espite the buzz about video-on-demand (VOD) services, the latest findings by Nielsen Media Research and Comcast Corporation indicate that traditional television viewing has not been affected. VOD enables television viewers to watch exclusive or specific programmes on a set-top box, which is linked to a network providing the service. The set-top contains a hard drive in which the video is stored, allowing the user to pause, fast forward or rewind it. This feature is mostly provided by cable television channels.

The three-month study (June-August 2005) conducted by the two research firms surveyed consumers in Philadelphia, USA. It shows that at the current stage in the development of VOD, households that watch VOD are also heavy TV viewers, and there is no evidence that using VOD reduces the time spent on viewing traditional TV programming.... more