Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Premium Content for TV

Comcast seeks same-day movie releases as theaters

Comcast Corp., the biggest U.S. cable operator, has held talks with Hollywood studios to show movies on cable on the same day as they open in theaters, the company said on Monday as rivals also outlined plans for more premium content on television.

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Time Warner Cable Inc., the No. 2 operator, also said it is planning a new service called 'Catch-Up' which would allow subscribers to view recent first-run television shows.

Comcast's Burke also gave his company's strongest public support to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s planned network-based digital video recorder, or DVR, service.

Cablevision's plans were stalled by a court ruling which agreed with a claim by several studios and TV networks that Cablevision's plans to allow viewers to store programs remotely on its network would violate copyright agreements. The company said last month it is appealing the ruling.

"We will do the network DVR if the courts rule it permissible," said Burke.

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