Comcast next week will offer its annual ‘Watchathon,’ which allows video and Internet-only subscribers to watch On Demand programming from more than 70 channels regardless of whether they subscribe to them.
The cable operator, which has held the ‘Watchathon’ event for eight years, says the participating channels will include Acorn TV, A&E, AFRO, Aspire TV, Bravo, Bluprint, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Cine Mexicano, DOGTV, EPIX, FOX, HBO, HISTORY Vault, Hitz, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Club, NBC, Nick Jr., MTV, National Geographic, Pantaya, PlayKids, REVOLT, SHOWTIME, STARZ, TBS, USA Network, VH1 and Hulu, among others.
Select shows from those channels, and streaming services, will be free on the Xfinity On Demand menu from May 11 through May 17.
The shows will include Hulu originals such as Castle Rock, The Handmaid’s Tale, High Fidelity, and Little Fires Everywhere (pictured above) as well as Epix’s Godfather of Harlem and Belgravia, Starz’s Outlander and Power, and Showtime’s Billions.
The free programming will be available on all Xfinity platforms including the X1 set-top, Flex and Xfinity Stream.
Comcast says Xfinity subscribers will also be able to watch Peacock, the new streaming service from the Comcast-owned NBC Universal which has more than 15,000 hours of shows and movies.
Comcast’s X1 customers can view all of the programming available to them during the week by saying “Watchathon” into the Xfinity voice remote or browsing the On Demand menu.
“Over the past month with so many customers still at home, we’ve not only seen a 50 percent increase in Xfinity On Demand viewing across genres of programming from drama and comedy to reality but we’re noticing other interesting trends like a more than double-digit growth for discovery-related voice commands such as ‘what to watch’ and ‘surprise me,’ said Rebecca Heap, Comcast’s senior vice president of video and entertainment. “Watchathon Week lets customers enjoy free access to the best shows and movies they haven’t had the chance to watch and that everyone has been talking about, no strings attached.”
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Will DirecTv continue to INCLUDE the missing (NON sports) channels in the “SELECT PACKAGE” indefinitely ?
(They turned them on about a month ago)
It took the Corona-Virus to get AT&T to ADD channels
that SHOULD have been there in the first place.
DESTINATION AMERICA, DIY, FYI, GSN, Lifetime Movie Channel,
OWN, Science Channel, SUNDANCE, Travel Channel,
Great American Country, THE REAL WEATHER CHANNEL.
These Channels are NON sports channels
and SHOULD be in the “SELECT” Package.