The online video land rush continues with Comcast announcing Wednesday a new movie site called Fancast.com, which it says will launch this summer.
Comcast says Fancast will offer all sorts of search and movie information options, and says online movies will be available there, too.
Comcast unveiled its Fancast plans within a larger announcement about its pending acquisition of the movie ticketing and information site Fandango. And for good reason. Fancast is partly a repackaging of the IMGb-like tools already available at Fandango.
Here's how the press release describes the new site:
"With Fancast, consumers will be able to search for their favorite shows, movies, actors and actresses, or simply enjoy the video content on the site. Fancast will provide consumers with a place to discover when their favorite shows or movies are "on," and where they can view them via television, video-on-demand, online or on other devices."
The online video part sounded a little vague, so I called Comcast to make sure. "We do expect that people will be able to view video--both long- and short-form video--at Fancast," spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury confirms.
This could end up being interesting. Comcast is one of the largest buyers (if not the largest buyer) of video content in the world; it could use that buying power to convince the movie studios to distribute more and better titles via the Internet. Most people would agree that the movie selection at most online video sites today is, well, limited.
The "cross-platform" aspect of Fancast may also prove interesting. Fancast users, Khoury explains, will be able to search for a certain movie and find out where it's playing--on regular TV, cable, pay-per-view, DVD or in theatres or online.
If the movie's still in theatres, a ticket can be purchased at the site. If it's on DVD, Khoury says, the title may be available for purchase at Fancast. If it's available online, the user might just hit "start download."
Khoury says later on users will be able to use Fancast to program their DVRs to record movies and TV shows scheduled for later airing. The site, she says, will also send users email reminders about not-to-be-missed shows.
You gotta be kidding! I refuse to have anything to do with Comcast. For years they took my cash and treated me like crap. Comcast has the worst customer service in the industry, inept technical support, low capacity DVR?s that constantly crash, practices union busting, and has prices that continue to rise and rise! I finally found the courage to unplug my Comcast DVR and cable modem about a month ago. I signed-up with DISH Network and AT&T (yahoo) DSL? What a revelation! The day after my DISH was installed a supervisor dropped by just to confirm that everything was operating properly. Wow! He wanted to make sure I was satisfied with the service before I got my first bill. In four plus years I never received one courtesy call from Comcast. In fact, I?ve taking off work to be home when Comcast said a tech would arrive (between 12:00 & 8:00pm). In this particular instance the tech arrived at 8:35pm and I lost half a day?s pay for no good reason. Comcast needs to stick to high speed internet, and only high speed internet. For the most part they do that well. And yes, I do miss my blazingly fast cable modem. But now I?m hearing how they cap bandwidth on some users, but still refuse to say how much bandwidth they deem acceptable. I realize PC World has to report relevant news and announcements like Fancast.com, but what about the huge backlash against Comcast that?s all over the web now? How about reporting on that?