MovieBeam, the movies-on-demand service backed The Walt Disney Company, Cisco Systems, Intel and leading venture capital firms, said that nearly 90 percent of respondents to a recent customer survey were "extremely satisfied," "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with their MovieBeam experience.
The MovieBeam movies-on-demand service provides instant access to a library of protected content stored on a set-top box with a hard drive. New content is delivered via MovieBeam's over-the-air datacasting technology.
The service launched in 29 major metropolitan areas across the U.S. in February.
MovieBeam did not disclose the number of subscribers or its churn rate.
Key findings of their customer survey include:
- Convenience is the number-one reason people chose to purchase a MovieBeam player, with 86 percent of respondents citing this as a factor in their decision. Sixty-three percent cited "no monthly fees," followed by "no late fees" at 47 percent.
- Going to the video store was the primary way most respondents (60
percent) were renting movies prior to purchasing a MovieBeam player. - Twenty-five percent were previously using a DVD-by-mail service.
- Only 14 percent had been using a pay-per-view or video-on-demand service through a cable or satellite provider, and less than two percent had been using an Internet-based video-on-demand service.
- Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they browse for movies on their MovieBeam player at least once each week, six percent of whom check out MovieBeam every day.
- More than half of respondents (53 percent) reported that their MovieBeam player is connected to a high-definition television (HD TV).
- Other components connected to the TV where respondents use their MovieBeam player include a DVD player (89 percent), a cable or satellite receiver (61 percent) and a home theater surround sound system (59 percent).
- Most MovieBeam players (59 percent) are set up in customers' living rooms, with another 27 percent of respondents citing a "home theater room" as the place they use their MovieBeam player.
- The MovieBeam datacasting signal rides on top of the existing PBS broadcasting infrastructure and National Datacast's network. MovieBeam's HDD player ensures that there are always 100 movies immediately available, with up to 10 new titles automatically delivered digitally each week -- including select movies in high definition (HD).
