Broadcasters aren’t willing to dive into the VOD pool, but they’ll get their feet wet if it works to their advantage. First up is Fox Broadcasting. With the MLB playoffs and World Series throwing its entertainment schedule out of whack, it’s turned to 2 of the biggest distributors-Comcast and DirecTV-to help promote new series "Prison Break." Fox is making available on VOD some 30mins of Prison Break bonus material, including cast interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and clips. Comcast will make the material available on VOD; DirecTV will do so on SVOD (of course, DirecTV’s ‘VOD’ is via DVR). The TV series debuted to promising ratings back in Aug, but is on hiatus during baseball. Given Prison Break’s involved story arc, the broadcaster wanted to keep momentum rolling during a month of baseball. The move is significant because the only previous VOD content the broadcaster offered was more than 2 years ago, in a now-defunct experiment with Cablevision. Fox says there’s no plan to offer complete episodes via VOD, though it is open to further VOD promotions. "We’ll take a look at how successful this is; these are very special circumstances," a Fox exec says. He wasn’t sure why the material wasn’t offered to more operators. The package is part of a bigger push for Prison Break that includes 1-hr of bonus material for broadcast affiliates to air when they choose.

The Daily

Subscribe
Tuesday–July 1

FCC Blesses Rincon’s Purchase of Sinclair Stations

The FCC Media Bureau gave the greenlight to Rincon Broadcasting’ s purchase of five Sinclair stations, despite a petition to deny the deal from a watchdog group. Frequency Forward , which says its mission is

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Sep 11
2025 Faxies Awards Faxies Nominations Open! Final deadline: 4/4/25
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB or hiring for one?
VIEW JOBS

In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors. The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Carley Ashley, [email protected], for more information about posting a job on the website and our Jobs newsletter, sent twice weekly to 85,000 media professionals.