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K.C. NEEL
Starz Encore Media executives have always believed their premium services are helpful tools in selling digital services, and a new sales campaign is proving that for some operators.
Starz Encore kicked off its New Pay Incentive program last spring as a way of expanding its own universe. The program was designed to sell Starz! and/or Encore as well as at least one other pay service.
Some operators - notably Comcast - are using the campaign to push digital boxes into customers' homes.
Comcast worked with Starz Encore to develop a campaign to sell its Digital Gold package. Comcast is eschewing sales of analog cable service in favor of getting subscribers to buy one of four digital packages.
Starz Encore structured its training and incentives in a way that didn't emphasize its own networks over other pay channels. Instead, the goal was to get customer service reps used to the idea of automatically selling a package of pay services that just happened to include a Starz Encore product.
"The key to this campaign's success has been the fact that it isn't a Starz Encore campaign," says Jim Hashman, Starz Encore's training director, noting MSOs can customize the program to fit their own needs.
"Starz Encore took its national New Pay Attitude campaign, and we `Comcastized' it," says Jane Bulman, Comcast's senior director-acquisition marketing. "CSRs are rewarded for digital upgrades regardless of whether they sell a package with Starz Encore."
Starz Encore will reward CSRs who sell a package with its services in it; Comcast is responsible for rewarding non-Encore sales, Bulman says.
Comcast, still in the middle of its campaign, isn't releasing its growth numbers yet.
Although total numbers may be hard to come by from some operators, of the 54 initial systems that participated in the first wave of the program, about half "really ran with it, and their results were phenomenal," says Hashman.
According to Michel Champagne, VP-affiliate marketing, the company has sold 14,000, far surpassing its target of 4,000.
Operator responsibility is low. Starz Encore sends in trainers to oversee a 30-minute training session with CSRs. The programmer then provides reps with incentives for each package they sell.
"I liked the program," says Tim McCallister, marketing manager for GS Communications. "When Starz Encore did the training, they didn't focus on their programming. We went to the basics of selling services in general."
GS Communications' CSRs were charged with trying to sell the company's $69 Ultimate Package of four premium services. The program helped the operator, which counts 125,000 customers in Fredericksburg, Md., chalk up a 200% lift in Ultimate Package subscriptions during the third quarter, McCallister says.
The operator, which is in the process of being sold to Adelphia Communications, is taking the fourth quarter off from the program but will probably pick it back up next year, McCallister says.
AT&T Broadband is teaming up with ReplayTV to test the combination of Replay's personal video recorder technology and AT&T digital video service.
The idea is to find out what customers think about PVRs and to determine the revenue impact of eventually integrating the technology into Motorola's DCT-5000 advanced digital set-top boxes.
"Working with ReplayTV," says Jennifer Bater, AT&T's SVP-new products. "we will use this information to refine our plans for more integrated DVR solutions."
The trial, involving 5,000 customers in AT&T's Denver and Boston markets, will get under way later this month, according to Bater. Customers will be able to use ReplayTV with their digital set-tops, which will enable them to combine the benefits of the PVR with AT&T's digital programming mix.
Although ReplayTV units are available today at retail outlets, AT&T is making the units available to customers in the trial at a cut-rate price, the company says. The units are priced at consumer electronics stores starting at $499.
In October, ReplayTV launched a massive nationwide retail-store product demonstration program.
About 10,000 demonstrations of the ReplayTV ShowStopper digital video recorder and the free ReplayTV service will occur every weekend through the holiday shopping season in consumer electronics retail stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears.
The AT&T program is another marketing component for the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm.
"By working with AT&T Broadband," says chairman/CEO Kim LeMasters, "we will show how ReplayTV empowers customers so they can create personal viewing schedules that meet their needs."
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