Just Grab a Magazine From the TV Screen

NEW YORK —  You’ve put in a hard day. Now you’re ready to chill in front of the TV and watch some basket-weaving. Or maybe you’ve got a taste for outer space. Or Shakespeare.

What are the odds you could click to a show devoted to that interest whenever you get the urge?

It’s a slam-dunk thanks to a new cable TV service called Mag Rack, which, although available so far to just a tiny audience, is a reminder that video on demand is a reality after years of delays.

The Mag Rack concept is simple. Navigate to the Mag Rack channel. Choose from more than two dozen topics, including bird-watching, wedding tips, “Wine World” and “The Bible and You.”

Then, within each of these “magazines,” the viewer can select any of several stories, all available as video on demand--which means you can select the program, pause, rewind and fast-forward it, all through your cable box.

Ready? “Welcome to ‘Maximum Science,’ ” an announcer intones, “bringing you the latest in science when you want to see it.” And on your TV screen you see a menu of stories (or would that be a table of contents?) with a scientific bent.

Each subject area is replenished by a new “issue” of Mag Rack-produced programming (an hour or more, “chapterized” into blocks) each month, while past “issues” are archived on the cable operator’s computer server.

In short, Mag Rack seems to be a pretty faithful video equivalent of the newsstand-browsing experience combined with the sporadic way most people like to read their magazines--with the added advantage that Mag Rack is typically packaged free with the subscriber’s premium service.

“We thought there were large constituencies of viewers who were very passionate about certain subjects but were being underserved by television, even in the 500-channel universe,” says Matthew Strauss, Mag Rack’s general manager.

Though it might not warrant “a 24-7 digital network,” he adds, “each of those micro-niches might be perfect for a VOD service.”

Currently the 9-month-old Mag Rack is seen only by Long Island, N.Y., subscribers of Cablevision (parent of Mag Rack as well as the Bravo and American Movie Classics networks), which has announced that in the next few months Mag Rack will also come to areas served by Insight Communications, focused in the Midwest.

A Satellite Killer?

Video on demand-enabled digital subscribers are a tiny fragment of the nation’s 100-million-plus TV households. But the number is growing: An estimated total of 6 million by the end of 2002 is expected to double a year later.

A recent headline in Electronic Media magazine raised the question, “Is VOD cable’s satellite killer?”

In any case, digitally upgrading systems is one way the cable industry is fighting against rivals like DirecTV, whose services are often bundled with TiVo-like recorders that can store satellite-delivered programming for future playback.

Direct-broadcast satellite systems also offer pay-per-view programming at frequent intervals. But full on-demand capability isn’t possible so far.

On cable, most video on demand consists of movies and other programming (like HBO) already available on other channels. That redundancy factor sets Mag Rack apart, says Strauss--”We are producing content for this new VOD technology and only for VOD.”

Industry observers are voicing early approval for Mag Rack.

“It’s ... one more way of differentiating themselves from satellite,” says Adi Kishore, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston.

Whether viewers who can get Mag Rack will watch it is another matter. Kishore cited figures from late 2001 indicating that of five customers with a video on demand system, only one had tried it.

Strauss argues that Mag Rack is a great way to explain video on demand’s possibilities to newcomers.

“We want them to perceive it as more than just a mechanism--taking programming and sticking it on a server--but as a branded editorial service that becomes synonymous with VOD,” he says.