Comcast to Enable Movie Purchasing in Early EST Window...

Comcast to Enable Movie Purchasing in Early EST Window...

Comcast is expanding from renting to selling movies from major studios by the end of the year, sources confirmed.

The nation's largest cable operator will join digital streaming platforms such as Apple's iTunes and Vudu in allowing users to purchase films in an evolving new window leading into the traditional home-video window, known as "early EST" or as studios recently agreed to call high-definition copies, "Digital HD."

Comcast declined to comment, as did reps from several studios. News was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Early EST is not to be confused with the controversial premium VOD, which involves movies bowing in tandem with or shortly after the beginning of the theatrical window. Early EST comes after hotels and airlines get films, or several weeks before the traditional three-month separation between theatrical debut and home video.

More and more big movies have launched in that window including "The Heat," "Iron Man 3," "The Great Gatsby" and "Star Trek Into Darkness." Titles are available for approximately $15.

With the major studios recently agreeing to adopt the Digital HD brand for all HD movies available in the early EST window, the addition of a broadly available distributor like Comcast provides yet another shot in the arm for driving the value of ownership to U.S. consumers. While rental transactions outnumber movie purchases, the latter category is of huge importance to the studios because they have a much higher profit margin than the former.

Comcast intends to make movie ownership available through its Xfinity TV platform, which allows access to a huge trove of rental titles regardless of whether they are being accessed on TV, mobile or PC to authenticated subscribers. A cloud-based locker would be built into the Xfinity platform where the content could be accessed.

Comcast has more than 20 million cable subscribers in the U.S. The MSO reported a loss of 129,000 subs in the third quarter.

Currently, Comcast offers its subscribers 36,000 titles through its set-top VOD service and 270,000 videos online. About 70% of digital video subscribers use VOD monthly.

Comcast is currently in talks with Netflix to add the streaming video service to its cable boxes and new X1 product. X1 is a cloud-based service, introduced last year, that Comcast hopes will attract new customers with its user-friendly interface, better search functionality and enhanced DVR.

Overall, Comcast's third-quarter net profit slipped 18% to $1.73 billion, while revenue declined 2.4% to $16.15 billion.

Thank you Variety

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Comcast and Twitter create new feature to watch TV...

Comcast and Twitter create new feature to watch TV...

Comcast Corp. has struck a partnership with Twitter to try to capitalize on the huge volume of social media conversations that occur about TV shows.

Twitter has turned out to be a digital water cooler with thousands of people around the country simultaneously engaging in real-time conversations on Twitter about favorite television shows or sporting events as they unfold.

Media companies, including Comcast, have been scurrying to find ways to channel these conversations that occur on the so-called "second screen" into more viewers for their television programming.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

The partnership between the two companies, announced Wednesday, will allow Comcast cable Xfinity customers to access NBC TV shows, including "The Voice," "Blacklist," "Chicago Fire," movies and sporting events, including "Sunday Night Football," directly from a Twitter message.

The company has developed a new feature, which it calls "See It," that is designed to funnel its Comcast customers who use Twitter to the show with a click of a button.

"Comcast is taking a leap forward in social TV by enabling Twitter users to more easily find and view the shows they want to watch and discover new shows," Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, said in a prepared statement. "Twitter complements the live viewing experience and is an ideal partner for Comcast and NBCUniversal."

The new feature is expected to roll out in November for shows that run on NBCUniversal networks. The company's wanted to have the new feature running before NBC's broadcast of the Winter Olympics in February.

Here is how it will work: The See It button will enable a menu of options, including allowing viewers to tune into the television live, set their DVR to record the show or queue it up through the Comcast On Demand feature on their set-top box. They will also have the ability to tune in to a show online or on their mobile device.

The Philadelphia-based cable giant said the relationship with Twitter also includes advertising opportunities for its wholly owned media company, NBCUniversal. It plans to embed sponsored video clips into tweets to promote its TV shows.

"Twitter is where television viewers come to talk about what they're watching on TV when they're watching it," Dick Costolo, chief executive of Twitter said. "With See It, they'll be able to tune in directly from a tweet. It's a great example of Comcast's leadership in bringing TV to new platforms."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

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Comcast launching new subscription VOD service

Streampix in the mold of Netflix business

By ANDREW WALLENSTEIN

Comcast is announcing a new subscription VOD service that is aimed squarely at countering Netflix but requires already paying for cable.

Streampix will launch across the nation's largest video distributor this week with movies and TV content from past seasons licensed from its own programming unit, NBCUniversal, as well as Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures.

With a business model and catalog-oriented content mix similar to Netflix and other competing services like Amazon and a coming joint venture from Verizon and Redbox, Comcast is clearly attempting to supplement its existing digital presence, Xfinity, with a long-tail-oriented offering. But Streampix is not available to those who don't already get Comcast cable.

Streampix will either be free to those who get Comcast's triple-play package of video, broadband and phone or for an additional $4.99 fee on top of other varieties of Comcast offerings.

A key differential from what Comcast already provides is that Streampix will give out-of-home access to select content across online, wireless and connected-TV platforms, including its own existing VOD assets.

Among the titles to be made available include "30 Rock," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ocean's Eleven." The volume of content at launch, however, won't be nearly on par with what Netflix has.

     Comcast is already in the SVOD business to some extent through its stake in Hulu, which has a SVOD offshoot called Hulu Plus, though is a silent partner in the venture, a concession made to get approval for its acquisition of NBCU last year.


Thanks Variety!

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