Charter Proffers International Web Fare

Charter Communications, Inc. Tuesday said it will stream international, foreign-language movies and TV programming on its Web portal.

Initial content available at www. charter.net will feature on-demand movies and TV programs in Chinese (Cantonese) Hindi and Spanish. Other internationally based content willl offered on the portal in the near future, according to company officials.

Among the film titles and TV shows debuting on Charter.net: Bollywood Unlimited, a weekly 30-minute showcase of the latest productions in Indian cinema; A Silent Love, a Spanish-language film written and directed by Federico Hildago that was honored by the Sundance Film Festival in 2004; and A New Option, a popular Chinese action film starring well-known actor Michael Wong as the tough leader of Hong Kong’s special elite SWAT-like police force.

Charter.net generates more than 4.4 million monthly unique visitors, according to the network.

"Adding today’s popular multicultural programs on the Charter.net portal takes entertainment on the web to the next level," said Himesh Bhise, general manager of high-speed Internet for Charter, in a statement. "With the adoption rate of high-speed Internet at nearly 80% among Asian-Americans and over 40% for bilingual Hispanics, the strategy to offer multicultural entertainment on the Web is the right way to engage more and more of our customers with the value-added services they want."

Sivoo, Inc., a company dedicated to providing multicultural and non-English language content through the Internet and Internet Protocol TV, is working with Charter on this initiative and will provide Charter with exclusive and fresh content in each of the three languages on a monthly basis.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.