MGM and Comcast to launch action movie VOD channel

13-Aug-2008 • Bond News

Comcast Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said Tuesday they are teaming up to introduce a video-on-demand channel featuring action movies and TV shows.

Comcast, the country's largest cable operator, already has a hit with another genre-specific VOD channel and Web site, FEARnet, which features horror movies and thrillers, in collaboration with Lionsgate and Sony Pictures Television. FEARnet is also available on mobile phones.

Philadelphia-based Comcast said the "Impact" channel will have 25 to 30 titles every month â and about 200 a year. But it will tap into MGM's library of over 1,000 action movies and TV shows, including many in high-definition format.

Movies include those in the James Bond franchise, Rocky and RoboCop. Programming will be grouped into categories such as thrillers, crime, war films, martial arts, westerns and espionage. Most movies will be free.

MGM said titles will have similar timing as those released on other pay-TV providers, which means they will come after DVD rentals.

Programming is slated to appeal to the demographic of men aged 18 to 49, and the channel will be partly supported by advertising, the companies said. A Web site is under development.

The channel is being rolled out market-by-market this week to Comcast customers. Los Angeles-based MGM said it is in talks with other pay-TV providers for carriage.

Last month, Comcast announced a deal with Time Warner Cable Inc. to carry FEARnet. Comcast gets licensing fees as well as advertising revenue for the channel. The nearly two-year-old channel is already available through cable operators Cox Communications Inc. and Insight Communications Co. as well as Verizon Communications Inc.'s FiOS service.

In the first quarter of 2008, FEARnet video on demand views were up 40 percent from a year ago. In June, PC Magazine named the FEARnet Web site among the best for movie fans.

Comcast owns 20 percent of privately held MGM.