Verizon's Portable VOD Service

Verizon's newest addition to its FiOS digital TV service is Flex View, an extension of the video-on-demand concept that allows subscribers to access VOD content on portable devices outside the home.  The rollout of the service is limited to just movies.  Flex View will have 1,400 movies available now with a target of more than 2,000 by the end of the year and server thousand within a year.  TV shows are not yet available through the service; licensing and carriage deals are still being hammered out for TV.
Supported mobile devices are also limited at this point.  Flex View will work with the Blackberry Storm, a number of Android devices and others, but not with the iPhone or iPad.  The limited rollout of Flex View shows some of the hurdles that providers must jump: from legal problems with licensing and carriage deals to technical obstacles such as Apple's refusal to support Flash.  Still, true VOD - from any device and platform - is just a matter of time.