Comcast announced Tuesday that Fancast Xfinity TV, an online video service, is available nationally in beta.
While Comcast already offered 12,000 hours of content on , the new service will allow customers to access for free an additional 2,000 hours of premium programming from the likes of HBO, Cinemax and Starz, so long as they subscribe to the networks as part of their cable-TV package.
Comcast said it has tested Xfinity in select areas since the summer. The company said customers in the test markets watched two to three times more online content than those who had access only to the basic Fancast service.
About 30 cable networks have agreed to provide content for the service, which is initially available only to dual-play customers — subscribers to both Comcast digital cable and high-speed Internet.
The company said it will roll out Xfinity to the rest of its video subscribers within six months. Andy Vuong, Denver Post
