Music Choice Service Lets Subs Program Channels

Cable World, Dec 2, 2002

Byline: JON LAFAYETTE

Music Choice has found another way to live up to its name.

The company, which provides digital music channels to cable operators, next March plans to test a new service. Called My Music Choice, the service will use cable video-on-demand technology to let subscribers create their own personalized music channels.

For example, a subscriber could select a mix of 80% hip-hop and 20% metal music and still exclude all songs by Metallica. The songs are stored on a server at the cable head-end.

The service, which cost "a couple of million dollars" to develop, will be offered to digital cable subscribers at no additional cost, says Music Choice president and CEO David Del Beccaro. It's designed to increase usage of Music Choice, which helps cable operators hold on to digital customers, who would otherwise turn to the radio or the Internet for their music.

"We'd consider it a success if it's simple to use and we can get 10% [of customers] to use it regularly," he said of the new service.

Music Choice, which offers 40-plus channels, is available in 25.2 million homes. While DirecTV offers its current service, the company has not been able to come up with a technology for making My Music Choice available via satellite.

Music Choice says that 59% of digital households listen to the service, and that they tune in for an average 17.3 hours a week.

As it increases distribution, Music Choice is getting more active in selling ads on its screen, which carries information on the song that's playing. So far, Levi's, Bose and Reebok have bought ads.

Del Beccaro plans to subscribe to Nielsen next year to bolster the service's ad sales effort.

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*Will VOD wind up as a free service, just like My Music Choice?