What Starz Play Means to Paid Video Online

Bobby Tulsiani | May 28, 2008, 12:37 PM

Update: Heard back from the Starz team, and need to correct the record. The Starz Play service will be available for anybody with a internet connection to sign up with. Full details available on the official release.

Getting consumers to pay for video online has been a difficult market to crack. Our Jupiter team is forecasting a current market worth around $185 million and growing to $560 by 2012. The figure of course is even further dwarfed in comparison to the multi-billion market around ad-supported content.

As opposed to the a la carte downloads Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all push, Starz entertainment had launched the Vongo online video service in 2006. The NY Times reported that Starz would focus less on the Vongo brand, and instead offer “Starz Play” for $5.99 rather than Vongo’s $9.99.

The catch, however, the service will only currently be offered to those with Verizon FIOS customers (See update above) . Not a bad customer base to target first, since movies streamers prefer high quality video, and DSL and cable connections are still not always up to the task.

With HBO testing a broadband subscription service, NetFlix pushing further into one, and now Starz on board with carrier distribution, we may finally see if subscription video can help unlock the paid video market.