DirecTV to Get With Times, Add On-Demand

Satellite service will combine DVR, web streaming to deliver it
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2008 2:41 PM CDT
DirecTV to Get With Times, Add On-Demand
DirecTV sub-contractors Eddie Ortiz, right, and Jose Sandoval, background, prepare to install a DirecTV Ka/Ku satellite antenna dish atop a Redondo Beach, Calif., residence, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007. Satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. said Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007 second-quarter earnings fell 2 percent...   (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Challenged by cable and phone-company competitors, DirecTV will offer video-on-demand for the first time, a combination of DVR and broadband-connected content with significant limitations. Because the biggest satellite-TV provider doesn’t use terrestrial connections, it’s been long unable to offer instant play options. Its new plan will store some content on customers' DVRs, and allow them to stream more of it from the Internet.

But the workaround isn’t perfect, the Wall Street Journal notes, as viewers may balk at having DVR space eaten up by stored programming. Streaming content could have also have major delays, meaning users would have to pick and choose in advance—building in load time. Comcast, the biggest cable provider, offers 275 million on-demand programs a month; DirecTV On Demand will start with 3,000 titles. (More video on demand stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X