The rap on 3DTV so far is nice, cool technology, but not enough compelling content to justify its extra cost. Verizon looks to be trying to address that and take a 3D leadership role in the process.
Last week, in partnership with VERSUS, they announced the first broadcast of a 3D broadcast college football game. Today, Avail-TVN is reporting that Verizon is the launch customer of their new 3D video-on-demand (VOD) service.
Avail-TVN claims the new 3D offer doesn’t require Verizon to significantly upgrade any equipment. The 3D VOD titles will be priced $1 to $2.50 above traditional HD VOD titles. There’s not a whole lot of insight into 3D content availability for the new 3D platform. That’s not surprising considering the 3D inventory of movie titles (especially good movie titles) is quite light. There’s Avatar, and then …
Verizon probably sees 3D as an ‘easy’ differentiator for them. I say easy because of the bandwidth challenge presented by 3D for operators who don’t have the luxury of a 10 Gbps capable FTTP network. I suspect we’ll see continued 3D bravado from Verizon, for potentially no other reason than ‘they can.’
Since most doubt that 3D capability will significantly contribute to net additions of new subscribers anytime soon, for now it’s a classic marketing move. It helps position FiOS as the ‘biggest, baddest’ platform in the market, building upon their already established high value perception.
