PPV Industry to Rock With Grateful Dead Concerts

MultiVision Media will look to revitalize the pay-per-view concert category with this weekend’s distribution of the last three performances by the rock band The Grateful Dead.

In Demand and other PPV event providers will offer the Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” concerts from Chicago on July 3, 4 and 5, according to Brian Ricco, executive producer for MultiVision Media, which secured the PPV rights.

In addition to the three five-hour PPV events, each of which will retail at a suggested price of $29.99, Ricco said a concert preview show will also be available for viewers.

“The Grateful Dead will no longer perform after the July 5 concert in Chicago,” Ricco said. “There’s been so much publicity surrounding it that there was demand from the industry for the event.”

In Demand will support the event with free-on-demand content, including an interview with Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann as well as backstage documentary footage of the band. In addition, the concerts will reply on both VOD and PPV through Aug. 3

Grateful Dead: Fare The Well is a significant moment in music history, which presents a unique multi-day pay-per-view opportunity for programming distributors,” said Mark Boccardi, In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development. “The iconic band’s “Fare The Well” tour has already generated an enormous amount of excitement and publicity because of the huge influence they have had on music.”

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.