Blurring The TV Picture For Consumers -- To Give MORE Benefits?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 15, 2014

A TV consumer marketing strategy that blurs some lines? Might be a plan to get consumers to do what the big TV content and distribution companies want. After years of consumers controlling DVR time-shifting, Comcast wants to see if they can be lured to more VOD services, something it has been pushing for several years.

One Comcast test delivers a VOD episode of “The Bridge” immediately after the drama has completed its scheduled FX airing.  Consumers have typically been waiting a full week to get the next VOD airing of an episode.

Comcast’s set-top box X1 entertainment operating system recently upgraded its VOD library. “Blurring the lines between live, on-demand and the DVR content was a key strategy in the X1 development,” Matt Strauss, Comcast senior vice president of video services, toldUSA Today.

That might not sound too consumer-friendly. Perhaps  a clearer marketing campaign would explain the benefits.

The big problem for big media is how to transition consumers from their DVR habits -- and their preponderance for fast-forwarding through TV commercials.

Consumers are also shifting more of their DVR storage to the cloud.  Years ago, cloud storage -- also called “network DVR” -- had content owners in a tizzy and ramping up litigation. They worried that pay distributors like Comcast could control programming.

Turns out that may be a benefit -- not for to the likes of Comcast, but for networks looking to get consumers to watch advertisers’ messaging.

It probably won’t end there.  My prediction: With more “native” and branded entertainment on the way, creeping into all programming on all digital platforms, expect the fast-forwarding buttons on TV/media remotes to be removed completely, forcing us to watch all content.