Are you familiar with Subscription Video On Demand services?

If you have digital cable television service, you probably are – I know my cable company did a lot to promote the service last year, when they were phasing out the old analog transmitters entirely. I'm with Comcast, and their 'channel one' service is loaded with On Demand features and shows. Also, front and center, are the subscription channels you have to subscribe to.

Think of it as a cable channel that doesn't have a broadcast schedule. Instead, it has a library of content, and you can choose to watch anything from that library anytime you like. I remember spending a whole day on the Discovery Channel Video On Demand channel, watching Dirty Jobs episodes while I was home sick from work. It was fun.

Disney has a Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) called Disney Family Movies, and it features new content every week. Once available, a selection usually stays around for about a month, giving you plenty of time to see it before it vanishes again. I love not being tied to a broadcast schedule – missing the beginning of a movie is huge pet peeve, and having to wait for it to start seems unpleasant, now that it's so easy to use SVOD packages instead of regular t.v. listings.

It's easy to see a future where all cable channels are managed this way.

Care to try it out? From Thursday, Sept. 2 through Monday, September 6th – all Labor Day weekend, plus some – Disney Family Movies will be available for FREE from Comcast, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-verse, Suddenlink, Verizon FiOS and Avail TVN.

If your cable provider is on that list – then you don't have to do anything. The SVOD channel will just magically be unlocked all weekend, and you can sit back with your family and enjoy the huge variety of content Disney Family Movies has to offer!