Mike, I think your dearth of VOD and NVOD choices is from an old TW "rule of thumb" regarding content availability, in combination with some possible bandwidth limitations in any given node. The bandwidth limitations might come into play during peak demand times, I'll agree with that. Not knowing the bandwidth requirements per film, in a 500 homes passed node (325 subscribers at 65% penetration) it is hard to know just how much bandwidth a large VOD system would consume during simultaneous viewings. But here's the real reason I think you get limited junk today:
The cable business is mostly about business first, business second, and maybe technology comes in third. So in light of that business first philosophy, it should come as no surprise that TW (and all other MSOs for that matter) have some rules they live by to generate the most cash from their bandwidth allocated. The basic rule of thumb that is used is that the "Top 20" movies currently available (Academy Award Winners, box office champions or otherwise deemed "most popular") movies will generate 80% or more of the available revenue at any given time. So that is what they show on VOD and NVOD. Pure and simple. It's an Economics 101 mentality, that's all. And of course, as you opine, the Top 20 is mostly junky, recent release stuff, not the classics.
When I was working at Time Warner during the heyday of the Full Service Network, I raised this very issue about providing customers with access to the library of Warner Brothers, especially the classics. I was told the very low demand for those films did not justify the investment in servers or bandwidth that would have to be allocated to warrant providing access to "the good stuff". And so the idea was stifled. That is, until the cost of the enabling technologies, including bandwidth, would come done in a big way (which it has not yet).
If we knew the specific technology, compression ratios ( some systems on the market can do 14:1 with good quality now, not sure what TW uses though) and bandwidth requirements for Time Warner's VOD and NVOD system as it exists today, we could calculate the spectrum requirements in a 500 homes passed node and determine if there is indeed a possibility of "crashing" the system above 20% usage. But knowing the thinking of TW execs on this matter, I don't think that's your limiting factor in this case (although it plays a part in it). It's the business case and economics. "Give em the Top 20 and they'll be happy and we'll be rich." You may not be ordering the stuff, but I guarantee you a lot of other people are. |
