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story category Verizon, Comcast Still Fighting Over Silly VOD 'Channel' Counts
My HD VOD count is bigger than yours! But what about prices?
04:54PM Friday Oct 23 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: prices · competition · business · Op/Ed · consumers
Comcast and Verizon have spent much of the last two years bickering over who offers the most HD channels or video on demand "options." Despite being just as guilty as every other carrier in regards to artificially inflating HD numbers (and in reality having a lower HD count than most carriers), Comcast doesn't like Verizon's tendency to count cutesy instructional VOD videos (like how to fold a towel) as "choices" in advertisements for their VOD catalog. Verizon in turn doesn't like Comcast ads that point this out. Months have passed, and the two companies are still fighting over VOD program counts:
Verizon Communications' claims that FiOS TV now offers nearly twice the on-demand offerings as Comcast are "absolutely untrue," Comcast senior director of corporate communications Alana Davis said. In an announcement Thursday, Verizon said it had increased the size of its video-on-demand service to more than 18,000 titles per month. "That's nearly twice the VOD offering from the country's largest cable provider," the company claimed. However, according to Davis, the majority of Comcast markets offer at least 17,000 VOD titles, and some -- including Philadelphia -- currently top 18,000.
It's all been rather silly, given the average customer probably can't even watch a fraction of the content already offered to them, and couldn't care less if their carrier offers slightly fewer VOD options. In a year or so, as most carriers surpass 100 HD channels, carriers are going to have to start focusing instead on things that actually do matter, like picture quality and pricing. Imagine if Comcast and Verizon put the kind of effort they've put into bickering over VOD counts into fighting over who offers lower TV prices?

Related:
  1. Time Warner Cable Pouts
  2. As Verizon Goes, So Goes Metered Billing
  3. Journal: AT&T Should Ditch $30 Unlimited Data
  4. Cable: Let Us Experiment With Pricing Or The Internet Explodes
  5. The Metered Billing Fight Is About To Get Ugly
  6. The FCC Finally Takes Off Their Rose-Colored Broadband Glasses
  7. Real Consumer Group Takes Aim At Fake Ones
  8. Verizon's New Wireless Pricing Is An Insult

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