Comcast Can Compete In The TV Everywhere World

Comcast's "Watchathon Week"  successfully demonstrated that consumers like to access their programming on demand, both on and away from the TV screen.  "The Watchathon, which ran from March 25-31, offered more than 3,500 episodes from 30 TV networks to Xfinity TV subscribers for no extra charge, including full seasons of current shows from premium channels HBO, Showtime and Starz."   According to their report, "It set new records on the Xfinity.com/TV site and the Xfinity TV Player app for tablets and smartphones (no specific numbers were supplied)."  Because it is an added cost to subscribers, it is likely that usage of this service will drop significantly post this free trial. 

Will customers pay more to buy this service, I highly doubt; but I do believe that if Comcast offered their Xfinity on demand platform with a digital subscription for free, customers may be more willing to return to the nest and help Comcast compete more effectively against IP only competitors. It is a good step in growing out the TV Everywhere model for cable.