Paypal button for viewing on demand content feature request?

We have another service that we use for streaming video on the web from Vbrick Systems that has included the ability to charge viewers via paypal before being able to view or download the video. Is there any possibility of adding that alongside or in place of the view button? We feel it's an added revenue stream for current and archived content without the additional labor . We have on our shelves 30 years worth of videotape that we get frequent requests for from Alumni and the community. They would be more than happy to pay a few dollars to relive their youth. It would seem like an excellent selling point for Tightrope too if users knew that they could recoup some of their investment in this way.
I know you guys are always asked for new features and I don't mean to detract from any of the updates that you have released, in fact, we're always excited to see what's on the burner at TRMS.
Thanks,
Bob

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The company has this under consideration.

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John Reilly, Official Rep, replied on September 25, 2008 18:52

I really love this idea. In fact, it's been the subject of long discussions here at TRMS for quite some time now. I think we could do some really cool things that could generate revenue for access stations, particularly for those who, as you mentioned, have decades worth of content.

Of course, the problem comes down to time. Our team works non-stop on Cablecast and Carousel, and those products keep us quite busy. :-) So, as much as I'd love to work on this exact idea, at the moment our development plate is pretty full.

That being said, personally I'd love to hear more discussion about this idea. How do access centers generate revenue for themselves these days? How could TRMS help?

-John

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SCTV17 replied on September 26, 2008 00:07

This idea would be a very good one. I know our center is mandated to try and generate revenue, but it mainly comes from DVD duplications. If there was a method to charge for some of the VOD playbacks, or even an option to have a 'Purchase' tag next to the 'View' in the listing that would generate a 'mail to:' with a correct subject header for buying that show, it would be a great help.

It also would be a distinct advantage in leveraging your product, since the ability to generate a new revenue stream can be used to help justify purchasing a Tightrope system in tight budgets.

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sserre replied on September 27, 2008 13:35

When we first added VOD we were hoping we could somehow make it a "members only" service, to give our PCTV members a value-added extra to their membership (and help drive our membership rates up). So I would be in favor of some method of a gatekeeping option on these services. It could also help us pay for increased bandwidth to support the demand. After all, we get our cable channel space free, but if we want a bigger pipe, we don't get that for free!

Perhaps it could be on a show-record basis ('VOD Free' or 'VOD paid' status), or on a username basis in user management (is this person a member, are they allowed to view all VOD content by logging in), or some combination of both. Then perhaps also add a paypal button for those casual visitors to the website, with some kind of link to sign up for membership instead of just paying for this one video.

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Bob replied on September 28, 2008 17:54

Nice ideas. I like the flexibility that you are proposing.

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SCTV17 replied on September 30, 2008 01:43

That would be handy as well. I'm also thinking it would be an added feature to be able to have a 'popular' or most played in the last x days' feature, using the data from the Publishing point. Right now, I can access the raw data, but not use it in a meaningful way. I can see something generated in a data table, and put as a sidebar on the website with show id's and 'view now' buttons...

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ZachSchuster replied on August 25, 2009 03:51

I'm not exactly sure how the iTunes Store works, but it would be nice if there was a way to integrate the Quicktime content of the VOD server into the iTunes Store. People could pay through that service and download directly to their computer or video iPod... no idea if this is even possible. I imagine iTunes gets a cut of the profits, but it would be an easy, well known and highly used method of generating revenue for content distribution.

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SCTV17 commented on August 25, 2009 14:37

Good idea, but I don't think iTunes is allowing individuals to charge a fee yet - I know you can do podcasts with a chargeback, but not sure if video podcasts are a part of that yet....it would be very cool.

Paypal will allow you to do something similar, but you'd need to host the files yourself.