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Cable's three middlemen content players in the video-on-demand arena - In Demand L.L.C., Diva Ps Systems Corp. and Intertainer Inc. - have each posted important content-acquisition or MSO-affiliation victories over the past few months as they vie for a share of the VOD market.
Those moves have helped each of the companies carve out specific roles on the VOD playing field.
In Demand broke the logjam with Hollywood for studio content this summer when it signed deals with Sony and Universal. The company, owned by AT&T Broadband, Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc., hopes to bring its content acquisitions, marketing, promotion and content-delivery skills to its pay-perview MSO affiliates.
Diva considers itself an end-to-end supplier, encompassing content acquisition, servers and VOD management software. Combined, its Charter Communications Inc., Insight Communications Co. and AT&T Broadband deployments encompass 22 systems and 3.2 million VOD-enabled homes.
Intertainer landed its first major cable deal, other than its several-years-old agreement with Comcast, when it signed an accord with Adelphia Communications Corp. last month.
Intertainer also supplies Qwest Communications International Inc. and Microsoft Network with content for VOD and its digital-- subscriber-line service. As part of its Adelphia deal, the company will supply much of that same content for MSO's high-- speed access service.
How their roles change as VOD evolves remains to be seen.
AN ELUSIVE GOAL
Traditionally, PPV middlemen do not make money In Demand officials admit as much and acknowledge that breaking even may remain an elusive goal for some time to come.
In Demand sees its role as helping its major MSO partners with encoding and delivering VOD content, along with helping systems market and promote the service, said president Steve Bremer.
"It doesn't make sense to encode this can teat more than once, or have a separate highway for each of the MSOs. Everyone can ride that highway for the same costs," Brenner said.
His company is working with N2Broadband to deliver VOD movies via satellite directly to cable headends and into server storage units. Founded by former engineers who worked on the Full Service Network in Orlando, Fla., N2Broadband uses a "pitcher's-catcher's mitt" technology to efficiently deliver content...