Time Warner, Dodgers Strike Free VOD Deal
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 8/13/2006 8:00:00 PM
Newly dominant provider Time Warner Cable hopes to hit a home run in the Los Angeles market with its new free video-on-demand offering: Dodgers on Demand.
As part of its overall sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the cable operator has acquired archival footage from the team for the platform. The operator and the team will also shoot new footage, such as game highlights, so the site is updated frequently. The cable company hopes to post content the same day it is created.
The content will be accessible to 2 million Southern California cable homes, including the former Adelphia Communications Corp. subscribers acquired by Time Warner on Aug. 1; and the Comcast Corp. customers swapped to Time Warner on that date. The two other operators had each launched their own video-on-demand offerings in their Los Angeles-area systems.
The site will also contain coverage of Dodgers charity events and press conferences, and will continue to operate even in the off-season, said Jamie McCourt, vice chairman and president of the team.
Jeffrey Hirsch, the Los Angeles president of Time Warner Cable, said he was unaware of any other company division offering similar on-demand portals for professional sports teams.
The deal had been in the works for four months, but the timing of the Aug. 9 launch was serendipitous: The team had run up an 11-game winning streak by the date of the launch, moving from last place to second place in the National League West.
A Spanish-language version of the programming will also be available soon.
Hirsch said the operator has had “introductory” talks with other Los Angeles teams, including the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, about similar programming. For now, he added, the cable company is focusing on the Dodger deal.
Time Warner is in the midst of a monthlong branding campaign, introducing itself as the new operator throughout the majority of Los Angeles.
When it begins its push for new subscribers, officials expect the Dodgers on Demand product to be a big part of the operator’s acquisition campaign, noting the product is exclusive to cable and unavailable via direct-broadcast satellite providers.
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