Comcast Hits 7 Billion Views On Demand

Comcast, a leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services in the U.S., announced today that its signature On Demand service continues to be a one-stop destination for entertainment, with more than 7 billion VOD views and 1 billion hours watched since 2003. "The numbers speak for themselves...each month our customers watch roughly 40 million movies On Demand," said Derek Harrar, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Video Services for Comcast. (PR)

BBC releases fix for iPlayer hack

The BBC has issued a fix to stop people downloading programmes from the iPlayer website that were intended for streaming on an iPhone or iPod only. The content for the phones and iPod is streamed as an MP4 file without copy protection and hackers quickly realised that they could access the file using a simple plug in for Firefox. (BBC News)

VOD targets $10 bil in 5 years

Revenue for VOD services will top $10 billion within the next five years, according to a report published by Informa Telecoms & Media. The report indicates that by 2012, 909 million homes will have access to true VOD or near-VOD technology, equivalent to 78% of the world's TV households. (Hollywood Reporter)

VoD surges in Europe

There were 258 video on demand (VoD) services operating in Europe at the end of 2007, research has revealed. A survey by the European Audiovisual Observatory and the French Government’s Media Development Department (DDM) found that the number of services jumped from 142 a year previously. Some 74pc of the services surveyed are delivered via internet, 26pc are available as part of IPTV packages and 10pc come with cable packages. As in 2006, France – with 32 services – remains the country with the highest level of VoD provision. (Silicon Republic)