The Change Mariner

Subscription Video On Demand

CBS Marketwatch:

If you've wondered what the video-on-demand television universe might look like once it's fully integrated, Glenn Britt is in one of the best positions to tell you.

Britt, the chairman of Time Warner's cable unit -- the nation's second largest -- offered a preview of things to come at this week's UBS Media Week Conference in New York.

The concept of on-demand video technology is that movies or television shows are stored on servers, and made available 24 hours a day for any cable subscriber who wants them.

Particularly intriguing to Britt, as it is to most others who have followed the progress of on-demand video technology, is subscription video on demand.

With a subscription, viewers pay a flat fee to download all the on-demand content they want, as many times as they wish, rather than having to pay for each viewing. Studies have already shown that many people prefer to pay a flat fee.

"I think the SVOD part of this is going to be very attractive," he said during a question-and-answer session. "We were talking to all the programmers about taking SVOD beyond where it is today.

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