It was the bells.
During the initial meeting, and throughout the day, he kept hearing a bell ring. At the top of the hour. At the bottom of the hour. In the middle of the hour. All the time! It reminded him of an insane high school bell schedule where classes alternated start and stop times to cut down traffic in the hallways.
Finally he asked, "What's with the bells?"
And when he heard the answer, he was hooked: "Every time a bell rings, somebody ordered a music video and we made $2.50."
And that's how ANDY ORGEL left the comfort zone of established network management (an original start-up executive at MTV, A&E, Nickelodeon and The Movie Channel) to jump into the nation's first interactive television network: Video Jukebox Network.
Today Andy is chairman and CEO of 1Degree Media & Entertainment, an "integrated Quality of Life network that we're still building under the radar." But in 1988, Andy responded to the call of the bells to provide consumers with music videos and new artists that simply were not available on mainstream media.
In the late '80s and early '90s, MTV's programming standards tended to preclude hip-hop and rap videos from their playlist. But that didn't obviate the needs of the artists, nor the appetite of the viewers. So Video Jukebox Network stepped forward to fill the void, with a new business model, unique programming and an aggressive distribution strategy. And Andy quotes the mantra of cable's ea
rly days to describe VJN's underlying consumer value: Choice, Convenience and Control.
Using a transactional model, in partnership with local telcos and distributed by cable systems and local broadcasters, Video Jukebox Network charged viewers anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50 to pick a video to play on the local channel--usually within 30 minutes. And with a (more expensive) call to a live operator, you could even dedicate a requested song. The song lists and dedications ran in a live crawl at the bottom of the screen--another VJN innovation, as well as full screen when videos were queuing up. The transactional charge went on the phone bill, and was then split with the phone company and the distributor, leaving VJN the balance of the revenue.
Andy describes a conversation with TCI's VP of programming at the time, Jed Palmer: "I refuse to pay for another network! How much is this going to cost me?" "I agree," said Andy. "We pay you." It took a while for that message to get through to the operators, but eventually Video Jukebox Network had coverage in the largest urban markets, and was the darling of the business media.
But the customer reaction was outstanding. In nearly 200 mostly urban systems and markets, VJN provided a distinctly local music video flavor. The most popular videos in Chicago were not necessarily on the top of the charts in Miami. And if a video was sufficiently popular to generate multiple requests during a set period, VJN was able to book multiple transaction fees for a single air play.
The bells were ringing.
From a Facebook Fansite for "The Box," the name Video Jukebox Network assumed in the early 90's after Andy conducted a branding study, we read the following postings from June and July, 2010:
"I can remember ordering the song the cars that go boom--I got grounded for it too!"
"I used to order immature (never lie) all the time when I was like 12. I also got in trouble"
"I remember THE BOX very well. That was the first time i heard WUTANG CLAN back in 93"
"I'm beginning to think that we want the box back on the air now."
PETER FLYNT (formerly of Showtime, MTV and QVC; now a partner at Polaris Ventures) was VP of affiliate sales for The Box, and believes the concept could have been wildly successful if it had kept its collection of local urban flavors (powered by--literally--a Pioneer 72-disc Laser Player). But when MTV bought it out and standardized a national satellite feed with a single 900# ordering system, the local identity and value was lost. And The Box quickly became MTV2.
So that's one perspective that has generally not been part of the national discussion about interactive TV--is there a place to add value by localizing the content? Certainly, video-on-demand takes care of the "I want to watch what I want to watch" crowd. But what about the social aspect of "I want to watch what my FRIENDS are watching?" Not impossible from a technical perspective--not even all that difficult. But perhaps the challenge is getting our respective product planning minds around the concept.
The other perspective from Video Jukebox Network is that they were the first to use a phone as a companion device to power interactive television (for the updated concept, read The iTV Doctor's June 10th column).
You don't need to interact THROUGH Television to interact WITH Television. And more than 20 years ago, creating a digital-like service in a very analog world, Video Jukebox Network showed us the way to use a universal, reliable two-way telecommunications network to provide Choice, Convenience and Control over television.
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The iTV Doctor is *Rick Howe*, who provides interactive television consulting services to programmers and advertisers. He is the recipient of a CTAM Tami Award for retention marketing and this year was nominated to Cable Pioneers. He is also the co-author of a patent for the use of multiscreen mosaics in EPG's. Endorsed by top cable and satellite distributors, "Dr" Howe still makes house calls, and the first visit is always free. His services include product development, distribution strategy and the development of low-cost interactive applications for rapid deployment across all platforms. Have a question for the iTV Doctor? Email him at itvdoctor@itvt.com
