Comcast is expanding its local On Demand television service, bringing additional specialized programming to the metro area. Customers will be able to access a wide variety of features, including profiles of pets available for adoption, highlights of local events, messages from troops serving overseas, and local bands and comedy acts.
The package includes enhancements of some existing programming, according to Noah Kodeck, the director of Local Video On Demand who oversees staff in Comcast’s D.C., Maryland and Virginia offices.
The updated and improved “Pet Adoptions” program, which displays pictures and videos of cats and dogs by the Washington Humane Society, launched last week on the service. Comcast and the WHS have a partnership promoting the Good Home Guarantee initiative, aimed at finding a home for every adoptable cat and dog in its shelters by 2010.
On Demand also posts information about local wanted fugitives, which, Kodeck has been told by one of the police agencies in Maryland, led to the capture of one. Otherprograms notify viewers about missing children in the area.
Community events, however, are the main attraction of On Demand. Local sporting events, such as Montgomery County high school football games, are covered, as are major events such as the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Comcast, which serves New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington and Virginia, intends to increase its LVOD by more than 200 percent over the next two years. Kodeck said he’s “very excited by these tremendous growth opportunities.” He said he hopes to utilize the On Demand format for myriad genres.
According to spokeswoman Lisa Altman, of the 1.1 million Comcast customers in the metro area, more than 60 percent have the digital cable boxes necessary for access to On Demand programming.
Comcast digital cable subscribers get the content for free though Comcast has to select a program from a menu to order it.
Altman said they have had 4 million orders for programs so far this year and expects viewers to request 8 million to 10 million programs in 2007.
