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by Jenn Kuzmyk
C21 Media.net UK
Dec 14, 2006
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In Canada, Astral Media's pay net The Movie Network (TMN) has launched Mpix OnDemand, a subscription cable video on-demand (SVoD) service offering films culled from its existing classic movie channels Mpix and Mescape.
This marks the second SVoD service for TMN, which has been offering The Movie Network OnDemand on Rogers Cable since June 2004.
Since then, the service has grown to an average of three million views per month. Meanwhile, Super Ecran Sur Demande, Astral Media's French-language movie service, has had comparable success with more than 500,000 transactions per month.
The new SVoD Mpix OnDemand's programming will draw from a broad range of films that are five or more years old, in an uncut and commercial-free environment, from suspense, thriller and action movies to drama and light entertainment. The service will offer over 30 titles at any given time with new titles added weekly.
Rocky 1-5, Saturday Night Fever, Footloose, The Color Purple, Beverley Hills Cop, The Great Escape, The Princess Bride and Barefoot in the Park are all slated within the December lineup.
Mpix OnDemand's New Year roster will include An Officer and a Gentleman, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Magnificent Seven and The Pink Panther collection. It will also promote a special offering of Oscar-nominated and -winning movies in time for the Academy Awards in February.
According to an August 2006 trend analysis prepared by Solutions Research Group for Canada’s media watchdog, the CRTC, 12% of Canadian households use either a DVR (digital video recorder) or VoD, with on-demand use expected to rise to 30% of all Canadian households in the next five years (either via cable or satellite). Meanwhile, 44% of Canadian digital cable customers (just over a million households) have used VoD (paid or free).
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