ProjectInfinity
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Comcast's HD VOD selections continue to approach infinity, or at least 3,000
It's time for your yearly Comcast Project Infinity video on-demand update: It's ramping up to 11,000 different movies available, with 3,000 in HD (up from 1,000 back in October '08) and that infrastructure upgrade we'd heard about should mean even more on the way. CEO Brian Roberts just announced at the Cable Show that the service is up to 350 million orders per month, and if it were a linear channel, VOD would be Comcast's second most-watched offering. The online Fancast XFINITY TV offering is no slouch either, with 1,500 movies from cable and 5,500 movies on the site for rent or purchase. The first areas to see the expanded offerings will be Washington D.C. and Philadelphia before rolling out elsewhere. Of course that's all great, but we're going to slot a redesigned 16x9 UI and multiroom capabilities slightly above more VOD possibilities on the interest scale for now.
Comcast has issues with Verizon's FiOS VOD claims
The only thing we love more than analysts and surveys is content providers bickering over each other's ridiculous PR claims and none are as fun as when Comcast is involved. Avid readers are all too familiar with Comcast's strategy to give up on the linear channel race and instead focus on VOD "options" no matter how silly it makes them look to those in the know. What really makes this particular situation interesting is that Comcast doesn't appreciate it when another provider, like Verizon FiOS, gets in on the action when it recently claimed it offered 3 times as many VOD offerings a month as the nation's largest provider. Comcast claims this is just not true and there are actually at least 17,000 VOD titles available in most markets. If that is news to you, then you aren't the only one as Verizon blasts back with "I'm surprised that Comcast wouldn't talk about these numbers in their PR and advertising. We make sure to let our customers know when we're adding more to their service." Too true, Verizon, too true. Honestly we couldn't care less about VOD because we're in the small group of CableCARD users, but there's no way we could turn away from a train wreck like this.
Comcast extending VOD window to two days on Warner, Lionsgate & Disney flicks
Looks like the studios are finally beginning to loosen their digital distribution grip, now that Warner Bros. and Lionsgate are allowing Comcast to offer extended two day viewing windows this month, with Disney and Summit productions following next month. That coincides with a slew od day and date with the DVD HD VOD postings including He's Just Not That Into You, Gran Torino, Friday the 13th and more. Check the PR for the full list, any ideas how long it is before we see 48 hour replay windows on other cable providers and movie delivery services?
Verizon and Comcast exchange words on HD options in Philadelphia
And by "exchange words," we mean "get seriously agitated and spout off at one another." As Verizon comes down the home stretch on a deal that would give it a 15-year agreement to offer programming services in the City of Brotherly Love, rival Comcast is quaking in its boots. After proclaiming that a huge chunk of Verizon's HD options were just "program fillers on blow-drying hair, kissing, grilling a hamburger, folding a pillowcase, chopping garlic, and other mundane topics," Verizon hit back by insinuating that Comcast was just "desperate." In a fit of stupidity, Comcast produced figures showing that it had a total of 1,304 HD choices in the area compared to Verizon's 1,057; what it failed to mention was the 37 versus 104 (respectively) number that describes the huge gap in linear HD channels between the two carriers. Oh Comcast, when will you ever stop making yourself look silly?[Via BroadbandReports]
Comcast's Project Infinity makes landfall in South Florida
Comcast already raised up its hands and shouted "Hallelujah!" upon successfully implementing Project Infinity in some sections of the country, but those debatable 1,000 HD choices are just now filtering down the east coast to South Florida. As of now, folks that way have over 1,000 HD on-demand choices, and Comcast is mighty proud of that fact. Of course, the actual number of HD channels (you know, those that matter) hasn't changed a bit, but you'd never know it by the elation seen in the PR.
Comcast claims success on Project Infinity with over 1,000 HD choices
Someone tell Comcast it can forget that whole bandwidth cap nonsense and just take the rest of the year off after meeting its CES Project Infinity goal of over 1,000 HD choices available this year. Whether that's more or less HD than you get on satellite is open to a pretty loose interpretation, but doubling the amount of HD available last year is worth celebrating. We'd be able to cheer this a bit more loudly if just aired shows like MTV & CBS shows and Mad Men were more consistently available on HD VOD quickly, but we'll just roll that into next year's goal of 3,000 HD movies per month On Demand.
HDNet, HDNet Movies coming to Comcast
Add two stations to Project Infinity, Comcast has -- after several years of battling -- signed up Mark Cuban's HDNet and HDNet Movies, plus a free video on-demand package. Specifics on when the channels should go live in your area weren't noted, only that the cable company plans to increase its carriage of the two networks over the next year. Hopefully Comcast subscribers will get a (non-bandwidth starved) peek at Dan Rather, HDNet Fights, early movie premieres and more before tru2way and switched digital video roll out, but we can't be sure.
Comcast claims more HD than anyone, anywhere
Comcast continues to push on Project Infinity, claiming the most HD content available anywhere, anytime. While it's channel count is dwarfed by DirecTV's, it's fighting back with video on-demand, with more than 500 HD "choices" available. Showtime and Starz have added 4x as much HD content this month, while MoviePlex and Encore doubled up on their offerings. A Comcast-commissioned study (unsurprisingly) deduced that 79 percent of people who like movies want to watch them on their schedule, along with 63 percent of people who watch TV shows. Adding MGM HD and Fuse HD won't hurt that "choices" count at all while Variety has the lowdown on MGM's price, with a 50-cents per customer rate, whenever it is available, it'll definitely be something customer's have to pay extra for. Look forward to new kinds of promotions as well, following up on an American Gangster VOD tie in last month where subscribers rented the Denzel Washington flick, and got all three Godfather movies, plus Goodfellas and Scarface. Halfway to the promised 1,000 HD VOD movies this year, but will that matter against satellite's higher channel count?Read - Comcast Hits 500 HD Choices Providing Consumers with the Most HD Content Available Anywhere, Anytime Read - MGM net high on Comcast
Comcast beefs up HD VOD offerings in a big way
Comcast made absolutely sure we knew it was serious about HD VOD during CES, and lo and behold, it's beginning to make good on its promises. Announced today, a slew of upcoming films will be available on the firm's "signature video on demand" in both SD and HD -- on the exact same day as the DVD release, no less. Furthermore, it's also following the vision set forth in Project Infinity by offering up a number of television premieres via HD VOD "at least one week before airing on linear television channels." Among the movie titles slated to hit soon are The Brave One, Rendition, No Reservations and Michael Clayton, while The Tudors and Flavor of Love hold things down on the TV series front. Take a look at the full release after the jump.
