How can I find out when movies on some On Demand Channels will no longer be available on Demand?

[thegiff]

I have been a customer of Verizon's FIOS TV service for 4 months now and I enjoy watching "On-Demand" movies and TV shows.  For some channels, like HBO On Demand and Showtime On Demand, the onscreen guide clearly states how long a program will be available for "on demand" viewing.  For example, the film "A Single Man" will have at the end of the description a notice saying "Ends 3/24" or whenever the date is. 

However, there are some "On Demand" channels like Starz on Demand, EPIX on Demand, Encore on Demand, and Independent Film Channel (IFC) on Demand which don't state when the program they are showing on demand will cease being available on demand. 

There must be a listing or website or some other method of indicating when programs on these channels will cease being available to watch "on demand".

Please let me know where this information is located and how to access it. 

Thank you.

[film111]

The only warning you'll get is an inverted triangle on the listing.  (See BAD LIEUTENANT for an example)  That usually means that you are in the final week for that selection.

[spacedebris]

many of those channels the provide VOD to Verizon dont even know themselves how long the movie/show will be available. A lot of it has to do with how popular the movie/show is.

If they see a lot of people downloading and watching it, it will stay up longer. If they dont get much traffic on it, they will remove it in favor of another movie/show that may be more popular.

[thegiff]

Thank you for your responses.  I have some follow-up questions and I hope you or someone else reading this can answer them.

Film11:  I have never seen the "inverted triangle" that you mention in your reply.  Where in the onscreen guide do you see this triangle?  Can you please give me an example of a movie currently on demand which is displaying this triangle so I can find it on my own?

Spacedebris:  Is it really true that Starz, Encore, EPIX, and IFC don't know themselves how long a movie will be available on demand?  I can imagine them extending the time a film will be available on demand if it is popular, but surely there must be some minimum time period they put it on demand. 

There has to be some way of finding this information and it should be readily available to subsribers who need to prioritize what they watch so as not to miss out on watching an on-demand film they wanted to see because they lacked the information when it would be pulled off-schedule.

Thanks again for any help provided. 

[film111]

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@thegiff wrote:

Film11:  I have never seen the "inverted triangle" that you mention in your reply.  Where in the onscreen guide do you see this triangle?  Can you please give me an example of a movie currently on demand which is displaying this triangle so I can find it on my own?

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Go to the HD Movie listings by title.  As you scroll down the list of movies, the inverted red triangle (with a white center) can be seen between the HD and Dolby Logos.  LORD OF THE RINGS and  CITY ISLAND both show it.

[thegiff]

film11:  Thank you for your response.  I visited the listings for the 2 movies you referred to in your message and saw the symbol.  Your advice has been very helpful and I will keep an eye out for the symbol in the future.  Incidentally, although it's my opinion, the "inverted triangle" looks like an hourglass design to me and this makes sense since it is signifying that time is running out for that movie.

Again, thank you for your time and assistance.

[spacedebris]

Many of the channels, like starz (this is one that I'm most familiar with), will generally put their movies up with no timetable on them. There they will stay for as long as the downloads remain popular. I've seen some stay up for nearly a year. Once the popularity starts to drop off and they no longer deem it beneficial to remain there, they will then schedule them for removal. Some channels like HBO will then put a removal date on it. Some will just put up that inverted triangle and that is all the notification that you get.

It all depends on how they are set up to do it. HBO puts it up for a set time and therefore puts an experation date on it. Some of the others just put it up until they decide to remove it.