Cable Consortium Seals Buena Vista Deal

The cable firm consortium On Demand Management, now going under the market name of Front Row, is set to launch the cable industry’s first pay-per-view movie service next month. Having just signed a third film studio deal with Buena Vista International Television today, the group is compiling material to offer a film service which it refers to as ‘movies-on-demand’. Front Row recently signed two other non-exclusive film rights deals with Warner Brothers and Columbia Tristar; both will provide films for the Front Row service (subscribers see Cable Consortium Forging Second PPV Deal). Today’s Buena Vista deal will allow access to films from Hollywood, Touchstone and Walt Disney Pictures.

The Front Row service is to screen a number of films at regular intervals to increase viewing convenience. Jerry Maguire, Anaconda, Matilda and Mars Attacks will be amongst the films available at February’s launch. As further films become available they will be screened ‘months ahead of normal terrestrial and pay TV schedules’, says Front Row.

Chief executive of Front Row, Andy Birchall, said: “We believe that there is a real need for a new movies-on-demand service in the UK that is truly cost-effective, and that offers consumers an easy-to-use alternative. Through Front Row, the cable companies will be able to offer their customers greater movie watching convenience at a competitive price.”

The natural step from movies-on-demand is to video-on-demand through which a viewer would be able to select exactly which film they wished to watch and receive it almost instantly (like a juke-box); Front Row will not be providing this service at present.

Customers of the service will pay per-film rather than subscribe to a premium film channel on a monthly basis. The service is to be promoted to viewers on a separate dedicated cable TV channel.

On Demand Management c/o Red Consultancy: 0171 465 7700