ktwanderson

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On Demand Weekly

Comcast First To Offer TV Series From All Four Major Broadcast Networks On DemandApril 27, 2011

Saying Goodbye to Our Favorite Boss (VOD Trend Spotter)May 02, 2011

The Power of the Throne Reigns (VOD Trend Spotter)May 09, 2011

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