Virtual Menorah Debuts Next Week, Joining Yule Log

Yule Log, which has been around for years and is back again on digital cable via Video on Demand in SD, HD, 3D and online, is being joined this year by the debut of virtual Menorah for those who celebrate Hanukkah, accompanied by traditional music. Menorah lights up on December 16, the first day of the eight day Festival of Lights, and each night another candle will be added.

The original televised Yule Log has been airing on broadcast TV since 1966 — New York’s WPIX created Yule Log and aired it every year on Christmas Eve — sometimes again on Christmas morning —  through 1989. The station reshot Yule Log in color in 1970, using a fireplace in a California TV studio that was the spitting image of the Gracie Mansion fireplace. When the station brought back Yule Log in 2001, it was the most-watched program in its time period on Christmas Day in New York — the nation’s largest TV market.

Distributor iN DEMAND first produced the high definition version starting in 2002 for its then linear channel INHD, and then premiered it on Video On Demand starting in 2007.  The 3D version, which started in 2010, is originally produced exclusively for cable by iN DEMAND using the latest 3D technology.  To see the 3D version, viewers need a 3D TV with compatible 3D glasses and an HD set-top box connected according to their system’s specs. The HD offerings were filmed with HD cameras and are presented in 1080i picture and 5.1 sound. The 3D version was produced by Offhollywood Digital using Red 1 cameras and an Element Technica 3D rig.

Digital cable subscribers can transform their TVs into a fireplace via VOD with a click of a button on Xfinity, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Metrocast, Bresnan and RCN.  The Menorah is available on many of these systems via On Demand (in SD and HD) and to everyone online. In addition to the familiar Yule Log and the new Menorah, program distributor iN DEMAND also is providing two more options: a snowy, pine forest setting, and a snowman,