Comcast To Offer Catch UP TV On Demand Service
Comcast are the first cable company to offer catch up on demand tv to existing subscribers. Users will be able to watch premium hit shows online like Entourage and Mad Men by the years end for no extra cost, just make sure you are an existing subscriber.
Allowing viewers to watch tv online means they can have what the free networks have been supplying for some time – TV on Demand access to cable shows and movies.
It is expected that other cable companies such as Time Warner, Verizon and DirecTV Group will follow as the pay TV market looks to satisfy growing viewers desire for online tv.
The cable streams will be heavily regulated to avoid any free leakage. Subscribers of Comcast will only be able to watch content via their home pc and you will have to have Comcast as your internet provider.
Comcast, wanting to ensure the content doesnt get seen by non subscribers, is looking at providing access using other broadband systems as well as mobile access.
At a briefing at Comcast’s Philadelphia headquarters this week, executives said cable networks such as HBO will decide how much to put online. Some will include the current season’s episodes only, while others could include archives of past seasons.
Broadcast networks have been running full episodes of many shows for free on sites like Hulu, but cable networks have typically resisted. AMC’s Web site, for instance, has the season premiere of “Mad Men” in its entirety but only video summaries of subsequent episodes.
Comcast’s national rollout of the “On Demand Online” comes months after the cable operator announced partnerships with 24 cable TV networks and broadcasters.
The company’s talks for a controlling stake in NBC Universal, which owns a third of rival site Hulu.com, is not expected to affect its online video aspirations.
Viewers can access the cable shows and movies through Comcast-owned Comcast.net and Fancast.com and eventually on the Web site of cable networks such as AMC, which is owned by Cablevision Systems Corp. After users log in, the cable system will perform such checks as whether a Comcast cable modem is being used.
Comcast has no plans to offer an online-only subscription for cable channels, a move that could cannibalize its own cable TV offerings. However, it will expand ways in which viewers can rent and buy shows and movies through an integrated store on Fancast.com.
Premium cable channels that currently don’t have any commercials, such as those from Time Warner Inc.’s HBO, CBS Corp.’s Showtime and Liberty Media Corp.’s Starz, will not have any ads online, either in the video or on the Web page. Ad-supported networks have typically shown ads online as well.
Comcast executives said the company plans to generate revenue by adding more and different types of advertising on the sites. However the company says its objective is not primarily to profit from it but to keep customers happy so they dont jump ship.
Comcast declined to comment about any type of revenue-sharing arrangements with cable networks. But it said current contracts give them digital rights to content.
So after Comcast buy out Hulu, they will put online their hit shows as a pay to view service and then take Hulu’s content down or make that pay per view too. You gotta hand it to them.
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