--Also Begins Offering Primetime Programs from CBS via VOD
US cable MSO, Comcast, has launched a themed programming offering on its VOD system, called "Sci-Fi Month On Demand." The offering, which, as its name suggests, will be available for four weeks, will provide viewers with over 120 hours of on-demand science fiction and fantasy films, series and specials. While some of that content is available only to subscribers of premium programming services, such as Starz and Cinemax, around 70 hours is being offered free-of-charge. Content on offer as part of "Sci-Fi Month On Demand" includes: all 10 "Star Trek" movies; the movies "Batman Begins," "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "Fantastic Four," "War of the Worlds," "Independence Day," "Twilight Zone: The Movie," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (note: the latter is available in HD in certain locations), "The Fifth Element" (also available in HD in certain locations), and "The Incredible Petrified World"; the movies "Sin City," "Ghostbusters," and "Blade: Trinity" (note: these three titles are available only to Starz subscribers); the movies "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" and "Virus" (available only to Encore subscribers); the movies "I, Robot," "The Matrix Revolutions," and "The Chronicles of Riddick" (available only to Cinemax subscribers); every episode of the TV series, "Firefly," including three episodes never seen on linear TV (note: a movie spin-off of the series will debut on Comcast's VOD platform next month); and various factual programs from cable channels, including the Discovery Channel's "The Science of Star Wars," and the Travel Channel's "Most Haunted."
In other Comcast VOD news: the company is now offering on-demand episodes of four primetime series from broadcast network, CBS: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "NCIS," "Survivor," and "The Amazing Race." The on-demand episodes are being offered in Comcast markets that have CBS owned-and-operated TV stations, including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Miami, Chicago and Sacramento. The episodes, which are located in a new "Network Primetime" section of the main menu of Comcast's VOD service, are priced at $0.99 each for up to 24 hours of viewing. Episodes of CSI and NCIS are available on-demand until the next weekly episode of the series airs. Viewers can currently access all the episodes of the most recent seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race: when the new seasons of those shows begin airing next month, each episode will be made available on-demand for the rest of the season.
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