bfalcon@cs.utexas.edu (Bob Falcon) (05/19/91)
Hi Pat, all,
I just came across this in the Philadelphia {TV Guide} 5/18-24 edition:
Dial - A - Flick gets test run
If VCTV catches on, your local video store just might replace the
phonograph record as America's latest technological relic. By the end
of the year, 450 Denver Colorado cable subscribers will be able to
order more than 1000 feature films, any time they choose when TCI, the
nation's largest cable operator, AT&T and US West begin testing
"Viewer-Controlled Cable Television."
Unlike pay-per-view , which delivers movies at pre-designated times,
VCTV's offerings can be ordered 24 hours a day by telephone or a
special remote-control. [ a converter box ? --BF ]
Various prices will be tested during the 18-month trial, but are
expected to be comparable to those found in video stores. [ around
here that's $1.99- $2.99 for the video store and $3.99-$4.99 for our
pay-per-view <per view> --BF ]
This year consumers are expected to spend more than $13.2 billion in
video rentals and sales. ---Herma M. Rosenthal [T.V. Guide]
-----------
I predict the trial 'test' prices will be to see how much people would
be willing to pay [ as usual ] instead of comparable to video store
rentals, but that's pessimistic me <grin>.
I like the idea of VCTV, but I don't even rent pay-per-view movies
now, becuase of the prices.<grin>
Have a good one!
Catchya later,
Bob Falcon [ Co-Sysop : Turbo 386 Remote Access ]
[ 1:273/906 @Fidonet ][ (215) 745-9774 HST/DS ]
UUCP: bfalcon@rescon.uucp
: { cdin-1 || dsinc.dsi.com } !alba2l!rescon!bfalconTom Streeter <streeter@athena.cs.uga.edu> (05/22/91)
It seems to me that I read in "Electronic Media" that the
view-on-demand system to be tested in Denver by TCI will involve
stocking a room with a couple of hundred VCRs and manually feeding the
movies to customers. They want to see if the concept works before
investing in the equipment necessary to automate the process. This
from the company which is refusing to upgrade any of its systems until
it knows whether or not the RBOCs will be allowed into the business in
their own service areas ... ("Yes, let's freeze our lousy service in
place so ANY alternative will look good!")
Tom Streeter streeter@athena.cs.uga.eduPaul Fuqua <pf@islington-terrace.csc.ti.com> (05/23/91)
streeter at athena.cs.uga.edu (Tom Streeter) wrote: > This from the company [TCI] which is refusing to upgrade any of its > systems until it knows whether or not the RBOCs will be allowed into > the business in their own service areas TCI may want to be in the telephone business -- in Dallas, they've come up with the cable equivalent of "slamming." They subscribed all their customers, no exceptions, to a new premium channel, free for one month. The catch is that at the end of the month, the customer has to call to unsubscribe, or be charged for the following months. Paul Fuqua pf@csc.ti.com, ti-csl!pf Texas Instruments Computer Science Center, Dallas, Texas
carroll@cs.washington.edu> (05/24/91)
I hate to interrupt all this talk of Brave New Technology and what not, but whatever happened to the interactive cable/videotex service that was pioneered in the 70's in Columbus, OH ? How do they say it in French? Plus ce change... Jeff Carroll carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com
"Ralph W. Hyre" <rhyre@cinoss1.att.com> (05/29/91)
In article <telecom11.393.4@eecs.nwu.edu> Jeff Carroll <carroll@ssc-vax. boeing.com> writes: > whatever happened to the interactive cable/videotex service that > was pioneered in the 70's in Columbus, OH ? The QUBE system was nuked when Warner Cable got into some financial trouble in the early 80's and the decided to not throw away any more money on it. (They also relinquished their Pittsburgh franchise to TCI around the same time -- I don't know how they could have lost money there -- almost EVERYBODY 'needs' cable TV in Pittsburgh due to wierd reception characteristics.) There weren't very many applications for it. I recall there being a game show that allowed the viewing audience to win prizes. QUBE sites in Columbus, Cincinnati, and someplace in Texas (Dallas, I think) were linked for the game. The other application was to choose pay-per-view movies. We never had a videotex application in Cincinnati.