Comcast: Over 3 Billon Served

Philadelphia— Comcast Corp. said last week its Comcast On Demand video-on-demand service has topped 3 billion views since 2004.

That total is the equivalent of 10 programs watched by every person in the United States, the MSO added.

Music videos and programs were the most popular, with more than 540 million viewed, Comcast said.

The next most popular: children’s shows (more than 330 million), free movies (more than 180 million) and sports and fitness programs (more than 73 million).

The top U.S. cable provider also announced the launch of its Web-based television guide called TV Planner, a new feature on Comcast.net that also includes on-demand and high-definition on-demand program listings (“Comcast Plans a 'TV Guide’ on the Web,” Sept. 4, 2006).

Comcast also said its on-demand service now has a library of more than 7,500 programs per month, with about 95% of them available at no extra charge for digital cable customers.

The cable company said the 3 billion views were the equivalent of 10 programs watched by every person in the country. The top programming categories for on-demand popularity continue to be music videos and programs (more than 540 million viewed), children’s shows (more than 330 million viewed), free movies (more than 180 million viewed) and sports and fitness programs (more than 73 million viewed).

Comcast said its “fall lineup” of on-demand programming includes: hit shows from CBS and NBC including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Survivor, The Office, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Shows from such networks as A&E, MTV, VH1, E!, TNT, Comedy Central, Discovery, USA Network, BBC America, TV One, Logo, CMT, TBS, BET and Oxygen also are on demand. Children’s fare is available from PBS Kids Sprout, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Noggin and Discovery Kids.

Premium services with movies and original series on demand include HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, The Movie Channel, Starz and Encore.