Charter Stocks Redesigned Portal with Video
Redesigned Charter.net Hosts Full Episodes, Sneak Previews
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/18/2007 12:01:00 AM
In revamping the Charter.net portal for broadband customers, Charter Communications seeded the site with promotional video from several cable programmers.
Charter.net now features video content -- including some full episodes and sneak previews -- from a variety of partners, including HBO, Showtime, FX, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and VH1. For example, the site hosts season premieres of some television shows, such as Showtime’s Dexter and Weeds, available only to Charter subscribers.
Charter vice president and general manager of high-speed Internet Himesh Bhise said the focus of the site will still be on providing value to the operator’s existing 2.5 million high-speed-Internet households, rather than serving as a destination for all Internet users.
“Clearly, we feel that with our channel partners, we can use the video section of our home page to highlight new shows … and to drive traffic to our core product, which is TV,” he said.
Charter.net has also been refashioned to be easier to use, and it provides customizable views of news and TV listings, according to Bhise. The redesign, he added, is the culmination of 18 months of research and development.
In May, Charter.net received 4 million unique visitors, up about 56% compared with 2.7 million in May 2006, according to online-measurement firm comScore. Advertising revenues from the site also have increased, but Bhise said, “We’re much more focused on being able to create another touch point with the customer.”
Charter’s strategy of using Web properties to supplement other services in the triple-play bundle is typical of the rest of the industry. One exception: Comcast, which is preparing the launch later this summer of Fancast.com, an entertainment and e-commerce destination that will exist separately from Comcast.net.
An estimated 81 million people watch broadband video at work or home, or 63% of all U.S. Internet users, according to a study conducted by Nielsen for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. But the study also found that broadband-video viewing for the most part didn’t cannibalize traditional television audiences.
