This second mention is an article actually about DIVA.
It is a large write up on the front page of the Technology
section of the AJC's Sunday paper. Diva is being used both
by Charter and AT&T in metro Atlanta.
Special notice to the end where it mentions the difficulty
in setting up the service. Interesting.
VIDEO ON DEMAND: NOW SHOWING
Cable TV providers with digital capability are experimenting with a new option for movie buffs --- and there's never a late fee.
Kathy Brister - Staff
Sunday, November 26, 2000
accessatlanta.com
Michael Robinson, movie buff, had grown accustomed to spending $30 a month on video-rental late fees.
"I don't think we ever had a movie that didn't have a late charge," said Robinson, who shares a passion for the silver screen with his 16-year-old son, Michael Lee.
But the Robinsons haven't paid a late fee since September. In fact, for two months they haven't even crossed the threshold of the video store just down the road from their Roswell home.
The family says it doesn't need Blockbuster anymore.
Now the Robinsons can choose from about 350 movies --- new releases, classics, kids films --- without leaving home. They pay about $3 to $4 per film, roughly the same as a video rental, and can start the movie at any time. They have access to it for 48 hours. They can pause, rewind and fast forward it as if using a VCR. But, unless the Robinsons want to tape the on-demand movie, there's no VCR, no videocassette, no late charge.
The digital technology that makes this possible is called video on demand, and the Robinsons were among the first metro Atlantans to get it. Their cable provider, Charter Communications, offers the service across its local network, available to 90,000 homes in Roswell and Gwinnett County. So far more than 11,000 customers have exchanged analog set-top boxes for digital set-tops, equipment necessary for viewing on-demand movies.
Metro Atlanta is one of Charter's first video-on-demand markets. Atlanta and Los Angeles are consumer test beds for Charter, which uses video-on-demand technology created by Diva Systems Corp. of California.
Atlanta's largest cable provider, AT&T Broadband, started using the metro area as a video-on-demand test market a year ago. AT&T is trying out technology created by Diva as well as by Duluth-based Concurrent Computer Corp., a Diva competitor.
After several months of testing video on demand in employees' homes, AT&T Broadband picked up its first paying customers earlier this month. By year's end, video on demand will be available to 30,000 homes the company reaches in Vinings. By the middle of next year, the company said it will offer video on demand to all its digital cable subscribers.
AT&T Broadband customers can choose from about 300 movies, costing $3 to $4. The company is considering offering a monthly subscription fee for children's programs, although it hasn't worked out details.
Cable operators think video on demand will be the first "killer application" of the interactive television era. In most of the markets where cable companies have upgraded networks to digital lines, they're offering two-way services such as high-speed Internet access and cable telephone.
But video on demand is expected to have broader appeal. Not everyone wants to surf the Internet at lightning speeds. Not everyone is enough of a techno-pioneer to abandon a long-standing local telephone company. But everyone watches movies.
Just how interactive is video on demand? Well, to a viewer it feels about as interactive as flipping channels. He simply uses his remote control to scroll through an on-screen guide to the title he wants, then clicks on it. But behind the scenes, that order is sent from the digital set-top box atop his TV to the "head end," the brain of a cable network.
Once it reaches the head end, the customer's order triggers a server that holds hundreds of digitized movies. The server signals the cable company's billing system, and the video-on-demand order is added to the customer's cable bill. Finally, the movie is sent back downstream to the customer's digital set-top box and appears on his television screen. The whole process takes less than two minutes.
During the past five years, cable operators have been spending millions of dollars to build the digital networks that make video on demand possible. They've spent the money in hopes of making even more by selling new, interactive services to existing cable subscribers. By offering new services to current subscribers, cable companies can increase revenue even as the pool of untapped pay TV customers shrinks.
The Robinsons are perfect examples. They're longtime cable subscribers. They're TV people. The family has six televisions, one in the living room and each bedroom, and another in a basement office from which Michael Robinson runs his staffing firm, Integrity ProSearch. Each TV has its own digital set-top box, which means each could simultaneously show a different on-demand movie. The Robinsons have ordered about five on-demand movies every weekend since they began getting the service. Those charges are added to a cable bill that totals $78 a month.
Ten-year-old Amber spends weekend hours watching children's films, especially those featuring animals. Her mother, Shirley Robinson, an assistant teacher at Mountain Park Elementary, isn't a huge movie fan. But she has watched a few on-demand films she said she wouldn't have gone to the video store to rent.
Cable companies say convenience and immediate satisfaction are what sells video on demand.
"The single thing we keep hearing back (from customers) is about the control. They can start that movie right now," said David Stockton, vice president of marketing for AT&T Broadband's Atlanta region.
In addition to pumping up revenue, cable companies hope nifty new services like video on demand will make subscribers think twice about abandoning cable for competing direct broadcast satellite.
So far, DBS hasn't been able to offer the high-speed Internet connections and other two-way services that work best on a terrestrial network built from bandwidth-friendly fiber-optic cables. Getting out front with video on demand will help cable "differentiate" itself from DBS, according to a recent study by technology research firm the Strategis Group.
But cable companies rushing to offer video on demand have to be careful not to trip on the leading edge of technology. Before customers can get the service, they must be upgraded to a digital cable set-top box, a device that must be installed by a technician. That installation can be tricky.
Michael Robinson was happy with his installation, although the process took seven hours. Since the installation, the Robinsons have had one technical glitch that interfered with the on-screen guide on one TV set. But even that wasn't a big problem.
"(Charter technicians) came and fixed that and showed up exactly when they said they were going to," he said.
It didn't go so smoothly for Tami Wirth, a Charter customer in Suwanee. "When I first read about (video on demand), I couldn't wait to get it. They say be careful what you wish for. It took over a month and no less than five different technicians to finally get it to work," she said.
But, Wirth said, now that it's working, she does like the convenience of video on demand. She also likes the on-screen guide that briefly describes each film.
The guide --- which details upcoming network programs as well as on-demand movies --- is Shirley Robinson's favorite feature, too. "It beats the heck out of trying to find a TV Guide around here," she said.
VIDEO ON DEMAND IN METRO ATLANTA
AT&T Broadband is offering video on demand in Vinings only. AT&T customers in that area can call 770-559-2000 for more information on the service.
Charter Communications is offering video on demand throughout its service area. Charter customers can call 770-806-7070 for more information. |
