Angelie New Media Technologies 08

Virgin Media is the UK's biggest on demand provider, with over 3 million Video on Demand (VoD) customers. With the VoD service, users can stream programmes whenever they want from the servers at their local head-end (central control device). TV Choice is a large library of programmes that have been uploaded by content providers such as the BBC, Channel 4, Disney Channel and many more. Subscribers to Virgin Media's premier television package (Size: XL) have the content included in their subscription, while other customers can pay £5 per month for unlimited access, or can use pay-per-view. Also part of TV on Demand is Catch Up TV, which streams programmes up to 7 days after they've been aired.

TV Choice is split up into different categories which users can use to find the programmes they want to watch:

• Virgin Central
  Virgin Central contains a selection of programmes that are free for all Virgin customers, even if the VoD service is not usually in their subscription.


• Channels
  Programmes are categorised by the following Channels: BBC, 4 on Demand, HBO, Warner TV, Living, Virgin 1, Paramount comedy, Bravo, Zone Reality, Discovery, National Geographic, Histort & Biography, MTV and Extreme Sports.
  
• What's New
  In this section, users can find programmes that have been recently added to the VoD service.
  
• Comedy
  New and classic comedies such Friends, Curb Your Enthusiasm and My Family.
  
• Drama
  e.g. Close To Home, Entourage and Lost
  
• Entertainment
  A variety of shows including The Charlotte Church show, Jerry Springer and Laguna Beach


• Kids
  The kids section features programmes from: Jetix, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Disney Channel, Pop, Tiny Pop and Baby TV.


• Lifestyle and Factual
  The lifestyle and factual section contains documentaries and other lifestyle shows.


• High Definition
  A selection of HD programmes (at the moment, this is quite limited... but presumably as HD becomes more and more popular, more HD programmes will be added)


• All A-Z

TV Choice on Demand would appeal to a wide variety of audiences, ranging from teenagers, to middle-aged people to the elderly. This is because of the wide variety of programmes available, which means that the audience is more likely to find something they're interested in. And very often, audience members will find more than one programme that they would like to watch. Virgin Media users use the TV on Demand service because of the instant gratification it provides. The audience can watch it whenever they want and aren't restricted by traditional TV schedules.

The main institution involved is Virgin Media. By providing an extensive selection of on demand programmes, Virgin Media is seen as a very good video on demand provider. They can use this aspect of Virgin Media to market the service and hopefully get more customers. Providing their current customers with a good quality on demand service could mean that the audience would stay loyal to Virgin Media and may be less likely to switch to other competitors such as Sky.
However, the increasing usage of on demand services has caused problems for broadcasters. If more people are using the on demand service, they would be less likely to watch normal TV channels. This means that they are much less likely to actually watch the adverts. This would mean that advertisers would be less willing to pay for advertising air time, which would lead to a decrease in revenue for the broadcasters.

1. Proliferation
With TV Choice on Demand, there is a massive amount of choice of programmes for the audience.


2. Digital vs. Analogue
TV Choice on Demand is available through digital TV as opposed to terrestrial services.


3. Fragmentation
Audiences are diversified because the main audience using TV on demand will be broken down into smaller groups who will watch different types of programmes on VoD.


4. Time shift/Convenience
   The audience can choose when they want to watch the TV programmes and can use the service whenever is convenient for them.