Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI

UK FILM COUNCIL
Strategic Positioning
Like CinemaNow, World Cinema Online is a pure digital rental/retail business, and is the only one of its kind worldwide to make
independent and specialised content the core of its business model. With the involvement of independent filmmakers, and a young board
that arguably understand the grass roots independent film market very well, World Cinema Online would in all likelihood bring
considerable understanding to a VoD service dedicated to independent titles.
The issue however, as with any start-up, surrounds the robustness of its P2P distribution solutions, and whether or not the company can
attract the necessary financing (and content) in a very competitive market to attract a customer base and stay afloat. Unlike Cinemanow,
and many of their peers, World Cinema Online is trying to make a business case with content for which no business case has been proven
(and indeed quite the opposite in many cases).
Greengrass
On Demand Offering
London-based start-up Greengrass has developed and commercialised what it refers to as a ‘pre-pay broadcast network’ with the aim of
encouraging the mainstream adoption of the Internet as a broadcast medium. The company’s approach has been to choose one business
model (a pre-pay credit system much like that used by mobile phone operators) over the others (advertising, sponsorships, subscription,
etc) and align the price with the costs of streaming to ensure profitability.
The service effectively enables broadcasters to monetize linear channels over the Internet. Broadcasters price their content with a simple
credits based system that offers the flexibility to vary pricing by country and quality of the feed viewed. Viewers buy credits in bundles
(credit vouchers) and credits are debited from their account while watching at the per-minute rate the broadcaster has set. Viewers can
spend their credits with any of the broadcasters on GreenGrass and only ever pay for what they watch. Channels can be accessed either
via the Greengrass.tv aggregation portal, or the broadcaster or content owner’s own website.
The most notable aspect of Greengrass is that the company does not charge for its service (other than essential set-up costs) unless the
broadcaster chooses to charge the consumer. As such, the company offers the means to exploit Internet distribution with little financial
commitment, although strictly speaking not on an on-demand basis.
Feasibility Study for a Digital Platform for the delivery of Independent UK films and Specialised films to the Home
UK Film Council © 2006
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