Comcast Beta-Launches Fancast XFINITY TV, Its Initial Implementation of "TV Everywhere"

Albeit a few days later than promised (note: at the recent NewTeeVee conference, Amy Banse, president of Comcast Interactive Media, stated that it would launch before Channukah, which began last Friday evening), Comcast on Tuesday rolled out its initial implementation of the so-called "TV Everywhere" content distribution model (note: the "TV Everywhere" model, which was originally championed by Time Warner CEO, Jeff Bewkes, ultimately seeks, via authentication technology, to make programming that pay-TV customers have already paid for through their cable, satellite or IPTV subscriptions available to those customers on multiple Web sites and platforms, and thus aims to head off the threat posed to pay-TV services by the increasing availability of over-the-top programming--for some background on TV Everywhere, see the articles published on itvt.com, April 30th, May 14th, June 25th and July 15th).

The service--which during its initial trials had the working title of Comcast On Demand Online--is, as had been expected (see the article published on itvt.com, December 3rd), now branded as Fancast XFINITY TV. According to Comcast, it provides its digital cable customers with access, at no extra charge, to "thousands" of titles (around 2,000 hours of content) from cable channels in their subscription packages--in addition to the 12,000 hours of free content that are available to both customers and non-customers on the MSO's Fancast online programming service. 27 programmers--including A&E, AMC, the BBC, CBS, Cinemax, Discovery, E!, G4, HBO, Hallmark, History, Starz, Style, Sundance, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel and Univision--are currently providing content for the service, and the participating programmers' policies on releasing content for the service vary, with some providing recently aired programs and others only library content (note: the amount of advertising offered in association with XFINITY programming also varies between content providers, as those providers experiment to determine the optimal ad load for their programming offerings).

In its launch materials for the service--which implements the "TV Everywhere" concept only partially (note: while Fancast XFINITY cannot be accessed on third-party sites and is currently available only to Comcast digital cable customers who also subscribe to the MSO's Internet service, the TV Everywhere model is ultimately envisioned as making content available to authenticated pay-TV customers on multiple sites--including programmer sites--regardless of which ISP they subscribe to)--Comcast stresses that it is still in beta mode. "This is a beta product only, but the consumer feedback has been great so far," Comcast's Banse said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to more feedback as we make it available to even more customers. We think Fancast XFINITY TV gets us one step closer to our multiplatform goal and is just the beginning of delivering an entirely new TV viewing experience."

In order to access Fancast XFINITY TV, which is powered by technologies from Comcast-subsidiary, thePlatform, and from Move Networks, Comcast customers sign in with their Comcast email user name and password on http://www.fancast.com or http://www.comcast.net, and then download client software including an authentication app called Comcast Access, Adobe AIR and a Move Networks player. Customers can authenticate up to three devices for use with the service. While the service is currently available only to the approximately 14 million Comcast digital cable subscribers who also subscribe to the MSO's Internet service (note: once authenticated, those customers can, however, access the service through any broadband connection in the US), Comcast says that it will open it up to all its 24 million cable subscribers in the first half of next year. The MSO also says that it plans to make it possible for authenticated subscribers to access programs on programmers' own Web sites within a few months (note: thePlatform recently launched a solution explicitly designed to implement this aspect of "TV Everywhere"--see the article published on itvt.com, November 18th). In addition, during a conference call Tuesday, Comcast's Banse stated that the MSO plans to enhance Fancast XFINITY TV with "additional cross-platform features which will allow you to manage your DVR better, to tune your TV from the site and to create VOD watch lists." She also said that the service will be available on mobiles next year.

In other Comcast news: The MSO said Tuesday that it has partnered with Stand Up To Cancer to launch a VOD initiative to broaden awareness and raise funds for innovative cancer research. Among other things, the initiative sees Comcast offering a VOD category, dubbed Stand Up 2 Cancer On Demand, that features hundreds of music videos from well-known artists and bands. The videos encourage viewers to make a donation at http://www.su2c.org/give or by calling a dedicated phone line. More information is available here.