Music Choice On Demand on Rise

Time Warner Cable subscribers will soon be able to download via on-demand music videos from October’s artist of the month, Beyoncé, and other performers due to a carriage deal between the big cable provider and Music Choice.

Music Choice On Demand will be added to Time Warner Cable’s video-on-demand offering later this month in its New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Dallas systems, with additional rollouts to all of the MSO’s markets in early 2007, according to Music Choice CEO David Del Beccaro. The deal puts the on-demand service in front of 20 million subscribers.  

The network also has cable distribution deals with Comcast, Cox Communications, Bresnan Communications, Blue Ridge Communications, Armstrong Cable Services and Service Electric Cablevision.

Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Cox are among several equity owners in Music Choice. Others include Microsoft, Motorola, Sony and EMI Music.

“It’s a big deal because it completes our footprint -- we’re now in the top 25 markets, and we’ll be at 20 million homes by February,” Del Beccaro said of the Time Warner rollout. “With Time Warner, we expect our [video-on-demand usage] to increase by 50%, so it’s a huge increase for us.”

Since its launch in 2004, Del Beccaro said Music Choice’s VOD service has generated more than 550 million orders. 

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.