Editing Video on demand (section)

==History==
{{See also|Streaming media|Original net animation}}
VOD services first appeared in the early 1990s. Until then, it was not thought possible that a [[television program]]me could be squeezed into the limited telecommunication bandwidth of a copper telephone cable to provide a VOD service of acceptable quality as the required bandwidth of a [[digital television]] signal is around 200{{nbsp}}[[Mbps]], which is 2,000 times greater than the bandwidth of a speech signal over a copper telephone wire.<ref name="Lea">{{cite book |last1=Lea |first1=William |title=Video on demand: Research Paper 94/68 |date=1994 |publisher=[[House of Commons Library]] |url=https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/RP94-68 |access-date=20 September 2019 |archive-date=20 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920082623/https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/RP94-68 |url-status=live }}</ref>

VOD services were only made possible as a result of two major technological developments: [[MPEG]] ([[Motion compensation|motion-compensated]] [[Discrete cosine transform|DCT]]) [[video compression]] and [[asymmetric digital subscriber line]] (ADSL) data transmission.<ref name="Lea"/>

Plans such as those of the Integrated Network System, a national high-capacity fibre-optic network supporting a range of broadband services in Japan, noted in a more general 1986 publication,<ref name="mackintosh1986">{{ cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/sunriseeuropedyn0000mack/mode/1up | title=Sunrise Europe: The Dynamics of Information Technology | publisher=Basil Blackwell | last1=Mackintosh | first1=Ian | date=1986 | access-date=3 May 2024 | pages=58 | isbn=978-0-631-14406-9 }}</ref> were interpreted as conducive to eventual VOD deployment.<ref name="Lea"/> However, early VOD trials employed existing cable television infrastructure, notably British Telecom's video library trial, operated through the Westminster Cable Company. This trial used the [[Laservision]] media format and featured a [[jukebox]]-like media handling system involving players served by disc carousels, with twelve such handler units capable of serving up to 6,000 customers.<ref name="btjournal198707_video">{{ cite journal | url=https://archive.org/details/btj-198707/page/n87/mode/2up | title=Video 'juke box' brings a library into your lounge | journal=British Telecom Journal | last1=Hathaway | first1=Gordon | date=July 1987 | access-date=3 May 2024 | volume=8 | issue=2 | pages=72–74 }}</ref> Other early VOD systems used tapes as the real-time source of video streams. [[GTE]] started as a trial in 1990, with [[AT&T]] providing all components. By 1992, VOD servers were supplying previously encoded digital video from disks and [[DRAM]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/brand-playbook/315815/|title=Brand Playbook: What you need to know about ad-supported video-on-demand|website=Ad Age|date=4 December 2018|language=en|access-date=24 December 2018|archive-date=5 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205092409/https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/brand-playbook/315815/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the US, the 1982 [[anti-trust]] break-up of AT&T resulted in several smaller telephone companies nicknamed [[Baby Bells]]. Following this, the [[Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984]] prohibited telephone companies from providing video services within their operating regions. In 1993, the National Communication and Information Infrastructure (NII) was proposed and passed by the US House and Senate, opening the way for the seven Baby Bells—[[Ameritech]], [[Bell Atlantic]], [[BellSouth]], [[NYNEX]], [[Pacific Telesis]], [[Southwestern Bell]], and [[US West]]—to implement VOD systems.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/104th-congress/senate-report/357/1|title=S. Rept. 104-357 - THE NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION ACT OF 1995|publisher=www.congress.gov|access-date=4 September 2019|archive-date=4 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904151228/https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/104th-congress/senate-report/357/1|url-status=live}}</ref> These companies and others began holding trials to set up systems for supplying video on demand over telephone and cable lines.

In November 1992, Bell Atlantic announced a VOD trial. IBM was developing a video server code-named Tiger Shark. Concurrently, [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] (DEC) was developing a scalable video server configured from small-to-large for a range of video streams. Bell Atlantic selected IBM and in April 1993 the system became the first VOD over ADSL to be deployed outside the lab, serving 50 video streams.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} In June 1993, US West filed for a patent to register a proprietary system consisting of the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] Interactive Information Server, [[Scientific Atlanta]] providing the network, and [[3DO Interactive Multiplayer|3DO]] as the set-top box with video streams and other information to be deployed to 2,500 homes.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} In 1994–95, US West filed for a patent concerning the provision of VOD in several cities: 330,000 subscribers in Denver, 290,000 in Minneapolis, and 140,000 in Portland.<ref>{{Cite patent|title=Service delivery using broadband|gdate=1995-02-16|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0669748A2/en}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604115158/https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0669748A2/en |date=4 June 2020 }}</ref> In early 1994, [[British Telecommunications]] (BT) introduced a trial VOD service in the United Kingdom. It used the DCT-based [[MPEG-1]] and [[MPEG-2]] video compression standards, along with ADSL technology.<ref name="Lea"/>

Many VOD trials were held with various combinations of server, network, and set-top box. Of these the primary players in the US were the telephone companies using DEC, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, USA Video, nCube, SGI, and other servers. The DEC server system was the most-used in these trials.<ref name="smartbrief.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.smartbrief.com/branded/40A39351-5419-4681-94DF-31A53480B698/E8505DCC-F08D-4043-B1C8-482F63D8D89D|title=The potential of ad-supported, on-demand video|website=SmartBrief|language=en|access-date=24 December 2018|archive-date=11 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511030027/https://www.smartbrief.com/branded/40A39351-5419-4681-94DF-31A53480B698/E8505DCC-F08D-4043-B1C8-482F63D8D89D|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"SGI Ready Opposing Video-Server Architectures: Video on Demand Battle", ''Electronic Engineering Times'', 4 October 1993, p. 1.</ref><ref>"Video Servers: nCube and Oracle Challenge IBM", ''[[Computergram International]]'', 29 October 1993, p. 17.</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Minoli | title=Video Dialtone Technology | year=1995 | pages=441–485}}</ref>

The DEC VOD server architecture used interactive gateways to set up video streams and other information for delivery from any of a large number of [[VAX]] servers, enabling it in 1993 to support more than 100,000 streams with full [[videocassette recorder]] (VCR)-like functionality. In 1994, it upgraded to a [[DEC Alpha]]–based computer for its VOD servers, allowing it to support more than a million users.<ref>{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Minoli | title=Video Dialtone Technology | year=1995 | page=233}}</ref> By 1994 the Oracle scalable VOD system used massively parallel processors to support from 500 to 30,000 users. The SGI system supported 4,000 users.<ref>"Building the Data Highway", ''Byte'', March 1994, p. 46.</ref> The servers connected to networks of increasing size to eventually support video stream delivery to entire cities.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

In the UK, from September 1994, a VOD service formed a major part of the Cambridge Digital Interactive Television Trial.<ref name="cambridgeitv">{{cite web|url=http://koo.corpus.cam.ac.uk/projects/itv/|title=Cambridge iTV Trial|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=31 August 2017|archive-date=11 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611222345/http://koo.corpus.cam.ac.uk/projects/itv/|url-status=dead}}</ref> This provided video and data to 250 homes and several schools connected to the [[Cambridge Cable]] network, later part of NTL, now [[Virgin Media]]. The [[MPEG-1]] encoded video was streamed over an ATM network from an [[International Computers Limited|ICL]] media server to [[Acorn Online Media Set Top Box|set-top boxes]] designed by [[Acorn Computers|Acorn]] Online Media. The trial commenced at a speed of 2&nbsp;Mbit/s to the home, subsequently increased to 25&nbsp;Mbit/s.<ref name ="camcorners">[http://www.iankitching.me.uk/articles/citv-nz.html "Cambridge Corners the Future in Networking"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415092452/http://www.iankitching.me.uk/articles/citv-nz.html |date=15 April 2016 }}, ''TUANZ Topics'', Volume 05, No. 10, November 1995.</ref> The content was provided by the [[BBC]] and [[Anglia Television]]. Although a technical success, difficulty in sourcing content was a major issue and the project closed in 1996.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

In 1997, [[Enron Corporation]] had entered the broadband market, constructing and purchasing thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables throughout the United States.<ref name="NYT1999">{{cite news|last1=Schiesel|first1=Seth|title=Jumping Off the Bandwidth Wagon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/11/business/jumping-off-the-bandwidth-wagon.html|access-date=17 February 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=11 July 1999|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030042154/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/11/business/jumping-off-the-bandwidth-wagon.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=PRNEWS>{{cite press release|title=Montana Power, Williams Communications, Enron Units Announce Fiber Providers for Portland-to-Los Angeles Network|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/montana-power-williams-communications-enron-units-announce-fiber-providers-for-portland-to-los-angeles-network-77921802.html|access-date=17 February 2017|agency=[[PR Newswire]]|date=17 December 1997|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217071349/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/montana-power-williams-communications-enron-units-announce-fiber-providers-for-portland-to-los-angeles-network-77921802.html|archive-date=17 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2001, Enron and [[Blockbuster Inc.]] attempted to create a 20-year deal to stream movies on demand over Enron's fiber-optic network.<ref name="WPjan01">{{cite news|last1=Behr|first1=Peter|title=Broadband Strategy Got Enron in Trouble; Bid to Create Market for Fiber-Optic Space Included Aggressive Accounting|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=E01|date=1 January 2001}}</ref> The heavily promoted deal failed, with Enron's share prices dropping following the announcement.<ref name="WPjan01"/>

In 1998, [[Kingston Communications]] became the first UK company to launch a fully commercial VOD service and the first to integrate broadcast television and Internet access through a single set-top box using IP delivery over ADSL. By 2001, Kingston Interactive TV had attracted 15,000 subscribers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/03/kc-bringing-fibre-optic-broadband-to-105000-hull-uk-premises.html|title=UPDATE KC Bringing Fibre Optic Broadband to 105,000 Hull UK Premises - ISPreview UK|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=26 March 2015|access-date=1 November 2019|archive-date=1 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101091359/https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/03/kc-bringing-fibre-optic-broadband-to-105000-hull-uk-premises.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After several trials, [[TalkTalk TV|Home Choice]] followed in 1999 but was restricted to London. After attracting 40,000 customers, they were bought by [[Tiscali]] in 2006 which was, in turn, bought by [[TalkTalk TV|Talk Talk]] in 2009. Cable TV providers [[Telewest]] and [[NTL:Telewest|NTL]] (now Virgin Media) launched their VOD services in the United Kingdom in 2005, competing with the leading traditional pay-TV distributor [[BSkyB]], which responded by launching ''Sky by broadband'', later renamed ''[[Sky Anytime]] on PC''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/sky-broadband-rebrands-sky-anytime-pc/606400|title=Sky by Broadband rebrands as Sky Anytime on PC|website=www.campaignlive.co.uk|access-date=1 November 2019|archive-date=22 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522124559/https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/sky-broadband-rebrands-sky-anytime-pc/606400|url-status=live}}</ref> The service went live on 2 January 2006. Sky Anytime on PC uses a legal [[peer-to-peer]] approach based on [[Kontiki (company)|Kontiki]] technology to provide very-high-capacity multi-point downloads of the video content. Instead of the video content all being downloaded from Sky's servers, the content comes from multiple users of the system who have already downloaded the content. Other UK television broadcasters implemented their own versions of the same technology, such as [[Channel 4]]'s [[4oD]] (4 on Demand, now known as [[All 4]]) which was launched on 16 November 2006 and the BBC's [[BBC iPlayer|iPlayer]], which was launched on 25 December 2007. Another example of online video publishers using legal peer-to-peer technology is based on Giraffic technology, which was launched in early 2011, with large online VOD publishers such as US-based VEOH and UK-based Craze's Online Movies Box movie rental service.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

Unlike broadcast television, which traditionally has been the most common in the form of [[Over-the-air television|over-the-air]] television, VOD systems initially required each user to have an Internet connection with considerable [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] to access each system's content. In 2000, the Fraunhofer Institute IIS<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martínez-del-Amor |first1=Miguel Á. |title=Applications of Digital Image Processing XL |last2=Bruns |first2=Volker |last3=Sparenberg |first3=Heiko |date=2017 |isbn=9781510612495 |editor1-last=Tescher |editor1-first=Andrew G. |volume=10396 |pages=Paper 103960R, 16 |chapter=Parallel efficient rate control methods for JPEG 2000 |bibcode=2017SPIE10396E..0RM |doi=10.1117/12.2273005 |hdl=11441/106478 |access-date=4 September 2019 |chapter-url=http://publica.fraunhofer.de/documents/N-479926.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904151236/http://publica.fraunhofer.de/documents/N-479926.html |archive-date=4 September 2019 |url-status=live |s2cid=64573078}}</ref> developed the [[JPEG2000]] codec, which enabled the distribution of movies via Digital Cinema Packages. This technology has since expanded its services from feature-film productions to include broadcast television programmes and has led to lower bandwidth requirements for VOD applications. [[Walt Disney Studios (division)|Disney]], [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]], [[Sony Pictures|Sony]], [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] and [[Warner Bros.]] subsequently launched the [[Digital Cinema Initiative]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) - Digital Cinema System Specification, Version 1.2 |url=https://www.dcimovies.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830030107/https://www.dcimovies.com/ |archive-date=30 August 2019 |access-date=4 September 2019 |website=DCIMovies.com}}</ref> in 2002.

The BBC, [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] and Channel 4 planned to launch a joint platform provisionally called [[Kangaroo (video on demand)|Kangaroo]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite news | date=27 November 2007 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/27/bbc.itv | title=Broadcasters to launch joint VOD service | work=[[The Guardian]] | access-date=13 January 2008 | location=London | first=Mark | last=Sweney | archive-date=12 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212144242/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/27/bbc.itv | url-status=live }}</ref> This was abandoned in 2009 following complaints, which were investigated by the [[Competition Commission]]. In that same year, the assets of the now-defunct Kangaroo project were acquired by [[Arqiva]],<ref>{{cite news | date=23 July 2009 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jul/23/arqiva-project-kangaroo | title=Arqiva to launch video-on-demand service using Kangaroo technology | publisher=[[BBC]] | access-date=25 September 2012 | archive-date=12 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212141408/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jul/23/arqiva-project-kangaroo | url-status=live }}</ref> who used the technology to launch the [[SeeSaw (Internet television)|SeeSaw]] service in February 2010.<ref>{{cite news | date=26 January 2010 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8480815.stm | title=Internet TV service Seesaw launches beta trial | publisher=[[BBC]] | access-date=25 September 2012 | archive-date=18 August 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818235748/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8480815.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> A year later, however, SeeSaw was shut down due to a lack of funding.<ref>{{cite news | date=27 May 2011 | url=http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/05/27/exclusive-arqiva-to-close-seesaw/ | title=Arqiva to close SeeSaW | work=Broadband TV News | last=Clover | first=Julian | access-date=25 September 2012 | archive-date=16 June 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616063017/http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/05/27/exclusive-arqiva-to-close-seesaw/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Jazzbox.jpg|thumb|right|Some VOD services require the viewer to have a TV set-top box. This photo shows the set-top box for the Jazzbox VOD service and its accompanying [[remote control]].]]

VOD services are now available in all parts of the United States, which has the highest global take-up rate of VOD.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.statista.com/statistics/198744/percentage-of-video-on-demand-subscribers-in-selected-countries/ | title=Percentage of subscribers who use video on demand on the TV by country in 2010 and 2011 | work=Statista | access-date=30 August 2012 | archive-date=25 August 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825080759/http://www.statista.com/statistics/198744/percentage-of-video-on-demand-subscribers-in-selected-countries/ | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2010, 80% of American Internet users had watched video online,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tvgenius.net/blog/2010/11/16/viewers-treat-online-tv-differently-providers/ |title=How Viewers Treat Online TV Differently, and So Should Providers |access-date=16 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126165001/http://www.tvgenius.net/blog/2010/11/16/viewers-treat-online-tv-differently-providers/ |archive-date=26 November 2010}}</ref> and 42% of mobile users who downloaded video preferred apps to a normal browser.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything |last=Saylor |first=Michael |year=2012 |publisher=Perseus Books/Vanguard Press |isbn=978-1593157203 |page=86 }}</ref> Streaming VOD systems are available on desktop and mobile platforms from cable providers (in tandem with [[cable modem]] technology). They use the large downstream bandwidth present on their cable systems to deliver movies and television shows to end-users. These viewers can typically pause, fast-forward, and rewind VOD movies due to the low latency and random-access nature of cable technology. The large distribution of a single signal makes streaming VOD impractical for most satellite television systems. Both [[EchoStar]]/[[Dish Network]] and [[DirecTV]] offer VOD programming to [[Digital video recorder|PVR]]-owning subscribers of their satellite TV service. [[In Demand]] is a cable VOD service that also offers pay-per-view. Once the programs have been downloaded onto a user's PVR, he or she can watch, play, pause, and seek at their convenience. VOD is also common in expensive hotels.

According to the [[European Audiovisual Observatory]], 142 paying VOD services were operational in Europe at the end of 2006. The number increased to 650 by 2009.<ref>[http://www.obs.coe.int/oea_publ/market/vod2009.html Video on demand and catch-up TV in Europe] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003132457/http://www.obs.coe.int/oea_publ/market/vod2009.html |date=3 October 2011 }}</ref> At the 2010 [[Consumer Electronics Show]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], [[Sezmi]] CEO Buno Pati and president Phil Wiser showed a set-top box with a one-terabyte hard drive that could be used for video-on-demand services previously offered through cable television and broadband. A movie, for example, could be sent out once using a broadcast signal rather than numerous times over cable or fiber-optic lines, and this would not involve the expense of adding many miles of lines. Sezmi planned to lease part of the broadcast spectrum to offer a subscription service that [[National Association of Broadcasters]] President [[Gordon H. Smith]] said would provide a superior picture to that of cable or satellite at a lower cost.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/443352-NAB_Shows_Off_New_Spectrum_Applications.php?rssid=20068&q=digital+tv|title=NAB Shows Off New Spectrum Applications|last=Dickson|first=Glen|date=9 January 2010|work=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|access-date=13 January 2010|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001072753/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/443352-NAB_Shows_Off_New_Spectrum_Applications.php?rssid=20068&q=digital+tv|url-status=live}}</ref>

Developing VOD requires extensive negotiations to identify a financial model that would serve both content creators and cable providers while providing desirable content for viewers at an acceptable price point. Key factors identified for determining the economic viability of the VOD model include VOD movie buy-rates and setting Hollywood and cable operator revenue splits.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rizzuto|first=Ronald J.Wirth|title=The Economics of Video on Demand: A Simulation Analysis|journal=Journal of Media Economics|year=2002|volume=15|issue=3|page=209|doi=10.1207/s15327736me1503_5|s2cid=153357103}}</ref> Cable providers offered VOD as part of digital subscription packages, which by 2005 primarily allowed cable subscribers to only access an on-demand version of the content that was already provided in the linear traditional broadcasting distribution. These on-demand packages sometimes include extras and bonus footage in addition to the regular content.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uscreen.tv/blog/vod-vs-ott-whats-the-difference/|title=VOD vs OTT: Seriously, what's the difference? [Infographic]|last=Johnson|first=James|date=8 February 2019|website=Uscreen|language=en-US|access-date=1 November 2019|archive-date=1 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101091357/https://www.uscreen.tv/blog/vod-vs-ott-whats-the-difference/|url-status=live}}</ref>