 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Parent | iN DEMAND L.L.C. |
| Sister channels |
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| History | |
| Launched | November 27, 1985; 40 years ago (1985-11-27) |
| Closed | July 31, 2025; 6 months ago (2025-07-31)[1] |
| Former names | Viewer's Choice (1985–1999) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
In Demand (stylized asiN DEMAND) was an Americancable television service which providedvideo on demand services, includingpay-per-view.[2]Comcast,Cox Communications, andCharter Communications (with former independent companiesTime Warner Cable andBright House Networks) jointly operated the service.[3]
The origins of the service (which is/was unrelated toCanada'sViewers Choice) date back to 1978 and the well-knowninteractive television experiment inColumbus, Ohio,Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment'sQUBE system.Viewer's Choice started as one of ten channels on QUBE, with its name arising from the service presenting viewers one of five films to be aired on the channel with their QUBE remotes, though at that time, it was amultiple choice by viewer vote of which film would air on the channel space, rather than a selection of films. Viewer's Choice expanded with QUBE as the service launched in additional cities. Warner satellite-linked their QUBE systems, andViacom, partnered at the time with Warner-Amex with the merger of their competing pay-TV services,Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc., joined the venture, adding Viewer's Choice to their own cable systems and eventually becoming the pay-per-view selection of channels under its now traditional concept.
The QUBE project ended in 1985 with financial losses, resulting in the sale of the Warner-Amex assets to Viacom. The pay-per-view arm was split off from the rest of the Warner-Amex assets (which became known asMTV Networks) and instead was placed under the Showtime/TMC division.[4] The service was launched nationally via satellite to cable companies in six states on November 27, 1985, with one channel of pay-per-view content, still under the Viewer's Choice name.[5] A second channel, utilizing cassette tapes delivered to cable operators, was also available; this eventually evolved intoViewer's Choice II in 1988, which has since been rebranded and refocused as theHot Choice service.[6] In 1989,Group W Satellite Communications bought a 50% stake in Viewers' Choice andRequest TV.
Also in 1988, VC merged with a competing PPV service,Home Premiere Television, a joint venture of multiple cable companies. The service (which Viacom eventually gave up its stake in) retained the Viewer's Choice name, but utilized HPT's legal name,Pay-Per-View Network, Inc., until the rebrand to In Demand.[7][8] Viewer's Choice continued to expand in the 1990s as it acquired other pay-per-view systems, along with cable companies deciding tooutsource their pay-per-view systems rather than maintain them internally.[2] As a result of this, as well as its various competitors gradually ceasing operations (includingCable Video Store andRequest TV[9]), the Viewer's Choice name was gradually phased out from on-air reference towards the end of the decade, generally only being referred to as "pay-per-view" in promos, on-screen graphics and voiceovers; the name remained in on-screen copyright graphics and on listings services such as thePrevue Channel until late 1999 when it was eventually renamed "PPV1".
Aside from Hot Choice, VC also operated four channels of programming under the brand ofContinuous Hits; as the name implied, it offered one movie at all times of the day for a week-long period, as opposed to the mix of movies, sports and events found on the main Viewer's Choice network. Originating in May 1990 as a two-year test backed byWarner Bros., only available in certain areas (such as Comcast's Philadelphia cable systems[10]) and fed by tapes delivered to cable headends, the service was expanded in February 1993 to a satellite-fed nationwide service, with two more Continuous Hits channels launched that summer.[11][12][13][14] This brand was retired along with the Viewer's Choice brand itself in 2000, with the Continuous Hits channels becoming additional In Demand channels.
On January 1, 2000, the service changed its name and on-air look to In Demand; the logo was rendered as "iNDEMAND" with all of its letters except the beginning "I" capitalized. This was done to take advantage of the "i-prefix"product naming trend of the time, as cable companies launched complementarycable broadband services to tie into In Demand's rebranding.[15][16] The rebranding was telegraphed as early as April 1999, when the schedules and offerings of their analog and digital services were consolidated.[17] The first program upon relaunch wasRave Un2 the Year 2000, aNew Year's Eve concert performed byPrince, taped a couple weeks prior.[18]
In addition to Hollywood films and a limited selection of adult films, along with live and recorded concert programming, the service mainly distributed ring sports through pay-per-view, including the events of theWWE,All Elite Wrestling,Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and its forerunners, and independent circuits such as those withlucha libre. It also distributedout-of-market sports packages such asMLB Extra Innings,NBA League Pass,MLS Direct Kick,NHL Center Ice where provided (and formerly distributedESPN Full Court/ESPN GamePlan until they were brought in-house in 2015 asESPN College Extra), along withToo Much for TV, a service which featured 'uncensored' content from the series ofAmerican Television Distribution andNBCUniversal Television Distribution'stabloid talk shows (though that content has moved to the freely-available Nosey over time).[19] It was the former distributor ofHoward Stern'sHoward TV component of his self-titledSirius XMradio show until 2013.[20] TheUFC ended their relationship with all traditional wireline pay-per-view providers withUFC 235 (including In Demand), choosing to go with a new distribution model throughESPN+, which is now its exclusive pay-per-view provider as of April 2019. Until they departed the boxing business in 2023, bothTVKO/HBO PPV andShowtime carried pay-per-view fights though In Demand.
Since this network's first inception, the first main Viewer's Choice/In Demand channel (usually labeled as 'IN1' or 'PPV1' since 2000),signed off weekday mornings from 8 AM to 11 AM (Eastern Time) to feed promotions of upcoming movies and events of the next month to itsheadend affiliates. By the 2010s the promotions were sent via file transfers andcloud storage to its providers, but In Demand retained thisbusiness day timeslot where few events and films would be ordered a couple days through the month for routine maintenance windows.
In 2010, In Demand began providing a freemovies on demand service,Vutopia, offered onTime Warner Cable andBright House Networks. The service offered uncut older movies organized in themes. It was closed down on June 1, 2015.
As of early 2012, as cable providers used more channel bandwidth for high-definition, video-on-demand and broadband services which did not require starting films at several intervals on several channels, providers such asSpectrum andXfinity removed most of In Demand's linear channels - beyond 1-3 standard-definition and one high-definition channel for mostly event programming - from their public channel lineups. At its peak, In Demand featured up to 34 standard definition and 19 high definition channels. In Demand shut down its last three linear English-language film-only channels on May 31, 2016, though a Spanish-language channel of rotating films, events and specials continued to be featured alongside the service's remaining event channels.[21]
On December 3, 2021, PPV.com was launched as an app/digital media player option to view In Demand's live ring sports content, along with replays of purchased content, withKiswe providing the video backbone. The app does not require a cable subscription to view or bill event purchases.[22][23][24]
On Friday, May 10, 2024, current In Demand CEO Dale Hopkins released an internal memo that In Demand was beginning to transition its operations back to Cox, Comcast, and Charter internally by the end of 2025, and that In Demand would wind down operations over the next eighteen months, along with its associated channels, with the departure of both Showtime and HBO from sports broadcasting at the end of 2023 and the wind-down of wireline pay-per-view services due to the rise of streaming video, as most ring sports events are now available through traditional streaming services without additional cost as part of their regular package. PPV.com will remain in operation to provide cable and IPTV operators a venue for their services as wireline services are transitioned to fully IP-based video distribution.[1]
Regular programming on In Demand's remaining four channels (consisting of the main 'event channel' HD service, a downscaled SD event channel, one HD channel with various specials and concerts, and a Spanish channel in SD featuring both events and specials) were discontinued nationwide as of 11:59 ET on July 31, 2025, with its website also closing at the same time and only showing aplaceholder image of In Demand's logo.[25]
On August 13th, 2025,Comcast/Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaryFandango Media announced that they had acquired PPV.com and In Demand's channel spaces to expand theirFandango at Home digital video and streaming service.[26][27] Live events continue to air on PPV.com and In Demand's former linear channels.
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