CTAM Notebook

New CTAM research shows that VOD and DVRs are driving viewers back to linear TV, with 34% of VOD-only homes and 47% of homes with VOD and DVRs finding a program through On Demand and then seeking it out on the regular channel. 59% of homes with both services and 49% with VOD only say they are more likely to try new programs because of On Demand. — The supposed consumer thirst for "TV on the PC" may suggest more a desire for flexible viewing rather than a love of watching shows on a computer monitor, said Maura Fox, Group vp at Time Warner Cable NYC. "I don’t think consumers are dying to watch it on the PC," she said. But she said they are going there because it’s often the only place where they can find what they want at that moment—so cable needs to offer even more On Demand flexibility. Jason Krikorian, SlingMedia evp, business development, said "it’s a joke, frankly" that consumers currently have so few options for portable content and urged a "huge effort" to convince content owners to be more flexible. He said cable should strive to "own" video distribution over every platform rather than just on the TV screen, noting that the auto industry once balked at building electric cars and now perhaps wishes it hadn’t resisted for so many years. — The push toward IPTV-enabled set tops may sound cutting edge, but "it’s 10 times more expensive" to deliver video over IP to a cable set-top vs the "traditional means" of using the RF spectrum, said Yvette Kanouff, svp/chief strategy officer at Seachange International. "I’ll always pick the traditional means because consumers don’t know the difference," she said. In another panel, Hillcrest Labs evp, market development Andy Addis said it’s "imperative" that cable integrate online video into the TV experience as "consumers have an insatiable appetite for content."