Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) is teaming up with CBS (CBS) and General Motors (GM) to test out whether ad-supported VOD will work. Recent studies seem to imply that viewers are willing to accept ads if the shows are free. This is an attempt to see if that is a reality.
It will be tested through their digital cable subscribers with primetime TV shows being offered for free to them.
It will begin Monday in the select cities of Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. The viewers will be offered "Survivor Finale" and "Survivor Reunion" with GM sponsoring the shows. They will be shown the day after they are on CBS's normal schedule. Then they will run until August 31.
This is being pushed hard by the cable operators because it is something that can't be done by their competitors, the satellite TV providers, where a lot of cable subscribers have moved to.
Some have commented that VOD has a problem because they either have to create new content which has huge costs or show the free shows which means they're recycled.
To me they are missing the whole point. These assumptions are based upon the old business model that cable has where they think they can only provide their shows through the existing subscription plan.
The real problem isn't VOD, it's that the cable channels are trying to keep their cable subsciptions in place while making some new money with old shows: even if they're only a day old.
Why should we pay those high cable prices for the endless array of shows that we have no interest in? I know when I think about it, I wonder why we shouldn't get credits of some sort from those cable bills, that we can use for whatever we want to watch, when we want? Or even better, have it be totally based upon the number of individual shows we watch based upon paying per show.
Isn't that what we really want, to pay for what we watch, not for the meaningless, irrelevant shows pushed upon us through the various cable channels?
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