Word: triplecast
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...stoutly predicted that a rush of last-minute buyers would make the venture a success. But the figures that began leaking out last week could hardly have been worse. Pay-Per-View Update, an industry newsletter, estimated that only 125,000 homes signed up for the two-week package. TripleCast officials said the figure was between 200,000 and 250,000. Either way, it represents a paltry fraction of the 2 million that had been projected. By midweek discounts were being offered: a reduced $19.95 a day and a special weekend rate of $29.95. But even if late sales pick...
...ambitious TripleCast always posed a tricky problem for NBC. To promote it, the network implicitly had to denigrate its own broadcast coverage -- stressing that the pay-TV event would be live and commercial free in contrast to the broadcast programming, which is mostly taped and filled to the brim with ads. Indeed, TripleCast viewers -- however few -- have found NBC's evening coverage disingenuous, not to say superfluous: Costas and crew have had to manufacture suspense around events already completed and aired earlier in the day. What's more, the TripleCast's no-nonsense approach (events shown in full; no distracting...
Industry analysts had several explanations for the TripleCast flop. NBC and its cable partner had projected that 5% of the potential pay-per-view audience would sign up -- an unrealistically high buy rate achieved only by major boxing and wrestling events that cost much less and can be seen nowhere else. The $125 price tag was apparently too rich for viewers, especially since the live coverage airs mostly during working hours and is repeated on free TV in the evenings. Nor did NBC make an effort to lure viewers with more limited, less expensive packages geared for fans of specific...
...months the TripleCast has been anticipated as a key test of the fledgling pay-per-view concept, which could eventually be used for a wide variety of sports events. Now the outlook is cloudy. "These numbers are disappointing," said TripleCast chief executive Jim Dolan, "and they probably don't bode that well for alternative coverage like this...
...other industry observers argued that the high-profile TripleCast, despite its poor showing, could actually speed the public's acceptance of pay- per-view. "NBC and Cablevision have used the Olympics to promote the viability of pay-per-view," says Christopher Dixon, a media analyst for Paine Webber. "In so doing, they've educated and helped build an audience for the ) future." Barry Gould, publisher of Pay-Per-View Update, predicts that the next Olympics will have a far more sophisticated array of viewing options. "I think the technology will be in place to offer the programming on a timed...