The Phonevision

Today, video-on-demand (VOD) is one of the hottest ideas in media, from the ability to remotely pay for a movie from your couch, to being able to catch up on episodes of your favorite TV shows at your computer. Each day users are able to view more and more material when they want it from where they want it. However, few know the origins of VOD and the technologies that preceded it. One of the original ideas that would eventually lead to VOD was the Phonevision. Phonevision was set-top box that would unscramble a nightly movie for $1, a hefty amount of money in 1951 when the box was first unveiled in a Chicago-market trial run. The box received an over-the-air signal that either needed a code which was received by calling a number to purchase that evening’s movie or by inserting a coin into a coin slot on some of the boxes where the subscriber could drop in exact change to unlock the movie. The trial run was declared a success by Zenith, the company behind the Phonevision brand, however problems remained. While the technology worked, proving the concept had potential was more difficult as some large obstacles remained, namely costs. The box was not cheap and it needed a dedicated phone line to receive codes to help decrypt the signal, the movies were not cheap, and each family only watched on average 1.75 movies a week making it hard to convince Hollywood studios to participate.

After 90 days the trial run had concluded and the service was discontinued. Over the years the device continued to come and go in various markets with minor improvements along the way though never ultimately caught on. The big push for VOD came eventually through pay-per-view which gained in popularity during the 70s and 80s as more and more households began to pay for cable television, making the pay-per-view process much more simple and straightforward. Nowadays the spirit of Phonevision lives on in set-top boxes such as the Vudu which allow users to choose from and rent 1000s of hi-definition movies at the touch of a button from their own couch.

See: http://www.deadmedia.org/wiki/index.php/PhoneVision