DirecTV Cinema (previously known as Direct Ticket, Blockbuster Ticket, Blockbuster Pay-Per-View Movies, and DirecTV Pay-Per-View) is DirecTV's video on demand and pay-per-view platform for film content. Films are released as is done on other pay-TV services, along with exclusive film premieres priced at premium rates before entering theatrical distribution.
History
Launched with DirecTV in 1994, the Direct Ticket service, as it was known then, carried much the same output as other PPV services did: first-run movies (starting every half-hour), sports, and other special events. The service originally took up channels 101 through 199 when it first began. It had a distinct advantage over cable-based services such as Viewer's Choice and Request TV, in that due to DirecTV's digital compression technology, it enabled them to transmit more channels that it could reserve to offer pay-per-view content to customers. (Most cable systems of the era had headend capacities capable of transmitting only one or two PPV channels; at the time, however, some systems had begun to make system upgrades within their service areas to increase channel capacity, allowing them to offer as many as five PPV channels in these so-called "rebuild areas", depending on the provider.) Furthermore, because a phone jack was built into the Digital Satellite System (DSS) set-top boxes, PPV purchases could be made directly through the set-top-box mere minutes before or even during a movie or event; cable subscribers would have to call a phone number to authorize the purchase hours in advance. Movies were offered for as little as $3.99 a showing. New movies would be added every week.
Also offered by DirecTV were several sports-oriented PPV services, most notably NFL Sunday Ticket; these services were promoted separately from the other PPV channels.