Comcast Unveils Fancast Video StoreNew download offerings will count against the cap... 02:14PM Thursday Sep 04 2008 by Karl Bodetags: Video · competition · business · cable · ComcastTipped by TK Junk Mail  Driven by a fear of becoming a "dumb pipe" provider, last summer Comcast unveiled their Fancast streaming video service -- part of a broader push into offering online content and digging their teeth into online ad revenue. The nation's largest cable operator last weekend unveiled the Fancast store beta, which shifts the service from just streaming video to actual television and film downloads. Over 3,000 film and TV titles are currently available, with pricing starting from $3.99 for 24-hour film rentals, $9.99 for film purchases, and $1.99 for TV shows. Comcast's obviously eager to go head to head with Blockbuster, CinemaNow and Amazon in a video download market that's getting increasingly crowded. Combined with the launch of the now shuttered YouTube knockoff Ziddio, as well as Comcast's purchase of Fandango, movies.com, and dailycandy.com, Comcast is spending almost as much time on content as they are running a network. Whether that's a good idea is something that remains to be seen. Unfortunately, my attempt to install the Fancast Media manager on 64 bit Windows Vista resulted in an error message informing me I needed to have Windows Vista installed. If you're curious, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells me the service will count against the company's 250GB per month bandwidth cap -- a move that certainly saves them from loads of grief from network neutrality supporters.
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Phil
Rojo Sol
Premium
join:2001-06-11
Camarillo, CA | Re: WOW! Does anyone actually use the crap spewed by ISPs? ISPs should focus on maintaining and improving their network, not on content offered. Leave the content to 3rd-parties who will almost always deliver a better product. | |
| | | I pos rep
join:2008-08-22
| Re: WOW! said by Phil :Does anyone actually use the crap spewed by ISPs? ISPs should focus on maintaining and improving their network, not on content offered. Leave the content to 3rd-parties who will almost always deliver a better product. Couldn't agree more.
It will be Comcastic... aka Craptastic | |
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cybrtweek
@comcast.net | I didn't know that hitting the cap and being slowed to "above DSL speeds" is equivilant to killing yourself. Man, I hope I never hit that cap! | |
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NOZIREV
join:2008-07-10
New Bedford, MA | i dont agree with that "the service will count against the company's 250GB per month bandwidth cap" why should you have to pay for it twice
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"Citius, Altius, Fortius" [Faster, Higher, Stronger] | |
| | Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| Re: i dont agree with that It's just the same as everywhere else. You pay for the movie and then you pay for the means to deliver it.
If you consider this to be like Amazon, you pay once for the media (the book, song, movie, whatever) and once to get that media from Amazon to you (shipping charges, bandwidth, whatever).
Not too hard to figure out.
Besides, as Karl pointed out, if their content didn't charge against the cap, Netflix, Apple and everyone else trying to break into this business would cry foul. And the FCC would probably back them up.
Personally, I'd guess that Fancast will end up much like their Video On Demand service. Plenty of free (ad-supported) content, some perhaps only accessible for free to Comcast TV subscribers, with the newest stuff being pay-per-view.
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"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too." | |
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Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs:
| Re: i dont agree with that said by Corydon :It's just the same as everywhere else. You pay for the movie and then you pay for the means to deliver it. If you consider this to be like Amazon, you pay once for the media (the book, song, movie, whatever) and once to get that media from Amazon to you (shipping charges, bandwidth, whatever). Not too hard to figure out. Besides, as Karl pointed out, if their content didn't charge against the cap, Netflix, Apple and everyone else trying to break into this business would cry foul. And the FCC would probably back them up. Personally, I'd guess that Fancast will end up much like their Video On Demand service. Plenty of free (ad-supported) content, some perhaps only accessible for free to Comcast TV subscribers, with the newest stuff being pay-per-view. I would agree with the first part of your comment if the file was being downloaded from a 3rd party, but to download it from the company who is also providing the internet to your location, and them charging for the movie/tv show and then to have it COUNT AGAINST the download caps? That's ridiculous. | |
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funchords
Robb Topolski
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR
 ·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Skype
·Comcast
| Re: i dont agree with that said by Cheese :I would agree with the first part of your comment if the file was being downloaded from a 3rd party, but to download it from the company who is also providing the internet to your location, and them charging for the movie/tv show and then to have it COUNT AGAINST the download caps? That's ridiculous. You do realize that your comcast.net stuff, your email, accessing your own personal web page hosted on mysite.home.comcast.net -- all of this applies on the cap.
The $1.99 per episode or 3.99 per movie that you would pay is not only to pay for Fancast's bandwidth (which amounts to a minor fraction), but to pay the license fee charged by the studios for PPV, and -- of course -- margin.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
More features, more fun, Join BroadbandReports.com, it's free...
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NOZIREV
join:2008-07-10
New Bedford, MA
·Comcast
| i still dont agree with "Not too hard to figure out." and it has nothing to do with figuring it out but thanks for throwing that in there. besides karl has enough brown noses.
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"Citius, Altius, Fortius" [Faster, Higher, Stronger] | |
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Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs:
| said by Corydon :Besides, as Karl pointed out, if their content didn't charge against the cap, Netflix, Apple and everyone else trying to break into this business would cry foul. And the FCC would probably back them up. I don't see this in his article anywhere...
And second, why would Apple or anyone else care if it went against CC download caps or not? They aren't in that business. | |
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funchords
Robb Topolski
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR
·Verizon Online DSL
·Skype
·Comcast
edit:
September 5th, @12:20PM
| Re: i dont agree with that said by Cheese :said by Corydon :Besides, as Karl pointed out, if their content didn't charge against the cap, Netflix, Apple and everyone else trying to break into this business would cry foul. And the FCC would probably back them up. I don't see this in his article anywhere... And second, why would Apple or anyone else care if it went against CC download caps or not? They aren't in that business. It's in this part...said by Karl's article... :
If you're curious, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells me the service will count against the company's 250GB per month bandwidth cap -- a move that certainly saves them from loads of grief from network neutrality supporters. The cap is part of Comcast's network management efforts, so they probably do have to apply it fairly so that services like iTunes, NetFlix, Hulu and Amazon can compete with Fancast for your business.
But keep in mind that the 250 GB cap will only be enforced upon you if you are also one of Comcast's top 1,000 users systemwide (the Invisicap). If you've used 250 GB, and want to watch a movie, I'd say watch the movie. For the past year or so, the people getting the calls have been running north of 400 GB.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
More features, more fun, Join BroadbandReports.com, it's free...
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NOZIREV
join:2008-07-10
New Bedford, MA
·Comcast
| Re: i dont agree with that i dont think that you are understanding what i am trying to say it has nothing to do with you subscribing to tv or not it has to do with paying for the 250 gb's and also paying for the movie that you are getting from them. if you are getting the movie from them and paying for it then it should not count against the cap as well but if you were getting the movie from someone esle then its free game.
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"Citius, Altius, Fortius" [Faster, Higher, Stronger] | |
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Gryphon
@sbcglobal.net
 from:
Ammler
| Giving you the rope? no they are't giving you a rope to hang yourself with.. you have to pay for that too.. lol  | |
| karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..
| Wow! It's COMCRAPTIC! So, now they give you the option of paying (twice) for the same content you can get for FREE? Sign me up! If I have to pay for bandwidth, I want to get a return on my investment. That RETURN on investment is NOT to pay for movies, music, tv shows, etc, a second time.
Do the math:
$10.00 per movie x 50 movies per month = $500.00 + 250GB of my cap
$0.00 per movie x 50 movies per month from a torrent site = 250GB of my cap.
So, I can pay $65.00 + 500.00 for a DRM restricted movie, or I can pay $65.00 for a non-drm movie. Guess which one is going to win.
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The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! | |
| nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
edit:
September 4th, @02:35PM
| I got a bridge to sell... ...to anyone that doesn't think the major ISPs will eventually start favoring their content over other net content.
may not be next year or even the year after, but it's coming if the broadband market stays the way it is and the major ISPs continue to control the last mile.
on the other hand, wasn't this the beginning of the end of @home? | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: I got a bridge to sell... Start? This has been going on for at least a year, maybe longer.
If the Wireless companies didn't have their head fully inserted in their marketing and business plan asses, they'd play this into the dominant position for broadband access. Of course, the owners of those Wireless companies are the same entities who own the major ISPs, which means that the whole mess will continue its slow slide into anti-customer, anti-competitive mediocrity until technology allows a new entrant to get traction without using any of the incumbent assets.
Yeah, that'll happen. 
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
| | | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | Re: I got a bridge to sell... The Wireless companies have been offering their own content providers longer than the wired ISPs... look at things like VCAST, for example... | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL | Re: I got a bridge to sell... No, not content. Delivery, aka "The Last Mile". Content is crap either way.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
| | | keyboard5684
join:2001-08-01
Youngsville, PA | Re: Not Working for Me I am using Firefox 3.0.1 and it works fine for me.
Same version as you.
I am using a local ISP called WestPA.net and using fiber. | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| said by funchords :I went to www.fancast.com and tried to watch "The Daily Show" which Fancast offers for free. The URL that I got was » www.fancast.com/tv/The-Daily-Sho···8/videosThe screen is black. I'm using Firefox ... Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1 ... and I'm connecting from Verizon.net. Did you turn off your ad blocker? It wouldn't play for me on FF until I turned off ad block plus. The show won't play until a short commercial plays first from doubleclick.net.
And if you have the noscript extension you must put fancast.com in the whitelist
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? | |
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jkj860
The Final Frontier
join:2002-01-10
Valparaiso, IN
·Comcast
·Comcast Digital Vo..
| said by funchords :I went to www.fancast.com and tried to watch "The Daily Show" which Fancast offers for free. The URL that I got was » www.fancast.com/tv/The-Daily-Sho···8/videosThe screen is black. I'm using Firefox ... Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1 ... and I'm connecting from Verizon.net. Working here on Vista through Comcast. Quality was really poor though while watching Family Guy.
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I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I am not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant. Nixon | |
| | | voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT
| Re: Duh. By making their content count towards the cap, I think they're trying to delay the inevitable--deep-pocket content /service providers (can you say Google, Microsoft, Sony etc.) from raising the net neutrality issues immediately in litigation and/or lobbying. Had they not made their content count towards their cap, I think you'd seen Google or MS (or possibly both together with other content/service providers) going to the FTC and possibly the courts immediately. Those that have a big stake in content, including game console manufacturers as well as gaming software companies, ultimately face the loss of a potentially significant portion of their projected income if severely low caps get enacted (low caps along the lines of TW and Frontier's proposed 5 GB caps). I expect to see these content and service providers wake up and smell the coffee fairly soon after broadband caps are actually implemented broadly. | |
| b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA
·Comcast Formerly ..
| It looks like crap! Wow this is worse picture quality than Veoh!
I certainly would not pay for this. | |
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hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA | Re: It looks like crap! You're right, it does look like crap | |
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pv8man999
@wideopenwest.com | Re: It looks like crap! LOL, those are swf files!
are they serious?
I wonder if they show the REAL file size of each clip.
or do they just rough estimate, then round it up..lol | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL | Wait a minute...they're charging extra to access Hulu?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26 | Have you seen their analog cable service?
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Catwoman
Premium
join:2003-06-11
Normal, IL | That looks like my HD on regular cable from comcast when the camera pans, or fast action scenes. lol  | |
| | | LeftOfSanity
join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE | Re: It looks like crap! Probably your TV. | |
| | keyboard5684
join:2001-08-01
Youngsville, PA | Mine looks really good.
I am using the latest Firefox and NOT comcast!
I am using a local ISP and it is fiber.
Weird, I would think that it would look better on a comcast network but mine is crystal clear from a small ISP in PA. | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by b10010011 :Wow this is worse picture quality than Veoh! I certainly would not pay for this. What do you expect for a pay site? want quality/ no DRM, decent encode rates. you have to go piracy site.
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee | |
| 
Pizz
Hi
join:2000-10-27
Astoria, NY
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T CallVantage
| Please get rid of Their entire R&D Dept, their entire marketing team. This 'product' makes no sense on a cap based system. For the love of god Comcast. Just sell your internet side of the business to TimeWarner and Cox - And you can continue to run th Phone/TV side of things. So your 2 idiotic departments dont collide with one another. | |
| JusticeDun
join:2004-10-15
Okeana, OH | No Bandwidth I thought there was a bandwidth crunch.
Oh, I get it, that bandwidth crunch only happens when 3rd party VoD and bittorrent are in use | |
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richdelb
2008 Calder Cup CHAMPS
Premium
join:2003-01-22
Algonquin, IL
| Meter If it counts against your cap, I STILL think that COMCAST should have a web site that lets you know how much your account has downloaded at any point in each month. (Yes, I understand there are tools out there, and Comcast's Mcafee also counts data.)
I just think that Comcast should provide a way to see how much I was using each month ACCORDING TO THEM. I use Net meter on my pc's and I consume between 10gb and 40gb per month. The Cap won't affect me (right now, at least)
I can just imagine the uproar if we had to provide our own electric meters for ComEd, or put in a Gas meter for Nicor, or even a water meter for my local town. | |
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badtrip
East Bay
Premium
join:2004-03-20
Albany, CA
·Comcast
| Re: Meter True, they must have the data since they have to know somehow if a user went over the cap. The fact that they are not willing to provide customer access to the customer's own usage tells me that they are hiding something.
Even if a customer has their own meter, I highly doubt Comcast will accept the customer's numbers as fact. | |
| 
SirChaos
join:2002-01-15
Marysville, WA
| The Meter Arguement One thing that has really got me thinking about this whole situation is about the Meter and knowing and measuring how much internet I personally use.
If Comcast is going to being charging for use and warning (and possibly) disconnecting users for over usage, then they need to provide that information to the user, either through an official application or web site that I can goto as a user to see my current usage.
To make an analogy...
If I want to see how many minutes I have used in my cell phone service, I can goto a web site....
If I want to see how much power or water I have used, I can look at my meter attached to my house....
BUT...if I want to see how much bandwidth I have used, I can't. I have to depend on a "third-party" application that will not defend me if I feel that Comcast is wrong in saying I have used too much data.
Does this make sense to you?
Thanks for listening,
Chase | |
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a333
A hot cup of integrals please
join:2007-06-12
Corona, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: The Meter Arguement Amen, you make perfectly good points here, but hey... that's just the Comcastic way of life...
Worst part is, they MUST have the data, since they ARE able to tell if a user goes over the cap.. they just won't share the love... sad
Peace,
a333 | |
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viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
·Bright House
| Hell of a business model One hell of a business model. Comcast caps your service but sells streaming videos. You would think Comcast would actually lose money due to the caps. Who would want to stream videos knowing that your going to reach your cap that much quicker and won't be able to do anything else?
Aren't people who stream videos considered bandwidth hogs? That was the whole point Comcast implemented the caps in the first place. | |
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CarterStClai
X-Out The W
join:2002-04-17
Sugar Land, TX | Junk Just for clicks, I checked out the TV offerings, and the CW doesn't even offer Smallville - their #1 show. | |
|
COMCRAPSTICK
@shawcable.net
| Abuse power much? Step1 Reduce the allotted bandwidth for users
Step2 Use the resources that are now free to start a really shitty Video store.
Step3 profit?
Stop trying to be awesome like verizon and its FIOS/fiostv. If you can not spare loads of bandwidth for your already paying customers you have no right to to invest money into something other then increasing your networks capacity IMO.
Stop trying to play content kings and do your job as an ISPs first and then if you get that down to a tee then maybe you can diversify. | |
| OptimusADL
join:2000-12-20
Brooklyn, NY | Are they serious? I assume that in reality you wont get a warning letter if you use 100 GB from their video store and go over 250 GB.
I think saying it counts against the cap is just to keep the net neutrality folks at bay. | |
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