New Horror Network

[MrRant 0]

By Ellen Sheng

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

 

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK), the country's largest cable company, along with Sony (SNE) Pictures Entertainment unveiled Sunday plans to launch a new video on demand network focused on horror and thriller films.

 

The network, which hasn't been named yet, will come out this Halloween, Oct. 31. It will feature movies and TV thrillers, suspense dramas and, of course, horror flicks. The network will also have a web site with multimedia applications such as music downloads and video outtakes. Both the web site and on demand network will include advertising.

 

There will also be applications for wireless phones such as special ring-tones. Comcast is one of several top cable companies that have a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. (S). The company has said it will introduce a wireless phone service in select markets later this year.

 

This is the first such network to come out of a partnership between the two companies. Comcast paid $300 million to join an investment group led by Sony to buy MGM 18 months ago. As part of that deal, Comcast gained access to hundreds of movies and TV shows from MGM and Sony.

Comcast expects the horror focus to be particularly attractive to its video on demand users. Horror films are one of the fastest-growing genres in Hollywood with one in three debuting at number one at the box office in 2005, according to Comcast. The genre also has a growing fan base among 18 to 34 year olds - Comcast's target audience.

 

"It's great for Comcast because the 18 to 34 demographic are the highest users of video on demand content," Diane Robina, Comcast's new president of emerging networks, said.

For Comcast, the new horror network is part of a continuing strategy to bolster its content assets.

 

The cable giant, which has 22 million subscribers, has emphasized unique content as a way to differentiate itself and drum up demand for digital cable. Comcast gives subscribers access to thousands of free movies and shows every month, much of it free. Its on demand service was used about 1.4 billion times in 2005 and 144 million times in December alone.

 

Since failing to bid for Walt Disney Co. (DIS) two years ago, the company has entered into a number of smaller deals and partnerships for content. In addition to its Sony relationship, Comcast has a partnership with Starz Entertaiment Group from which it gets more than 1,500 movies a year. It also owns Outdoor Life, the Golf Channel, several regional sports networks around the country and G4, a network dedicated to videogames.

[Youth N Asia 0]

If Comcast is involved, then shitty service is insured.

[2GOLD 0]

I'll wait for one to be on a non-Comcast product. HorrorChannel has been sitting on pause for like two or three years now so I guess it's not going to be them.

[Mole 0]

If Comcast is involved, then shitty service is insured.

*paging Rant*

[NoCalMike 0]

The Horror Channel is pissing me off. They were supposed to launch Halloween '05, by piggybacking on The Men's Channel for 2 hours every saturday night. The Debut was going to be the original NOTLD. So everything was a go, and then ON THE NIGHT OF THE LAUNCH suddenly they claim that the Men's channel had aprehension because the movie was being shown uncut....umm excuse me, there is nothing Gory by today's standards about NOTLD, nothing at all....so fast foward to today and whenever you try to post a msg on the horror channel's board about when the fucking launch is coming, you get the same stupid generic "we are working really hard, it is gonna be soon" response.