Washington, D.C.
(April 30, 2007) --
The New York Times yesterday published a glowing preview
of a new Video on Demand set-top service called Vudu.
The box, which will offer up to 5,000 films that can be seen on your TV, is expected to be available this summer for around $300.
"Vudu, if all goes as planned, hopes to turn America's televisions into limitless multiplexes," The Times writes, "providing instant gratification for movie buffs. It has built a small Internet-ready movie box that connects to the television and allows couch potatoes to rent or buy any of the 5,000 films now in Vudu's growing collection."
But, folks, don't get all excited because Vudu will be doo-doo. It will fail.
Let me repeat that. It will fail.
Apple TV even has a better chance of success.
The box, which will offer up to 5,000 films that can be seen on your TV, is expected to be available this summer for around $300.
"Vudu, if all goes as planned, hopes to turn America's televisions into limitless multiplexes," The Times writes, "providing instant gratification for movie buffs. It has built a small Internet-ready movie box that connects to the television and allows couch potatoes to rent or buy any of the 5,000 films now in Vudu's growing collection."
But, folks, don't get all excited because Vudu will be doo-doo. It will fail.
Let me repeat that. It will fail.
Apple TV even has a better chance of success.
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In its article, The Times, as the mainstream media often does, shows a total lack of understanding of the American marketplace -- and the average TV viewer.
For starters, Americans are suffering from set-top fatigue. In the average living room, there already is a cable/satellite box; a DVD player; a video game console; an audio/video receiver; a Digital Video Recorder; and God knows what else. The television looks like it's surrounded by an army of boxes.
Vudu might magically disappear from the scene.
And now, we are told that Americans will rush out to buy yet another set-top? For $300?
Give me a break.
"This is something that is going to alter the landscape," Tony Miranz, Vudu's founder, tells the Times. "We are rewriting economics."
Mr. Miranz, you might want to write a few checks while you're at it. You're going to need all the backup funding you can get.
Where's the High-Def?
To make this thing even more foolish, Vudu officials today wouldn't even comment on whether the service would offer any of the 5,000 films in high-def. A company spokeswoman told TVPredictions.com that she couldn't confirm "any product details."
However, other news reports say Vudu will upscale standard definition content to HD resolution, which creates that grainy, blurry look you see when a high-def network "upconverts" a SD program.
Do you think the 30 million high-def owners (and growing fast) in this country will get excited about that? Will pay $300 for a set-top that upconverts SD to HD?
Give me a break.
In addition, cable and satellite operators are now expanding their Video On Demand menus -- including offering real High-Definition. Do you think cable and satellite customers will run to the store to get a VOD box?
Give me a break.
To its credit, The Times does quote a few skeptics in its article, but the writer seems to buy into Vudu's vision.
"If Vudu succeeds, it may mean goodbye to laborious computer downloads, sticky-floored movie theaters and cable companies' much narrower video-on-demand offerings. It may even mean a fond farewell to the DVD itself--the profit engine of the film industry for the last decade," the article gushes.
Okay, say it with me: Give me a break.
Comment on this article!
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
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Advertisement
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In its article, The Times, as the mainstream media often does, shows a total lack of understanding of the American marketplace -- and the average TV viewer.
For starters, Americans are suffering from set-top fatigue. In the average living room, there already is a cable/satellite box; a DVD player; a video game console; an audio/video receiver; a Digital Video Recorder; and God knows what else. The television looks like it's surrounded by an army of boxes.
Vudu might magically disappear from the scene.
And now, we are told that Americans will rush out to buy yet another set-top? For $300?
Give me a break.
"This is something that is going to alter the landscape," Tony Miranz, Vudu's founder, tells the Times. "We are rewriting economics."
Mr. Miranz, you might want to write a few checks while you're at it. You're going to need all the backup funding you can get.
Where's the High-Def?
To make this thing even more foolish, Vudu officials today wouldn't even comment on whether the service would offer any of the 5,000 films in high-def. A company spokeswoman told TVPredictions.com that she couldn't confirm "any product details."
However, other news reports say Vudu will upscale standard definition content to HD resolution, which creates that grainy, blurry look you see when a high-def network "upconverts" a SD program.
Do you think the 30 million high-def owners (and growing fast) in this country will get excited about that? Will pay $300 for a set-top that upconverts SD to HD?
Give me a break.
In addition, cable and satellite operators are now expanding their Video On Demand menus -- including offering real High-Definition. Do you think cable and satellite customers will run to the store to get a VOD box?
Give me a break.
To its credit, The Times does quote a few skeptics in its article, but the writer seems to buy into Vudu's vision.
"If Vudu succeeds, it may mean goodbye to laborious computer downloads, sticky-floored movie theaters and cable companies' much narrower video-on-demand offerings. It may even mean a fond farewell to the DVD itself--the profit engine of the film industry for the last decade," the article gushes.
Okay, say it with me: Give me a break.
Comment on this article!
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________
Advertisement
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Phillip Swann is
president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in
dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox
News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The
Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
Click
TVPredictions.com
to read more news and features on TV
technology.