Lee Chin (Editor: Veronique Autphenne)

Now you can enjoy hit movies, sport events and concerts at home. No gum under the seats unless you put it there yourself; no one talking disturbingly behind you unless you invite some annoying guest. You don’t have to wait in line for hours in order to attend the football game; you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a plane ticket if you want to see a championship boxing match held in Las Vegas; you don’t have to go to the video-tape store when there’s a chance that the hit movies are already checked out. In fact, there would be no need to leave home! With just phone call, you can see whatever is on the program, and you just pay for what you see. Pay-per-view (PPV) is the start of customers being able to decide what they want to see, and when they want to see it. It provides interactive communication between cable operators and subscribers.

Pay-per-view TV has actually been around since the 1950s in America. In its infancy, viewers who wanted to watch PPV had to order movies two weeks to one month in advance. It was so inconvenient that PPV at that time was not very successful and not popular. At the time, there were two main ways to operate the systems then: by plug-in decoders and by meters (operated with tokens). In 1977, the first addressable decoders were invented and installed in viewers’ homes. But it took another ten years to make PPV feasible in the whole country. In the 1990s, most of the cable operators provided the addressable converter to their standard cable boxes. The addressable converter uses the phone line to track the subscriber. With these converter boxes, cable companies can add or drop services to subscribers by phone calls. Some cable operators provide Impulse PPV, which enables viewers to use only a remote tuner to order the program.

Viewer’s Choice and Request TV are two of the major PPV supply companies. They provide most of the Hollywood movies and major sport events. There are other specialized program providers. Spice and Playboy channels, for example, offer mostly adult movies. Independent producers usually make special-event programs, which are mostly local events because they don’t have enough capital to go national. These companies deliver programming to cable operators by satellite on scramble channels, while cable operators must provide billing and collection services for these PPV companies.

The price of movies on PPV are often a little bit more expensive than the ones at video-tape stores, which results in a difficulty for PPV to attract Hollywood movie viewers. Another reason for hit movies not being the main sources of profits for PPV companies is because Hollywood studios generally collect about 40 per cent of viewing fees for their movies. Erotic movies, on the other hand, can be bought for about $5,000 and shown for at least three years. The low price for unlimited use makes these films more profitable for the PPV companies. In addition, PPV companies often offer promotions for porn movies which stimulates ordering (for example, pay-per-night for $6.95 rather than one movie for $3.95). Almost every event you can sell tickets for is now a potential PPV event. Boxing, wrestling, football games, concerts stand-up comedy and so on have even higher revenues than adult movies because they are ‘live.’ In fact, professional wrestling and boxing account for more than 80 per cent of PPV companies’ revenues. Sport games and concerts usually cost $20 to $25, while the price for boxing events can be as much as $50. Bars and public entertainment meeting places are key subscribers for these sports events.

PPV system is a convenient way for cable viewers to have interactive communication with cable companies. If the viewer wants to see a movie played on the PPV channel, he can simply dial the 800 number which is available on the monthly sheet provided by cable company or on the PPV preview about fifteen minutes before the movie begins. The cable company will find the address by the phone call the viewer makes, and send signals through the addressable converter box the viewer has at home to play the movie. Then the viewer can enjoy what he ordered at home. With Impulse PPV, the viewer can order the movie just by setting the remote tuner to the PPV channel, and the cable company automatically adds what he sees to the bill. The major users of PPV channels are households and hotel guests.

PPV suffers from not having enough channels, therefore the PPV providers have to set up the schedule for customers to follow, rather than according to viewers’ personal preference. It is thus a driving force shaping PPV because they have to arrange the movies or events to the most suitable time for the customers; for instance, the movie suitable for the enjoyment of the whole family are probably shown during dinner time while violence and porno movies are mostly programmed at night. The events they select to program are mostly on the basis of customers’ interest. For example, many people like boxing, so PPV provides many boxing programs, and at the same time raise the price of boxing programs because they know that the audience would be willing to pay more to watch boxing games.

PPV TV provides many violent and adult movies, and the wrestling and boxing games are sometimes also too violent. Parents now don’t have much control over what their children can see because most PPV companies don’t verify the ‘caller’ as long as the phone call is from their subscriber. Only a few cable boxes provide ‘parents code’ to prevent children from watching porno PPV. Young children now have easier access to violence or porno movies. According to the PPV programming code, which is meant to keep children from watching violence and porno, the PPV companies shall show the violence and erotic movies after 10 PM, and shall not air programming which contains gratuitous violence in any form, or which sanctions or promotes violence.

PPV emphasises convenience; viewers don’t have to leave home to enjoy a movie or event. The technology of PPV is also consumer-friendly. All the viewer has to do is to press a button on the remote or to dial the PPV number shown on TV a couple of minutes before the program begins. Indeed, PPV is easy to use, and the charge will automatically be added to your monthly bill from the cable company. There is no need for long-term commitment; you just pay for what you see. The one-time live shows (sport games, concerts and so on) are also the advantage of PPV programs because they bring the games customers want to see to their home.

But PPV has not been very successful so far, perhaps because the cheaper price and the convenience of video renting is hard to compete with. The other big problem for PPV TV is that viewers have to watch the programs according to PPV providers’ schedule, although many PPV companies flaunted that ‘consumers are in control.’ The PPV companies try to run the programs as often as possible, but it is still not sufficient since there are not enough channels. Customers sometimes have to wait more than one hour if the previous program is already on. Also, viewers cannot stop or rewind the movie whenever they want; if they miss a part because of a phone call, they have to pay again if they want to watch the movie again.

The most likely prospect for PPV is to make it more similar to Near Video On Demand (NVOD) or Video On Demand (VOD) technology. With these two technologies, customers can also stay at home to enjoy movies and pay only for what they order. NVOD provides more channels than PPV to offer more movie-play period. Customers then don’t have to wait for a long time for the previous program to end, and they can stop anytime and pick up the next part of a movie without double payment. VOD allows users to access and view programs at any time. And viewers can actually stop or rewind the film just like a VCR. The ‘pay-per-view’ idea could also be expanded to on-line bookstore or CD shops as ‘pay-per-page’ or ‘pay-per-listen.’

Baldwin, T.F, McVoy, D.S. and Steinfield, C. (1996) Convergence.

Kent, M. (1997) ‘Even Tyson debacle won’t end game of pay-per-view boxing’, 01 July.

McKibben Communications Inc. (1996) ‘Pay Per View Japan (PPVJ) gives PerfecTV! a kick start’, September.

‘Pace adds Impulse Pay-Per-View to digital cable receiver and wins second order form Stream’, 29 July 1997.

Sterngold, J. (1996) ‘Hotel TVs to give access to the Internet’, New York Times, 23 December.

Walters, J.K. ‘PAY-PER-VIEW POTENTIAL: how to cash in on event programming.

BACK TO HOME PAGE