Comcast Inks HD Carriage Pact For FX, Speed
Fox Cable Says Rollouts Will Gain Steam In Q4
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 8/24/2008 2:18:00 AM
In a deal that gives the networks HD positioning on the three leading distribution platforms, Fox Cable Networks has signed an agreement with Comcast to carry the enhanced versions of FX and Speed across its systems.
FX HD and Speed HD have already bowed on Comcast systems serving Chicago and the suburbs of Hershey and Harrisburg, Penn., which are part of the nation’s largest distributor’s central region in the Keystone State. The networks’ rollouts are expected to pick up momentum in the fourth quarter, said officials at Fox Cable Networks.
Largely scheduled to be positioned on HD basic, the enhanced versions of Speed and FX, presented in the 720p format, should be available to all of the operator’s HD customers by the end of 2009, said Fox executives.
Deal terms were not disclosed.
With the launch on Comcast and its other carriage agreements -- which include the No. 1 satellite service DirecTV and the leading telco TV provider FiOS, and the July launch on Cablevision’s New York metro area systems -- Fox Cable Networks officials said FX HD and Speed HD will build their enhanced counts to more than 10 million and 9 million homes, respectively.
FX HD bowed last October, while Speed HD went on track in February.
Mike Hopkins, president of affiliate sales and marketing for Fox Cable Networks, is pleased with the networks’ reception in the market and their launch pace.
“The networks offer quality programming and there has been an explosion in the demand from our affiliates for HD. We appreciate that Comcast and other distributors are endorsing two of our most popular networks,” said Hopkins, who noted sports, movies and nature programming represent three of the categories that look best in HD.
“FX has a lineup of original series that has produced double-digit [11] Emmy nominations and it has a strong stable of movies,” he said, referred to award nods highlighted by best actress and best drama possibilities for Glenn Close for her lead role in Damages. FX HD subscribers will get to view the fourth season of sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and new outlaw motorcycle club drama Sons of Anarchy, both of which debut in September.
As for motor sports proponent Speed, which is also trying to push into more expanded basic locations from digital positioning, the starter’s flag dropped on the enhanced version of the service with the debut of the 2008 stock car season during Speedweeks from Daytona, Fla..
“In early February, Speed began making NASCAR events and its original series programming available in HD,” Hopkins said.
Relative to nature footage, Hopkins noted that National Geographic, with some 17 million subscribers, is one of the most widely distributed networks in the multichannel HD universe, currently estimated at some 20 million homes that have such packages.
“Since its launch [in January 2006], Nat Geo HD has always been one of the most requested services in all of the Beta Research surveys,” he said. “It’s a matter of rolling it out to the remaining homes with our affiliates.”
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