comcast Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Those with Comcast OnDemand were treated to two brand new Dark Knight videos, with one coming in the form of an alternate trailer and the other as a Gotham City news program hosted by Mike Engel, as played by Anthony Michael Hall. Both videos have hit YouTube, though keep in mind they were recorded by people with cameras held out at their television sets -- so, yeah, you'll get a little breathing and a chuckle from time to time. Hopefully Warners will make these available to all of us on one of the thousands of Dark Knight viral sites at some point in the near future. Until then you can watch the videos after the jump ... and we've also included a fourth Dark Knight TV spot (which I don't believe we've posted yet).

If all this isn't enough to get you jazzed up for Batman's return a month from now, I don't know what will. (And, by the way, I like the release date choice for the new trailer and news program -- the day a certain Marvel property is set to hit the big screen. Wink, nudge.)

The Dark Knight hits theaters on July 18.

In the future we will all be lazy, immobile slobs. And the movie theater industry will die because of us. As we continue to have more and more options for home entertainment, and less tolerance for the nuisances of social experiences, this future could be a certainty. Executives at Comcast, the nation's largest cable television company, seem to want us to go in that direction more than anyone. A longtime supporter of day-and-date releases -- its deal with IFC Films is actually quite good for independent film distribution -- and a recent tester of another video-on-demand download service, Comcast would apparently be fine with us never going to the cinema or video store again. No, not even for the summer blockbusters. Speaking at an annual cable trade show in Vegas, the company's COO, Steve Burke, proposed an idea for tentpole movies like Spider-Man 3 to be made available through a pay-per-view service during their opening week. The price would, of course, be extremely high: anywhere between $30 and $50 (still cheaper than many PPV sporting events).

The scary thing is that, according to Burke, a number of studios are interested in the proposal. Yeah, obviously they are. The high-priced option should barely affect the box office numbers, because tentpoles are typically accepted by audiences as movies that need to be seen in a theater. If anything, the service will likely add more money into Hollywood's pockets, as many of the people who are so lazy or bothered that they can't make it to one of Spider-Man 3's 4000 screens will be happy to fork over the fee. Plus, for every person who would have gone to the theater, but instead stays home to watch the movie on their television, the studio gets a percentage of $30-$50 rather than a percentage of $6-$13. Sounds good. Just imagine if half of those who saw Spider-Man 3 over the weekend paid about 5-times as much to see it. Surely the theater owners will have a lot to say about this idea, but as usual, they unfortunately won't have any good solutions to competing with such a plan. All they can hope for is that the majority of moviegoers prefer their blockbusters on a big screen.

Recently, several companies, including Microsoft, Apple and others have started offering content via online download to be watched on your television, iPod or other devices. And this week, Sony announced it was getting into the online content business with downloads for its PSP gaming/media device. Finally, according to The New York Times, Comcast, the nations largest cable operator, will soon begin an experimental program that will make programming available both on-demand via its cable service the same time the programming hits the shelves on DVD.

The program, being tested in Pittsburgh and Denver at the moment, is a bold move that seeks to tap into the burgeoning market for alternatively distributed content -- especially now that overall DVD sales have slowed. Plus, Comcast is already offering over 8000 titles with its video-on-demand service so this new program seems like a logical progression from that service. During the test, users will be able to pay $4 to see a movie the same day they could buy it for $25 at a local store or pay about the same price to rent a DVD from their local Blockbuster.

So, you pay four bucks to watch a movie once via on-demand or you go out and rent the DVD and watch it as many times as you want during the rental period? Or, you buy the DVD and watch it as many times as you like until you get sick of it and sell it on Ebay? Or, you subscribe to Netflix, get DVDs sent to your home, watch them and then send them back to get your next pick. And for that, all you have to do is go to your mailbox -- something you probably already do anyway.

Plus, if you're particularly enterprising, you could, in theory, make a "backup" of the DVDs you get from Netflix and watch them again later -- not that you would or should do that. Sorry Comcast, but I think Netflix is still the way to go -- at least until someone gets a download service going with everything in HD that I can watch as many times as I want as long as I don't try to copy it. That's what I'm waiting for and I think its coming -- maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough. Whatever company finally gets that kind of service going can count on getting my money for sure. Until then, I'll stick with Netflix. But I am curious -- so if you happen to be a Comcast customer participating in this program, let us know how it is.

If, like me, you're a Comcast subscriber who is also a pathetically ravenous and insatiable horror geek, then you've probably already caught wind of FearNet. It's not a typical cable station, but an on-demand service that promises to deliver tons of terrific terror in three distinct ways: on your television, on your cell phone and on your internet browser. (No kidding! You can click over to the website and watch free movies like 976-EVIL, Mindwarp and the original 13 Ghosts! Hey, they're free!)

Over on the cable box side of the equation, FearNet's inaugural batch of blood blisters includes titles like Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Pumpkinhead, Warlock and the original Japanese versions of The Grudge and its sequel. As far as the cell phone deliveries go, you'll have to click through the homesite to find out the process, because my cell phone is barely capable of sending and receiving phone calls, let alone feeding me all 103 minutes of Steve Miner's Warlock.

As for the FearNet website, it's actually quite a lot of fun. You can join the forums, of course, but there's also a very nifty horror movie database called The Web of Fear, which you can help "tag" to your dismembered heart's delight. There's also a decent dosage of news, reviews and features (some of which, yes, I'll be writing) for the insatiable terror trolls to traipse through (in addition to some colorful little toys and treats), so if The Dark Genre is your thing, give FearNet a click and poke around. (Fair warning: It's a high-bandwidth site, so you dial-uppers might be in for some trouble.) Plus, if you're already a Comcast digital subscriber then you already have access to the current FearNet offerings. So go watch Carrie again. It's worth it.

On today's episode of our brand-new daily news recap: My Space does something about Sex Addicts; Comcast does something *for* horror fanboys; and Hollywood pounces on Terri Sciavo. Remember: we're still looking for your ideas for a name for the show, so do your worst in the comments.

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Hosts
Karina Longworth

Editor
Randall Bennett

Music
Love as Laughter - I'm a bee

Format
4:48, 40.5 MB, MPEG4 (iPod / PSP compatible)

Program
00:00 - MySpace says 'no' to 'Sex Addict'
01:35 - MovieTickets.com inks deal with MySpace to sell tickets
01:49 - Comcast and Sony to launch horror flicks on-demand network
02:37 - DeVito partners with Freeman's 'Clikstar' to run ignored documentaries
03:27 - Schwarzenegger 'won't be back' for another 'Terminator'
03:54 - Rights to Terri Schiavo movie purchased

 

Despite the fact that over 70 million homes receive his HDNet channel, Mark Cuban is still not making any money on his HD dream. Part of the problem (I'm not going to get into how many/few homes have HD TVs and receivers) is that some major cable companies -- including Comcast -- still refuse to carry either HDNet or its sister channel, HDNet Movies. In fact, a couple of years ago, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner collectively created an HD channel of their own called INHD, which they conceived as "a Cuban-killer." (He's still here. As is HDNet.)

Because of Cuban's feud with Comcast, as Karina mentioned in her column, there were rumblings that his Landmark Theaters, the biggest independent chain in the country, might refuse to show films that were part of distributor IFC Films' day/date release deal with Comcast. No official, public statements were made, however, so things continued as normal, and Caveh Zahedi's I Am a Sex Addict (part of the day/date deal) was scheduled to open at a Landmark theater in Berkeley on Friday, April 7. Then, yesterday, Zahedi heard from IFC that the film had been pulled by the theater because of Cuban's beef with Comcast. Not surprisingly, Zahedi was upset, and (quite reasonably, it would seem) blamed Cuban for the affair. According to Cuban's comment on the above post (scroll down the page a little, and you'll find it), however, IFC knew the film would not be screened at any Landmark theaters and schedule it anyway. Hmm.

No matter who's to blame, the fact is that a little indie film is caught up in something much, much bigger than it is. Can you even imagine how frustrating this must be for the filmmakers who, after IFC's deal with Comcast, were thrilled at the prospect of (relatively) wide distribution for the babies, only to run into this roadblock? Man alive, what a nightmare.

Comcast and IFC Entertainment will today announce their deal (first outlined by Karina a month ago) to simultaneously release independent films in theaters and on television, via video-on-demand. Kicking off on March 24 with American Gun, the agreement will have films in theaters across the nation (in IFC's theaters as well as in Mark Cuban's Landmark Theaters; negotiations are on-going with other chains) while they are being offered to Comcast subscribers in 22 major markets for $5.99/viewing. Despite the fact that the agreement lacks a DVD element, Comcast's reach is dramatically greater than that of the HD Channel on which Bubble aired, and there's a good chance that Comcast/IFC's films will be seen by a much larger audience than Soderbergh's film.

Because VOD is very hard to pirate, and because Comcast could theoretically pick and choose the markets in which these films are offered, it's hoped that the Comcast/IFC approach will be less threatening to supporters of traditional distribution than the Bubble experiment. IFC actually quietly test the system with a day-date release for C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America this month, and the film, despite being available via VOD to Cablevision subscribers, has done record business in IFC theaters - this, too, should suggest to studios and theater owners that the approach is not necessarily a death knell for exhibition. Among the two dozen or so films IFC and Comcast will release are I Am a Sex Addict, Three Times (by Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien, whose work is virtually impossible to see in the US), and The Russian Dolls, which stars Amelie's Audrey Tautou).

Look, the fact is that fans of independent film want to see these movies - to some degree, this is going to work. Day-and-date releasing is not going away, and it's time for theater owners and studios to stop whining and, instead, figure out how they can get involved, and use the approach to their advantage. Times change. Deal with it.

Comcast-owned G4 has tried so very hard to establish itself as a television home for the gamers and tech-savvy among us. After assimilating (and gutting) TechTV, G4 has continued struggling in its attempts to establish an identity, and is now working on broadening its target audience to "young male" viewers. Not really a huge leap, but okay, sure. We can assume that this mostly means they'll no longer be airing only bad anime, pseudo-tech shows, and an endless march of videogame reviews. I can already hear you asking "why is he talking about TV on a Movie blog?" Your answer is that this transition is likely to involve one of the biggest geek movie franchises; one that we've spent significant time discussing lately here at Cinematical. That's right, Comcast is in the process of aquiring syndication rights for Star Trek and one of its spinoffs, Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Paramount Domestic Television. Presumably, this is to help them broaden their appeal, while still staying somewhat friendly to their geek fanbase.

I'm honestly in favor of any move that allows good Star Trek series of the past to continue to find air time on modern television. I'm not sure that this will serve to broaden the fanbase much within the coveted "young male" audience – it seems like the sort of young males that are going to be watching old Star Trek are probably the sort of young males that already tune in to G4. Thoughts?