Video on demand has become a virtual must have for cable TV customers over the past five years. Why is this service so popular? How does it work? Do new satellite and fiber providers like Verizon FiOS offer similar on demand services? Lets take a closer look.
Cable television on demand service from Comcast, Time Warner, and others works through your existing digital cable set top box. While analog cable has pretty much been eliminated over the past few years, there are a few providers that still offer analog service. If so, you will have to get a digital cable box before getting started with video on demand.
Generally most cable television companies do not charge extra for video on demand. You do though have to have a subscription to HBO or Showtime if you want to watch the related on demand content that is offered through these networks. While most cable companies claim they offer thousands and thousands of on demand titles, many of these are previews and movie trailers. In addition, they count their pay per view movie options which of course are going to cost you extra each time you watch a new release.
Fios on demand from Verizon is a nice alternative to cable in that you can get pretty much the same content that cable offers and the price is a bit lower. Verizon runs their network over fiber optics, while cable TV companies continue to rely on coaxial cable to run things. Obviously you are not going to have as many bandwidth issues with Verizons all fiber network compared to cable.
Satellite TV providers have on demand for pay per view, and Direct TV has also started their own on demand service that requires the customer to have their own high speed connection. While this works adequately, it isnt as fast as the cable or FiOS options.